An exploration of Gunnison

Andrew Cosgrove

                After a short exploration of Gunnison and the surrounding area I found a valley that wasn’t all that different from my home in northern Colorado. Many species of animals from my hometown live in the valley, and the human population seems to be supported by similar industries to my home town.

The human community in Gunnison seems to be supported primarily by three different sources of income. The first source of income for the town seems to be ranching and farming. The town appears to act as sort of a center for surrounding ranches and farms. There also appears to be more ranches than farms.  The second strongest industry appears to tourists lured to the town by hunting and the skiing in Cresta Butte. This would account for unusually large airport for a town of the size of Gunnison. The last source of support appears to the collage. Many of the local business seem to by trying to target students and their parents. For instance many of the local apartments and houses for rent place their ads along common routs to, and are built close to, the collage. Also the location of restaurants and stores seems to be purposefully placed near the campus. This makes sense if such a large percentage of the town’s population live or works on the campus (I was told Gunnison had a population is about six thousand and the number of students is about two thousand).

                The natural community seems to be fairly different from the one I have grown accustom to back home in northern Colorado. Back home there are tall craggy peaks surrounded by pine and aspen trees. While here there are low rolling hills of sage brush. The large elk that I use to see on my early mooring drive to school back home have been replaced by smaller, faster, antelope. I also got the chance to see a large orange and pink spider that was larger than any spider I seen at home.