With hopes of being considered for low-interest emergency-impact loans, roughly 25 Cortez and Mancos business owners attended meetings last week to compile information necessary for loan approval from the Small Business Association.

The business owners are hoping that the low-interest loans will help cover economic losses that were caused by the Bircher and Pony fires and the subsequent closing of Mesa Verde National Park.

The majority of the businesses affected by the fires are tourist-related and include hotels, motels, gas stations and restaurants, officials said.

"We got crunched pretty hard," said P.G. West, owner of the Best Western Turquoise Inn & Suites in Cortez. "It wasn’t that bad during the fire because we got people from Mesa Verde — but the aftermath is where we are seeing it. We are so seasonal here that (businesses) only have about 120 days during the year to make all of their money," he said.

West estimated that his reservations were down 15 to 20 percent. "Some businesses in Mancos are down anywhere from 50 to 80 percent," he said.

Lynn Dyer, director of the Umbrella Tourism Council, reported that since the two fires, hotel and motel reservations have dropped from 25 to 80 percent and campground visitation has dropped from 30 to 100 percent throughout the end of the summer. Dyer added that the campgrounds in Mancos were affected the most by the fires because the large amount of smoke that was in the air while the blazes were burning.

Jim Reser, director of the Small Business Development Center and an instructor of management consulting at Fort Lewis College, said that once the information has been compiled by local businesses it will be sent to Gov. Bill Owens for approval.

"If the application is approved by the governor and the SBA, then all businesses in Montezuma County and all the adjacent counties could be eligible for a (low-interest) loan regardless of state line," Reser said.

The director said that in order to be considered for a loan a business owner must prove that his or her business was viable at the time of the incident and must also show that they suffered a 40-percent loss in revenue since the time of the disaster.

However, Reser said that other economic factors affecting tourism, such as the high price of gasoline, will not be factored into the 40-percent loss. "As long as they can show a 40-percent loss then they are eligible to apply for a loan. It doesn’t matter where the loss is coming from," Reser said.

Reser said that the conditions for the SBA’s low-interest loans have not yet been established. "The range of terms that I have heard so far has gone anywhere from 4 percent for 30 years to a longer term limit at the current rate," he said.

Once a business is approved for a loan, the money can be used to cover all general expenses incurred by the business, according to the SBDC director.

The money can be used for employee and owner compensation, utilities, advertising, rent, or anything else that is necessary to keep the business running, Reser said.

Reser said that in the months to come, business students from Fort Lewis College will be coming to Cortez to help local business owners compile data and fill out the SBA applications. "This will mean practical experience for the students involved and it will help the local business owners," he said.