Payson Roundup

We do not own the world. We merely tarry here awhile, then leave it for those who come along after. So we must treasure the world and protect its wonders, for they give us our very breath.

We have sore need of the places that can teach us that great truth — places like Tonto Natural Bridge State Park.

Everything you need to know about beauty and purpose and peace can be learned there — in the center of that great, cavernous tunnel dissolved through solid rock. Just sit awhile beside the ethereal travertine tinted pool, beneath the unending rain of droplets seeping through the arch of the ceiling and ask yourself: Is this worth protecting?

The bridge has spanned some troubled water this year as a seemingly demented legislature has savaged the state park budget. Lawmakers have gone way past eliminating taxpayer support for state parks: Now they’re stealing the gate fees for completely unrelated state programs.

Absurd. Disgusting. Foolish.

Fortunately, residents of Rim Country have rallied in support of this astonishing natural wonder. Payson agreed to kick in money to help keep the park open on weekends. Dedicated volunteers have spent countless hours maintaining the grounds and helping visitors.

Moreover, the budget crisis has even worked its perverse good — by forcing the state parks board to finally spend money to save the historic lodge before the legislature could filch that last stash of maintenance money. The repair work may make it possible for the lodge to once again become one of the most wonderful places to vacation in all of Arizona. And that, in turn, could generate the money to protect and expand the park.

So maybe the budget disaster will all work out — like a flood on the East Verde. You see, the cottonwood-willow habitat along the East Verde is among the most productive places north of the rain forest in terms of biological production and diversity. Cottonwoods and willows both depend on periodic floods to create the wet sandbars and side channels where they seed. No flood, no willows.

Hopefully, this budget crisis will regenerate Rim Country’s relationship with Tonto Natural Bridge. Perhaps when the deficit waters recede, Rim Country residents will take that park to their hearts.

In the meantime, we owe a great debt to those people who have fought for the park — the ones who know that we do not own the world, we merely borrow it from our children and all the children to come.

Star Valley: Ask the question

Here’s the key to solving big problems.

You gotta ask the right question.

And then you have to stay focused.

Fortunately — it sounds like Star Valley has finally started asking the right questions when it comes to planning for the community’s future.

The most recent example lies in Andy Romance’s insightful report on the small community’s flood control problems. The town has neglected maintenance of the many, mostly dry washes running through town — leaving them choked with brush and littered with trash.

Romance, an engineer and former Payson council member, offered a variety of relatively low-cost ways to keep wash bottoms from clogging and banks from eroding.

He noted, for instance, that while thickets of willows on the stream bottom can force the creek to jump its banks — the same willows on the embankments can prevent erosion.

The report on flood control is just one of a lineup of important reports in the pipeline — many of them connected to the adoption of a general plan. Clearly, the small, rural community must find a way to attract enough retail and light industrial development to finance public improvements — but that means finally doing something about the lack of sewers, fire hydrants and beat cops that town residents have a right to expect.

The town’s leaders have spent far too long focused on distant and unlikely threats while neglecting the more pressing and plausible problems.

But we see heartening signs of a change in focus now, augmented by the appointment of new members without so many connections to the old battles.

The flood report — and the upcoming reports on water and sewer issues — seem to be asking all the right questions.

And that’s the key to solving the right problems.