COVID-19 Info
Tracking the curve
|
Updates on the spread and the fallout focusing on Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties.
Environment Desk
Increase in human-caused bear deaths raises concern for forest health
|
When natural foods aren’t abundant, bears are forced to move around more, searching for calories. This makes bears more vulnerable to hunters, and it also leads to an increase in roadkills and conflicts in developed areas.
Water Desk
Inspectors at Ruedi Reservoir are first line of defense against growing threat of invasive mussels
|
Last year at Ruedi, inspectors found mussels on six boats. This year, since the boat ramp’s opening June 1, inspectors have already found mussels on 13.
Water Desk
Alternative plan to Wild and Scenic River designation for upper Colorado River OK’d
|
The alternative management planning process came about after the BLM in 2007 found that 54 miles of the upper Colorado River from Gore Canyon to Glenwood Canyon were eligible for a federal Wild & Scenic River designation.
Water Desk
Forest Service flooded with comments opposing Whitney Reservoir, drilling
|
The U.S. Forest Service received more than 500 comments, mainly in opposition, to a proposal by the cities of Aurora and Colorado Springs to drill bore holes to determine the feasibility of a second reservoir in the Homestake Creek drainage.
Water Desk
Colorado’s oldest water rights get extra protection from state engineer
|
Some water experts say preserving these pre-compact water rights, even though they aren’t being used, could give Colorado stronger footing in potential negotiations with lower basin states by propping up Colorado’s consumptive-use tally on paper.
Environment Desk
CORE funding at risk; ‘transition year’ ahead
|
Fees from Pitkin County’s Renewable Energy Mitigation Program are likely to continue to decline because of recent changes to the building and energy codes.
Water Desk
Roaring Fork River expected to peak early
|
But despite the lower-than-average flows, this weekend is probably one of the best of the year to go boating on local waterways.
Big bore in hard times
|
Aspen locals in 1930 welcomed the work on a big dam-and-tunnel project on Independence Pass, but the community grew to miss the water in the river.
Water Desk
The delicate dance of Dillon Reservoir during spring runoff
|
The current forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Colorado River Basin Forecast Center estimates as of May 11 that there is 146,000 acre-feet of water — in the form of snowmelt — that will flow into Dillon Reservoir through July 31.