At first, the two towns seem to have little in common: Vail , Colo., a ski-resort community two hours west of Denver, is bisected by Interstate 70, while Nantucket, Mass., an island off Cape Cod, is reachable only by boat or plane. But Vail, at an average elevation of 8,150 feet, is surrounded by the White River National Forest. “We might as well be an island,” says George Ruther, the town’s housing director, who is charged with finding places for middle-class workers—including the town’s more than 300 employees—to live. “If that wasn’t national forest, it would all be built on,” Ruther says, pointing to the carpet of trees flanking I-70. “Our challenge with housing,” he says, “has always been the scarcity of land.”

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Persons: Vail, ”, George Ruther, ” Ruther, “ Locations: Vail, Colo, Denver, Nantucket, Cape Cod