AUGUST 27, 2014 BY
Last night’s Talking Green was on the Sustainability of Historic Preservation, hosted by YVSC, Historic Routt County and Bud Werner Memorial Library with Patrick Eidman of History Colorado and Paul Bonnifield, local historian.
If you missed this in-depth look at historic buildings and the numerous benefits of restoring them, you can view the videos here now on our You Tube channel.
Patrick’s extensive knowledge of buildings was enlightening – from LEED vs. restoration, a deep comparison of old vs. new windows, and many great examples of restoration projects in Denver, it’s clear that scrapping old buildings for the landfill to replace them with high tech buildings of the future is simply not the way to go. A marriage of the two practices is what our culture needs to adopt for the greenest practice. If a roof is rotting, sure it should be replaced; and modern technology of energy efficiency should certainly be used, but we must be conscious of our waste – and the building industry produces over 200 billion tons of waste per year. Learn more:
As all locals know, Paul Bonnifield is the fountain of knowledge on Routt County History. Author, writer, and regular contributor to the Valley Voice, any half hour with Paul is enlightening. Each town’s history is unique, and preserving that is imperative; Paul spoke to Routt County’s uniqueness, and the strengths behind reduce-reuse-recycle.
Patrick Eidman is the Preservation Planner for History Colorado
Raised on a sheep ranch in Eastern Kansas, Patrick Eidman learned early the importance of caring for the land and the necessity of reuse and recycling (baling wire really does have 1001 uses!). This appreciation for working cultural landscapes informed an ethic that would eventually lead him to the Environmental Studies and City and Regional Planning degree program at Sonoma State University in California and a summer internship with Colorado Preservation, Inc. Colorado quickly became home and Patrick’s commitment to preservation of the historic built environment was fueled by experiences that demonstrated time and again that historic preservation was a critical tool for the economic, social and environmental sustainability of local communities. Now Director of Historic Preservation Technical Outreach for History Colorado, Patrick leads implementation efforts for the statewide preservation plan, regularly speaks at statewide and national conferences on historic preservation, and works daily to support grassroots efforts that protect Colorado’s unique cultural and architectural heritage.
Paul Bonnifield has been a professional rodeo cowboy, college professor, underground coal miner, railroad conductor, contract cowboy, and professional historian 
and author. He earned his Ph.D. in twentieth century American history from Oklahoma State University. His book, Dust Bowl: Men, Dirt, and Depression,is regarded as a standard on that period of American history. His writings include other books and numerous articles as well as newspaper columns about regional history. Paul contributes to a variety of publications and frequently serves as historical advisor for projects, locally and nationally. He presents scholarly papers to the Western History Association and speaks at local gatherings. He and his wife, Ellen, co-author a fortnightly history column for The Valley Voice, and they recently completed and submitted a manuscript about the Meeker Massacre and the Ute Indians in northwestern Colorado.
