The Telluride School District is scheduled to vote on whether to install an artificial turf athletic field at the Intermediate/Middle/High School at their February 9th board meeting.  We must speak NOW.

The growing evidence of potential environmental and health risks associated with artificial turf is too great to ignore. The cost to install and maintain artificial turf is high and not in our school budget.  Spending $500 - $1m for initial install plus $300k+ potentially every 8-10 years on artificial turf is not the best choice for our community compared to a more dutiful job of maintaining a new, state-of-the-art, natural grass turf including a dedicated field manager, the cost of using snow plows, solar turf covers, and potential underground heating to melt the snow and extend playing time for our athletes.

With professional athletes like Kobe Bryant speaking out against the injuries soccer players sustain on artificial turf, proven studies on abrasions, conclusive studies that zinc, lead, and volatile organic compounds run off during storms, that the TMHS field is in a flood plane, toxicologists calling the cancer in soccer players an "outbreak" and citing disproportionate numbers of leukemias and lymphomas in the 15-30 age range of athletes playing on artificial turf, we have to listen.  Considering this information, teamed with the fact there are other ways to extend playing time (turf covers, plowing, and snow blowing on natural grass turf), we believe a good quality and well-maintained grass field is the best option with the information available at this time.

Though the ballot question for the school expansion included a synthetic turf field as part of the language, we have consulted contract lawyers and have been advised this does not bind the existing board to vote in favor of artificial turf.  We were told that the issue would be investigated and reevaluated prior to installation. 

Other communities have turned to petitions on change.org to prevent crumb rubber artificial turf fields in their communities.  Telluride needs to join New York Parks and Rec, Maryland, Los Angeles Unified School District, and a current bill in the state of Virginia and have a moratorium on synthetic crumb rubber turf fields.

The spirit of Telluride and the needs of the community and athletes is best served by the installation of a natural grass turf field and investing in the staff and equipment necessary to maintain it.