Jess Ansari, Nederland. Places that could be anywhere. Landscapes that have lost their history. Downtowns with buildings that all look the same. Festivals with no authenticity. Nederland is not one of those places, yet. What is it that makes Nederland distinctive? Distinctiveness is about the shape and height of buildings, the lay of the land, the creeks and birds, trees and beers, the myths and music. It’s about customs, dialects, celebrations, names, traditions, recipes, spoken history, legends and symbols. 

I believe Nederland culture is worth protecting. Historical preservation is not about resisting change. This small mountain town faces outside pressures and influences, new people and ideas will continue to arrive whether we like it or not. Change can either enrich a place or homogenize and diminish it. It’s possible for a place to be reinvigorated by the new, if it looks into its past while thinking about its future.

The Nederland area, once known as the Grand Island mining district, has its own unique identity, one where residents have meaningful connections with the wildlife and landscape. We’re not here for the caviar. People here rightly feel a sense of identity and pride in their surroundings. The buildings and landscapes around us express our continuing history, from a montane meadow used for trading between Ute and Arapaho people, to a stage stop and supply town, a mining and mill town, to a musical Mecca in the mountains, a hippy haven and hikers paradise with its close access to the expansive Indian Peaks Wilderness. Learning about local nature, history, architecture, folklore, and landscape fosters a sense of belonging and being part of a connected community. 

It is time to support local distinctiveness in our community or face inevitable gentrification. Gentrification often creeps in slowly, one historic sign or building is lost at a time. A large, generic building seems innocuous on its own. When new development is disproportionate in size and mis-matching in character, you lose a sense local distinctiveness.

“Resist formulaic and automatic ordering from pattern books which homogenize and deplete,” say Common Ground, a UK-based non-profit. The grassroots group created an alphabet of local distinctiveness that resonate in many ways with Nederland’s own community vision, documented in Envision 2020. The year 2020 is here; and these values seem more important than ever. As the Town prepares to update the document to 2030, it’s time for Ned residents to decide what is important to them. 

Here’s a few more guidelines from the alphabet of local distinctiveness; “Keep places lived in, worked in and real. Demand the best of the new. Let the character of the people and place express itself. Kill corporate identity before it kills our high streets. Give local shops precedence. Enhance the natural features. Get to know your ghosts. The hidden and unseen stories and legends are as important as the visible. Don’t fossilize places. History is a continuing process, not just the past.

We need standards not standardization. Oppose monoculture in our fields, parks, gardens and buildings. Jettison your car whenever you can and go by public transport. Places are for people and nature not cars. Know your place. Facts and surveys are not the same as knowledge and wisdom.

Itinerant expertise needs to meet with aboriginal, place based knowledge so we can make the best of both worlds. Buy things that are locally distinctive and locally made – such as food and souvenirs. Resist the things that can be found anywhere. Bring the countryside to the town.

Keep local produce markets open and alive. Names carry resonances and secrets. Respect local names and add new ones with care. Reveal the geology. Use the brick and stone of the locality. Reinforce the color, patterns, craftsmanship and work of the place. Remember the depth of people’s attachment to places. Do not undermine local pride and rootedness with insensitive change.

Reveal the past! Decay is an important process. Don’t tidy things up so much that the layers of history are obliterated. Let continuity show. Personality often resides in subtlety. Get things in proportion and in scale. Every place has its own distinctive dimensions. Thwart the urbanization of the countryside. Fight the roadside paraphernalia. Democracy thrives on discussion about things that matter to us. Let the experts in on your terms. Slow down, wisdom comes through walking, talking and listening.

Now is a critical time to maintain Nederland’s strong community identity by honoring its rich history while carefully managing new growth and development. A healthy environment inspires a healthy society. 

(Originally published in the March 12, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)