Barbara Lawlor, Peak to Peak.  It was a year without disasters. There were no floods, no large wild land fires, no monster snowstorms. The wind came up with some hits, but not calamitous or long-lasting.

The United States Forest Service continuous to plan mitigation projects with objections from neighboring property owners; Eldora Mountain Resort continues to seek expansion of its borders with threats of a lawsuit from environmental organizations; and a group of agencies continue to search for an appropriates site for a designated shooting range.

In the first week of January, the temperature dropped to 20 degrees below zero followed by over a foot of snow. True to mountain nature, the after-storm winds blew up and blew down Xcel Energy lines causing a power outage.

Businesses were forced to close, people had to call for help when the power for their oxygen tanks went out and Columbine Family Medical Center patients had to be examined by flashlight. Xcel representatives reported winds over 90 miles an hour.

On January 16, Leland Baker of Gilpin County was charged with multiple offenses after an explosion in his home that destroyed the structure and injured one dog and killed another. The explosion took place on Nov. 30.

Leland was accused of manufacturing hash oil in his home and causing the explosion. The charges included processing or manufacturing marijuana or marijuana concentrate, a third degree felony; possession of a controlled substance, a fourth degree felony; and Cruelty to Animals, first degree misdemeanor.

In February, Nederland Police Department hired Interim Chief Paul Carrill as full-time chief and welcomed Darragh O’Naillain’s return to the NPD after spending time in his Ireland homeland.

A Colorado Sierra home was destroyed by a fire that started in the attic burning, causing the roof to collapse. Multiple agencies responded to the call.

In mid-February, temperatures broke records with consecutive days of 60 degrees. January’s mean temperature was the warmest that meteorologist John McGinley had every seen, five and a half degrees above normal. The Nederland Ice Rink was forced to close for a couple of weeks but many other residences enjoyed the warm spell.

Teenager use of marijuana was a big topic of discussion resulting in public meetings hosted by various groups over the year. Probably the largest of them was held at the Nederland Community Center auditorium where educator/comedian Ray Lozano addressed the large audience. His presentation delved into the damage that marijuana does to a teenage brain.

The Evans Aspen Trails Annexation application, in the works for over a year, continued its quest in March. Mostly supported by the Nederland community, the project has been opposed by bordering neighbors and some members of the Eldora Civic Association community. The annexation application refers to the property located next to the Eldora Road north of the Nederland middle Senior High School. It proposes three 20-unit pods, a 17-acre affordable dwelling complex.

Housing was a big discussion item in 2015, with several public meetings to discuss the problem and come up with creative ideas for future housing needs.

A heavy April snowstorm caused many accidents including a rollover on Hwy 72, in which a woman had to crawl out the window and cross the creek to get help.

Gilpin County offices and schools were closed for the day and Timberline Fire Protection District spent much time helping people to dig out to open access ways. In Nederland 18 inches of snow fell in town by 4:45 a.m. on Friday, April 16.

On Saturday, April 25, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed up to 7,500 people in Nepal and entire villages were destroyed, among them Dhading Mairoti Ukhubare, where the families of Resham Gurung and Lok Malla, the owners of Kathmandu, live. A series of benefits raised funds to aid the homeless and hungry victims of the disaster.

April showers led to May floods and landslides in the 2013 Fourmile flood area and residents began piling up sandbags to reinforce the banks of the creek and protect their homes. Fortunately the water receded before much damage was done. Flood recovery is still going on in the Left Hand Canyon and Jamestown areas.

In May, Nederland Police Officer Jake Smith began doing patrols on his bicycle, greeting people and getting to places a patrol car couldn’t go. In the fall, Smith resigned his position.

In the beginning of June, Nederland resident Greg Ching was found guilty of two counts of Class 4 felony sexual assault and two counts of misdemeanor unlawful sexual contact and is currently serving 15 months in jail.

In July, the Northern Front Range Recreational Sports Shooting Management Partnership began a series of open houses to identify possible designate shooting areas in the mountains. Included in the first round of possibilities were Ruby Gulch, Magnolia Road, the Allenspark Dump, the Bunce School Road and Beaver Reservoir Road. The first open house attracted a a standing room only crowd who convinced the representatives of the partnership that they would adamantly oppose any shooting area near the schools or residential areas.The Partnership continues to search for appropriate shooting range sites.

Reports of bears and home invasion came in from Nederland, Gilpin and Gold Hill. Because of the wet spring, the bear’s food source was sparse and the critters took matters into their own paws and entered homes through any nook or cranny they could pry open. Because of reports of bears going through campsites, the forest service put up booby-trapped tents near Rainbow Lakes. When the bears entered the tents, they were pepper sprayed.

On August. 3, one person died and three people were injured when the vehicle they were in swerved off the road at the 31 mile marker of Boulder Canyon and rolled onto its side on the steep bank above Boulder Creek. The vehicle was stopped and cracked in half by a large tree.

The front seat passenger in the car was ejected, landing in the creek and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver and two adults and a child were transported to the hospital. Members of the NFPD, BES and Sugarloaf performed a technical extrication to remove the occupants of the vehicle. The driver, Kelley Wiggins, 37 has been charged with first degree murder as one of the passengers later said he had intended to kill Alexus Valentin, 21, of Boulder who died in the accident.

On Sept. 21, the Boulder County Sheriff’s Department declared a fire ban in the Boulder County mountains after high temperatures and low moisture prevailed for most of August and September. Area firefighters were called out to myriad abandoned or escaped campfires, especially in the West Magnolia Camping area and County Road 68 above Gross Reservoir.

Gilpin County followed suit and imposed Stage I Fire Restrictions. They too are experiencing campers who have taken on full-time residences in the wood and near the cemeteries outside of Central City.

On October 22, Josh Davis, a Gilpin resident reported that a neighbor had shot and killed his dog and then tried to hide the evidence. Davis reported the incident to the Gilpin Sheriff’s Department and after the man admitted he had shot the dog, issued him a warrant for cruelty to animals.

Erik Miller has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial for the shooting.

In July, a group of residents and environmental groups hosted a benefit to raise funds to hire an attorney to file an objection to block the proposed Eldora Mountain Resort expansion. Locally well-known musicians showed up to entertain a standing room only house in the Nederland Community Center.

Attorney Mike Chiropolous rallied the audience to voice their support of the opposition. The Forest Service agreed to many of Eldora Mountain Resort’s improvements as long as they were within the resort’s current boundaries. But they did not agree to the proposed new lifts on the north and south borders of the resort,  or adding 88 acres to the boundaries.

The Forest Service told EMR to work with the groups that have opposed the expansion due to issues with the wildlife migration, wetlands and the potential, with the expansion, to later move farther into the Hesse area.

At that time, EMR management said there would be no point in going forward with upgrades only in the present boundaries, that it would not be economically viable.

Ron Archuleta, the acting supervisor of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest, said that the ideal situation would be the resort and the entities opposing the expansion should work collaboratively to resolve the environmental and social issues.

Those against the expansion include: the Town of Nederland, the Sierra Club, the Middle Boulder Creek and Boulder County Land Use.

Those opposing expansion say the increased development activity near Middle Boulder and Jenny Creek will impact the riparian areas that the county comprehensive plan promises to protect.

On Oct. 5, a meeting between Eldora and a group of environmentalists ended without a resolution. David Hallock, a member of the Middle Boulder Creek Coalition, said that the resort should focus on new lifts on the front of the mountain and the construction of the new restaurant, rather than pushing for boundary expansions.

EMR administrators say the new Jolly Jug and Placer lifts are necessary to add more intermediate terrain.

On Nov. 16, the resort filed an appeal saying that the forest service decision was “arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law.”

In the first week of December, the Forest Service dismissed the appeal, saying the resort cannot challenge the decision until it prepares to implement the improvements that were approved. When the resort prepares to implement the improvements stated in the October decision, the Forest Service would then modify the rest’s special use permit, which would then be a chance for the resort to file an appeal, but it would not be on the areas that were denied.

Included in the approved additions were 188 acres of trails and glades, 25 acres of additional snowmaking coverage and upgrades to Corona and Challnge lifts. A new 850 seat Challenge Mountain guest facility at the top of Indian Peaks life and renovation of the Lookout facility will enlarge it from  3,000 square feet to up to 9 ,700 square feet.

Moving forward depends on collaboration between the resort and the expansion opposition.

On Nov. 6, longtime resident Bob Kussin, 63, was arrested on suspicion of multiple counts of indecent exposure. Several people reported that Kussin was seen exposing himself to young girls on at least four  different occasions in the past three months and. The Nederland Police Department is asking that anyone with additional information should contact the department at 303-258-3250.

The Nederland Police Department hired Troy Tomasko as a part-time officer and David Stage as a full-time officer. The two officers were sworn in early in December.

The New Year promises to be wet and dramatic with many on-going plans in the works. It is predicted that 2016 will be a great year for people to volunteer to help complete the goals of making Nederland an even greater place to live.