Wrapping up Rose Community Foundation. CPW denies permit for elephants at the Renaissance Fair. Love grows where my rosemary goes pt 2.
The last post on Rose Community Foundation (RCF)
I wanted to conclude the posts on RCF with an older grant they were involved in that didn't fit with the other topics, but which encapsulates some of the broader themes here well.
The Colorado Politics story linked first below is from way back in 2020. It details some angst and problems around a state program to hand out $6 million of taxpayer money via grants to (quoting the article) fund "...efforts to reach hard-to-count communities come Census Day this April."
Let's back up a minute for some necessary context. Now-senator (then-governor) Hickenlooper formed a committee via executive order to help make sure that so called hard to count populations would be fully accounted for in the 2020 census.**
As a follow on to this effort (and working with Hickenlooper's committee), a 2020 bill was run through the legislature and it allocated $6 million dollars in grants, to be administered through the state's Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to help with outreach efforts.
Screenshot 1 (from the bill's fiscal note, the bill itself being linked second below) goes into more depth on the particulars of this grant program.
With this in our back pocket, let's return again to the Colorado Politics article. The article goes into depth on heartburn both the bill's sponsors and local nonprofits had over how the grant money was doled out. Quoting that article (with links left intact):
"Tipper’s bill was created in the wake of major cuts to federal funding for the run-up to the 2020 Census. The past decade has seen lower funding levels than the last three decennial cycles, according to the Urban Institute. That means states with high stakes, like Colorado – which is projected to gain an extra congressional seat after 2020 – needed to pick up the slack if they want an accurate count. The legislature is focusing on directing funds toward efforts to reach hard-to-count populations, including children under age 5, minorities, communities of color, immigrants, low-income communities, non-English speakers, rural Coloradans, the elderly, LGBTQ communities and people experiencing homelessness. But Tipper’s not sure that’s what happened with her bill."
Whether or not this was a good idea is not the main point here. It's a valid thing to consider, but I want to highlight here the heartburn involved by those that wanted the grant money: a lot of nonprofits are quoted in the article (as well as Tipper herself) bemoaning the fact that the vast bulk of the grant money here went to government entities and not community nonprofits. Quoting again from the article:
“'When I look at the award list,' she [Tipper] said, 'my preference would have been to see more community organizations that have really solid ties to hard-to-count communities awarded the grant monies.' She also took notice of how many cities and counties received funding. 'One reservation I have is that we know that government is not the most trusted messenger for census outreach,' she said. 'In hindsight, perhaps in the legislation we could have done a better job emphasizing the community connection.'”
Screenshot 2, an extended quote from the article, offers a glimpse at the criteria the grant selection committee used and an implicit look at perhaps part of the reason the nonprofits lost out to local governments. I include it here for the same reason that the article's writer did: to offer counterpoint to the contention by the nonprofits and Tipper.
Whatever the reason for wanting nonprofits/NGO's to do this work or any of the other manifold things our state government has them do (as a quick aside I included the DOLA grant that RCF got to do the census work third below in case you wondered what they got and if they were in the mix), nonprofits/NGO's like RCF are not the same as government.
They are manifestly different. They are not accountable. They are more opaque. I can't send open records requests to RCF to compel them to "open the books" and I have no legal recourse if they refuse.
Intent or not, this is the reality.
Our state has, what I recently related to someone as, a "robust" nonprofit ecosystem. This whole series of posts has been to illustrate one of the most deeply enmeshed examples.
RCF, and many other foundations, groups, etc. give money all over the state to political groups as well as to other nonprofits and 501(c)(3)'s. They are set up to give their funders outsized influence in the culture, politics, and discussions we are having as a body of people.
Meanwhile, they get sacks full of cash from our state to perform what ought to be the role of government, with those sacks being voted on and authorized by some of the very same people whose own 501(c)(3)'s got money from RCF. All the while you and I get shorted on the kind of accountability that is our due for money coerced out of our wallets.
The feeling is one of watching a game we don't get to participate in, our only role being to chip in money for others to bargain with.
**An effort that was not unique to Colorado. According to the article, many states (and not all of them blue) had some form or another of "complete count" efforts.
https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/requests-for-state-backed-2020-census-funding-of-hard-to-count-populations-highlight-tremendous-need/article_c3f23246-07d8-11ea-85d4-fb56f7cd3cfb.html#google_vignette
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/hb19-1239
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BnDDAiaSeAdFl36_3xS7oWW4v0kCj4Vb/view?usp=drive_link
CPW denies permit for elephants at the Renaissance Fair.
Not sure how many expeced it (or will be disappointed), but this year's Renaissance Fair will not have elephants, per the Sun article linked first below.
Trunks and Humps (an out of state animal exhibition) was slated to bring elephants to the fair, but an animal rights group sued to stop it citing a 2021 law (see the second link and the image heading this post) which prohibited traveling animal exhibits from coming through Colorado.
I'll leave it to you to read up on the details as much as you'd like. Contrary to a sermon I got once from the Sun's Jesse Aaron Paul, there doesn't appear to have been much time given to getting statements from those who are NOT animal rights advocates--festival organizers "could not be immediately reached" according to the article.
You know who could be immediately reached and is copiously quoted by the Sun? The folks bringing the suit.
The suits were brought by an animal rights law group housed in DU's Law School (see the third link below). A DU professor, Justin Marceau, heads the group, while DU's law school offers a certificate program in animal rights law.
If you're curious to know about the certificate, check out the screenshot with the heading "Animal Law" attached; it comes from their website.
The label "centrist" for this group doesn't quite get to the nub of it for me. That goes double for the animal rights legal defense project flowering out of DU's law school.
One last connection to make here. Scrolling down in the animal law certificate page, the contact for the program caught my eye. Interested parties are directed to email with questions to program manager Jessica Beaulieu.
Yes. That Beaulieu. The one that is a CPW commissioner. The one that is our "Outdoor Recreation and Parks Utilization Representative" that Polis appointed. The one that was one of three authors on an op ed against big cat hunting (which spurred a settlement because it likely violated open meetings law). I took a screenshot of her profile at CPW and attached.
Nah, there's no movement afoot to bolster the animal rights movement in this state by the governor's office and some of his fellow Dems. None at all.
https://coloradosun.com/2025/06/06/colorado-parks-and-wildlife-elephants-renaissance-festival/
https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-135
https://www.law.du.edu/academics/practical-experience/animal-activist-legal-defense-project
https://www.law.du.edu/animal-law
Love grows where my rosemary goes pt 2.
That time of the week again. Last post til Sunday and thus time for something interesting and not related to politics.
I posted in the past (see pictures 1 and 2 attached) about overwintering my rosemary. I thought an update might be in order, along with some notes if you decide to try what I did.
I built the cold frame you see in picture 1 to cover an existing raised bed. The thinking was that this would give me some flexibility my old model didn't have. It did. The new design is the best one yet, and I don't think I will try for further modifications.
I did hit some snags at the start of the growing season this year.
I should have known better of course, but the rosemary wasn't quite ready to go to full, undiluted sunshine straight away. I think I figured that since the cold frame cover was transparent plastic, there wouldn't be a need to gently introduce her to the the outdoors. Besides which, this is a rosemary with thin, tough leaves. I know from growing them that they love the sun, the heat and do fine with dry.
I was wrong.
It didn't die from getting sunburn, but there was quite a bit of foliage lost. Screenshot 3 shows the new outdoors-tough leaves that sprouted anew. The weird, bonsai-tree shape is testament to the lost branches. The dark green of the new foliage is a testament to how my plants sometimes do well despite my gardening rather than because of it!
The lesson here is clear: even if they have been in a clear cold frame, a slow and gentle reintroduction to being blasted by sunlight is not a bad idea. Noted, and will be followed in future years.
I had another interesting lesson out of this new cold frame.
I'm not quite a a no-till gardener, but I am experimenting (now that the soil in my beds has improved with time and work) with winter mulching and fewer turnings of the soil. So, when I took the cold frame off, rather than turning the soil and then amending, I simply top dressed the dirt with about a 1/2" to 1" of compost.
I watered the compost and let things sit for a couple weeks to marinate before planting out some seedlings. After a day or so the seedlings didn't look any too happy, puzzling given that the compost was wet and that I watered the seedlings in. Certainly not what I'd hoped for my first time not forking over the dirt.
I did some literal digging and noticed the dirt was bone dry, and dry down deep. I mean it made the Sahara look wet. Then it hit me.
This soil was under a cold frame all winter, a cold frame which kept it dry and (sometimes) quite warm. I know my soil has a lot of clay and I think (an impression reinforced by talking with a friend who farms and is a soil scientist) that I cooked the soil. Probably cooked any of the bugs living in there, the ones you want hanging around.
Baked clay will actually resist water rather than soak it in.
The fix wasn't anything too special. I hit it with repeated, deep soakings and certainly my ollas helped. They add a persistent and slow-release damp deep into the ground (why plants love them). Screenshots 4 and 5 show the much improved texture and one of the ollas.
None of this is to say that I'm not going to do the same with my cold frame this coming fall. The benefit of having FINALLY succeeded at getting a rosemary through the winter alive on top of having some place to harden off seedlings is too great.
The lesson here, however, is that next year I will actually turn in the compost when I amend prior to planting. The organics down in the soil will, I believe, help get and keep water down there to moisten the soil and revive the critters living in it.
I may also do something I've done in other spots: "transfuse" some healthier soil from other beds that aren't dried out to get a jump on reviving the critter population. A shovel full or two mixed in will do the trick just fine.
One last picture to share. This one not so much a lesson learned but simply because I'm proud of it.
The picture labeled "wheat" shows progress on my spring wheat. It's up, the stems look good. It seems to be at about the last bit of stem extension (with a few early birds putting out seed heads already). With some luck, I'll have a good harvest and then some cracked wheat to add to breads!
Fingers crossed for no hail prior to harvest!
That's it for today. Back at it Sunday and see you then.