Plenty of folks in Colorado like their nature as natural as possible. So when park officials began pushing for various amenities and improvements at a popular open-space area in Denver’s western suburbs — including close to $200,000 worth of “nature play” installations that look a lot like playgrounds — the…
This week’s cover story, “Ghosts of Auraria,” delves into the half-buried history of the campus, which is moving rapidly forward with hefty development plans that include three new flagship student-services buildings, a hotel, and a leap across Colfax to build new athletic fields on a contaminated industrial site. The changes…
When you’re a bureaucrat under fire, accused of being a tool of Big Oil, there’s nothing like a big, wet kiss from your critics to let you know you’re being watched — closely. Particularly if that greeting takes the form of a giant billboard on I-70 in Golden, not far…
A proposed bike lane for 15th Street has been a hot topic in the cycling community, with the advocacy organization BikeDenver making its feelings known at a Valentine’s Day love-in at which members presented more than 200 I-love-bike-lanes cards to Mayor Michael Hancock’s office; see photos below. Meanwhile, the Public…
There’s been debate aplenty in the cycling community about a plan for a new proposed bike lane for 15th Street. Now, a Valentine’s Day special: The advocacy organization BikeDenver is staging a “love-in” this morning, all to let Mayor Michael Hancock and other local officials know about the widespread support…
As the Pentagon contemplates different ways to achieve reductions in force in the ramp-down from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, business leaders in Colorado Springs are pushing for a plan that would actually bring more troops to Fort Carson — while ranchers battling expansion of a maneuver site in southeastern…
Earlier this month, news broke that Aspen is considering a yield-stop cycling law — meaning that bicyclists would be legally allowed to yield at a stop sign as opposed to completely halting. At least two other mountain communities — Breckenridge and Dillon — have similar yield-stop laws. But would such…
Because bicycling continues be a popular mode of transportation for traveling around the city, the safety of cyclists is a growing concern among riders and city officials. But some community members and activist organizations think the city needs to take things even further — an opinion they’re expected to express…
Here at the Wild-Urban Interface Desk, we’re puzzling over the new logo just unveiled by Rocky Mountain National Park in celebration of its centennial, chosen two years early from close to a hundred entries. As you can see, it’s a highly retro design, strong on pine cones and columbines and…
According to a press release from the In Defense of Animals organization and a corroborating story in the Boulder Daily Camera, $3,000 has been raised to put toward a memorial for an elk — known as Big Boy to some Boulder residents — shot by a Boulder cop on New…
When you’re battling an institution as powerful as Denver Water, it’s best to have the will of the people, or at least a lot of average joes, on your side. Environmental groups trying to protect the Upper Colorado River basin from massive diversion projects that benefit Front Range development seem…
With the public speaking out overwhelmingly against hydraulic fracturing in Boulder County, the board of commissioners voted unanimously to temporarily extend the existing moratorium on processing drill permits until June 10, 2013. And while the decision didn’t please everyone, many saw it as a step in the right direction. “Extend…
The hydraulic fracturing process involves pumping chemicals into the ground to free oil and gas reserves trapped in tight shale formations. The debate over fracking’s environmental risks isn’t all that different; it’s become a battle to squeeze a few facts out of stubbornly entrenched forces, amid a lot of high-pressure…
Despite an emphatic recommendation against the move by her advisory board, Denver Parks and Recreation manager Lauri Dannemiller has okayed Mayor Michael Hancock’s plan to swap open space in the Cherry Creek corridor for an office building downtown. The decision sets up a showdown between the administration and some Hampden…
It’s now official: In some areas of Colorado, 2012 was the driest year since 2000. A late dump of snow in December has failed to take portions of the Western Slope and the southern part of the state out of the “extreme drought” category. And if the weather doesn’t take…
While the clock ticks away on last-minute negotiations to avoid plunging the nation’s economy over the dreaded fiscal cliff, the U.S. Senate did take steps late last night to provide a path up the side of a mountain — and in the process transform thousands of Colorado scofflaws into legal…
In 2012, a lot more people rode their bikes in Denver and throughout the state — which led to an overall jump in the number of crashes. But a more ominous trend, perhaps, was the growing tension on the road between cars and cyclists, resulting in a steady stream of…
Based on safety concerns and the potential for crashes in a congested corridor, Longmont officials are considering a ban on biking downtown through a so-called “dismount zone” that would require cyclists to get off their wheels and walk their bikes. And while cycling advocates aren’t opposed to encouraging safer behaviors,…
Uneasy hangs the cowboy-hatted head of the man in charge of one-fifth of the land mass in the United States. The strain of running the Department of the Interior seems to be catching up with Ken Salazar, who offered to “punch out” a reporter last month in response to a…
When Colorado native son Ken Salazar became Barack Obama’s Secretary of the Interior four years ago, it was widely expected that he would steer a more “balanced” course through the energy wars across the West, pulling back on the drill-baby-drill mantra of the Bush years. It hasn’t worked out that…
Despite a personal appeal from hizzoner himself, the Denver Parks and Recreation Advisory Board gave a thumbs-down last night to a controversial plan by Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration to swap a parcel of open space in the Cherry Creek corridor for an office building. Amid much soul-searching and head-scratching by…
Five years ago, Denver park officials thought highly enough of a little-known parcel of open space along the Cherry Creek corridor, containing some of the last traces of native prairie vegetation to be found in the city, to officially designate it as a natural area. But now, Mayor Michael Hancock’s…
