Six years after the drill-baby-drill crusaders of the Bush administration targeted one of Colorado’s most ecologically unique places for widespread energy leases, a surprisingly reasonable compromise has been hammered out over the fate of the Roan Plateau. The deal is being praised by state and federal officials as well as…
After years of battling the Pentagon’s plans to expand the 367-square-mile Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, ranchers and other residents of southeastern Colorado thought they’d finally achieved peace with honor last fall, when a top Army official formally announced that the military was abandoning any land acquisition plans for PCMS. But…
Between Buena Vista and Salida, the Arkansas River sweeps through Browns Canyon, an area of granite cliffs and rugged backcountry that’s popular with elk, bighorn sheep, mountain lions and black bears — not to mention hunters, anglers, rafters, hikers and campers. But this quintessential slice of Colorado wilderness is also…
No one denies that the vividly named Seidel’s Suckhole offers challenges aplenty to rafters navigating the Arkansas River, as witnessed by the tragic death of Sue Ann Apolinar, who’d booked a journey with a company called Arkansas Valley Adventures. Jesus Espinoza, Jr., Apolinar’s son, subsequently sued AVA, maintaining that the…
Our Adam Roy recently told you about Casey Nocket, who he described as “a graffiti artist…suspected of leaving her mark on one of the state’s most-visited slices of wilderness, Rocky Mountain National Park.” Now, Nocket is thought to have done likewise on another beautiful part of our state: Colorado National…
These are the tools you’ll need to extract sperm from some of the rarest trout in the world: a towel, a small glass dish like those used on cooking shows to hold chopped ingredients, gloves, fish tranquilizers and your thumb. On a recent day, no fewer than ten biologists, staff…
The city’s $3.25 million settlement with Jamal Hunter is just the latest hit the Denver Sheriff’s Department has sustained in recent weeks. Between charges that complaints of abuse have been ignored and accusations that guards have been drinking on the job, smuggling in drugs and porn and instructing inmates to…
WildEarth Guardians probably wouldn’t advise you to take a family day trip to the South Platte River anytime soon. The grassroots environmental group is accusing a sugar-processing mill of illegally dumping harmful pollutants into the river…
A new study of the Stapleton neighborhood, Denver’s nationally acclaimed infill project, concludes that key traffic engineering decisions have encouraged high-speed driving rather than traffic “calming,” made residential areas less safe and generally worked against efforts to develop the area as a showcase of New Urbanism — a design ethos…
Denver B-cycle launched a new station Wednesday on Delaware Street and 11th Avenue, but this one has B-cycle executive director Nick Bohnenkamp feeling giddier than the previous eighty locations. “This is Denver’s first on-street bike station,” Bohnenkamp explained during Tuesday’s opening ceremony with Denver mayor Michael Hancock “That might not…
Less than an hour after the plane dropped them off, Eric Larsen and Ryan Waters saw the polar bear tracks. The two Boulder-based explorers were just beginning their campaign to complete a rare, unsupported land-to-pole trek, walking almost 500 miles across the sea ice from Canada’s Arctic shores to the…
The American Lung Association’s massive State of the Air report for 2014 is out, with the organization grading places all over the country in terms of air pollution, including Colorado. Ozone-pollution figures for fourteen Colorado counties were available, and the ALA’s judgments are harsh: Eight of the counties get grades…
“Shining Cities,” a new report from Environment Colorado, compiles an incredible amount of data about solar power, including a ranking of the top ten solar cities in the United States. Yes, Denver made the list — barely. But while this accomplishment might seem worthy of praise, Environment Colorado energy associate…
Should 3.2 beer be banned in Washington Park? Two weeks ago, Denver City Councilman Chris Nevitt suggested the city try banning beer in Wash Park for six months in order to combat drunken behavior; he sent that request to Laurie Dannemiller, director of the Denver Department of Parks and Recreation…
April is here, and Denver’s parks are abuzz — but not because of daffodils, robins and honeybees. Rather, it’s our First World right to get buzzed — whether it’s with booze or with pot — in these public places that has people springing into action. And while the 4/20 Rally…
Over a hundred residents of Washington Park and beyond made their way to the Denver Baha’i Center last night to debate whether or not the park should put a temporary ban on alcoholic beverages — specifically 3.2 beer, the only liquor allowed there. The crowd seemed evenly divided, with half…
For the past two weeks, the area around Colorado Springs has been besieged by tumbleweeds. Piles of the dessicated, rolling shrubs have clogged streets and yards, trapping residents at home in at least one case. For farmers, the plants have choked off irrigation ditches, the piles of tinder-dry shrubs forming…
The tumbleweed invasion is nigh. Over the past few weeks, gaggles of the rolling desert shrubs have taken over portions of central Colorado, clogging streets and driveways, and trapping a few residents in their homes. Some communities around Colorado Springs have even resorted to clearing away the plants with snowplows…
To Patricia Olson, the offer just made sense. If the Stapleton Development Corporation was having trouble paying for the continued services of Dennis Piper, a key consultant involved in planning the emerging neighborhood’s parks and open space, then Olson would pay Piper’s salary out of her own pocket. But her…
The irascible and irrepressible Jack McCroskey passed away last week. The scant details in the Denver Post report and his online obit don’t even provide his age, which had to be at least 88, and nothing of the acerbic wit and passionate citizen activism that propelled him into public office…
The Colorado Court of Appeals has rejected efforts by a group of park lovers to stop construction of a new school on eleven acres of open space in the Cherry Creek corridor — land that the city designated as a natural area six years ago but that the Hancock administration…
Denver Parks and Recreation officials have been in high reverse gear in response to mounting neighborhood opposition to the proposed City Loop project in City Park, the subject of last week’s feature, “Parks and Wreck.” After critics raised a barrage of concerns about City Loop’s cost, public input process, and…
