Environment

Approximately 168 bears have been euthanized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife personnel in the state during 2017 to date and another 107 or so have been relocated, usually because of problematic interactions with or near human beings, including multiple break-ins to homes and cars. According to one CPW administrator, these numbers have been growing steadily of late for reasons that are both wide ranging and intertwined, forcing wildlife officers to take actions they’d much prefer to avoid.

Crater Trail is an unofficial feature of Rocky Mountain National Park, but it’s also a well-established one, having been in place for generations. Now, however, an environmental assessment conducted by the National Park Service argues in favor of permanently eliminating a trail that’s been a local favorite for generations.

Coal mining and coal-fired power plants declined dramatically in Colorado under the Obama administration, leading to a loss of jobs in areas like the North Fork Valley. So how exactly would the loss of the CPP impact Colorado?

Shuei Kato, also known as Shuei Pako, has been found safe three days after he was due to return from an effort to summit Mt. Missouri in Chaffee County, and early reports suggest that a fire was key to his survival.

Dan Hohs, a well-known triathlete from Steamboat Springs who wrote movingly about how endurance sports saved his life, died after a rattlesnake bite in Golden on Saturday, October 7. His death saddened many his friends and loved ones, who poured out their grief on social media, and speaks to the dangers associated with an uncommonly late rattlesnake season.

The recent arrest of Robert Mears for allegedly attacking a ranger while under the influence of LSD isn’t an everyday occurrence at Rocky Mountain National Park. But officals confirm that drug-related incidents in general have been on the rise at RMNP, the fourth most visited national park in the country.

A local civil rights attorney is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of the Colorado River, hoping to establish “personhood” for the natural resource and its legal rights to exist, flourish and regenerate.

Governor John Hickenlooper was lauded with plenty of praise for his July executive order calling for Colorado to commit to big greenhouse gas cuts by 2025 and to increasing renewable energy resources. But two advocacy groups are saying that Hickenlooper’s order and Colorado in general isn’t going far enough in its plan.

Opponents of the expansion of I-70 through northeast Denver have filed a motion in federal court seeking to halt any further action on the $1.8 billion project by the Colorado Department of Transportation — as well as any further construction work on a series of stormwater diversion measures undertaken by the City of Denver.

Last week, as we’ve reported, Denver’s Joseph Seeds Jr. was rescued from Capitol Peak, a fourteener in the Elk Mountains range near Aspen, where five people have died in 2017 to date. In this post, Seeds, an extremely thoughtful and experienced hiker who’s reached the summit of four-dozen fourteeners to date, shares his survival story, detailing his preparations, the trek to the summit and a brief lapse of concentration during his descent that could easily have led to his death. He also offers tips that, quite simply, are capable of saving lives.

Yesterday, September 6, Joseph Seeds Jr. was rescued by helicopter from Capitol Peak, a fourteener in the Elk Mountains range, where five climbers died over a 43 day period between July 15 and August 26. He avoided becoming the sixth casualty on what has been described as Colorado’s most dangerous fourteener thanks to terrific work by extremely busy rescue crews located in the area in and around Aspen and his tremendous experience when it comes to scaling the biggest peaks in the state.

Dan Haley implied that Coloradans have intentionally monkey-wrenched pipelines and flowlines — and further, the problem would grow if citizens are given full information about their locations on the Front Range. But is monkey-wrenching really taking place?

Because of the fifth death on the Aspen area’s Capitol Peak in just over six weeks, Colorado’s fourteeners have been in the news for tragic reasons lately. But a new survey reveals that these majestic attractions are more popular than ever, with the number of hiker-use days during 2016 exceeding the 2015 total by more than 50,000. The data also identifies the ten most popular fourteeners in the state, as well as those where hikers are less likely to encounter a crowd.

On Saturday, August 26, a thus-far-unidentified 21-year-old man died in a fall from Capitol Peak, a fourteener in the Elk Mountains near Aspen. The man is the fifth Capitol Peak death since July 15, a span of 43 days, or just over six weeks. And while the fourteeners in the Elk Mountains range are considered to be Colorado’s most dangerous, the number of fatalities on Capitol Peak during 2017 to date is unprecedented in recent memory. Capitol Peak registered four fatalities in the decade and a half prior to this year.

Is any of what Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is proposing to do with national monuments even legal?

It’s not easy to prove that Mayor Michael Hancock and his minions are violating the Denver City Charter in their pursuit of a $300 million stormwater diversion project, but opponents of the controversial project have managed to keep things interesting in Denver District Court this week.

Colorado fourteeners are gorgeous, but they can also be deadly. Since caution is key when attempting to summit these magnificent peaks, we reached out to Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, who offers the following ten tips for challenging Colorado fourteeners safely.

Undoing a national monument is apparently a casual and half-assed process, judging by the way the Trump administration is going about it.

The Western Values Project is digging deep to track the potential conflicts of interest in Zinke’s department, while exploring their potential effects on fossil fuel drilling in Colorado.

On Sunday, August 6, a thus-far-unidentified 35-year-old Front Range man died while climbing the Knife’s Edge portion of Capitol Peak, in the Elk Mountains near Aspen. He’s the second person to perish scaling Capitol Peak in less than a month, following Parker’s Jake Lord, who suffered a fatal fall there on July 15. And according to Lloyd Athearn, executive director of the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, data compiled by the organization shows that Capitol Peak and several other Elk Mountains fourteeners are among the riskiest in Colorado.

Researchers at the Boulder-based NIST are taking air pollution to the next level with drone technology.

Zinke’s order came as a concern to leaders of the recreation industry as well as conservationists, who say that the Trump administration is putting oil and gas interests first and foremost – even though the BLM leased the second most land in Colorado of any state during the 2016 fiscal year —  and threatening public lands just as many are citing Colorado’s conservation efforts as the reason behind Outdoor Retailer’s relocation from Salt Lake City.