Good morning, Colorado Sunday friends!
I hope you had a good week. I did. But not as good as a moment last fall, when I stepped outside one afternoon and heard a bizarre sound coming from above. I live at the confluence of a couple of airports, so I’m used to weird noises from helicopters, ancient planes and ultralights cobbled together in some guy’s garage.
But this was different. A weird series of trills and clicks from far away. It took a minute to figure out where to look, but when I did, I was in awe — a small band of sandhill cranes swooped and circled high above my head. I wondered if they’d land on a suburban lake near me. Probably not. Almost as soon as they were in focus, they were gone again, making quick work of the flight to the San Luis Valley, where sanctuary awaited them.
In this week’s cover story, Jerd Smith takes a look at the mutually beneficial arrangements around Monte Vista where land and water conservation is working as hard for the local economy as it is for the birds who stop by every spring and fall.
Senior Editor
The Cover Story
San Luis Valley farms are in it for cranes’ long haul
Sandhill cranes have been visiting the San Luis Valley for 7,000 years, and their migration continues to inspire awe and draw thousands of people, who stare through binoculars and spotting scopes to catch a glimpse of these beautiful birds as they refuel for their long migration in wetlands and farm fields around Monte Vista.
But conservationists are concerned about their habitat as a warming climate and related water shortages continue to harm the wetlands they’ve depended on for centuries.
Folks in the valley are adopting a broad-based creative strategy that includes enlisting private farmers to conserve their land and water for the birds and looking at ways to supercharge the region’s tourist economy, which relies heavily on the birds dropping in on their way to winter haven in the south and again en route to breeding grounds to the north.
Jerd Smith | Fresh Water News
The Colorado Lens
In case you missed it, we’ve curated our own visual feed of reporting to catch you up. Here are a few of our favorite snippets of everyday places, people and moments from every corner of Colorado this month.
Olivia Sun | Staff Photographer
Flavor of the Week
Why stop at SeaQuest? More endangered species that need rescuing in Denver
SeaQuest closed its doors, cages, and fish tanks on Feb. 4, setting off a mass migration of creatures across Denver. Uh oh. The city has had trouble housing migrants. But now it appears that if you’re packing gills, fur or a marsupial pouch instead of a tattered backpack, you have better odds of finding cushy digs with all-you-can-eat fish chow or bamboo.
I’m touched by the efforts of the Denver Zoo and the Downtown Aquarium to house endangered creatures. But there are many more deserving specimens wandering our streets, looking for safe homes. Perhaps the zoo and aquarium could develop habitat for …
The last commuter.
The loneliest voter.
SEE MORE OF PETER MOORE’S IDEAS ABOUT AT-RISK HUMANS
Peter Moore | Illustrator
SunLit: Sneak Peek
“Governable Spaces” examines worrisome trends in social networks — and solutions
EXCERPT: Author and University of Colorado assistant professor Nathan Schneider takes an academic’s look at both the landscape and guardrails (if any) of online communities, but also explores the similarities to governance writ large — and why the relationship matters. He posits that a dearth of democracy in our everyday interactions could be encouraging erosion of democracy in the larger scheme. He also defines some solutions.
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Schneider explains how his initial concept for “Governable Spaces” mushroomed once he started researching the subject. Here’s a portion of his Q&A:
SunLit: What did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?
Schneider: In the course of writing, I came to realize that the subject was actually bigger than I initially thought. At first I thought it was just a book about the internet. But the more I wrote, I realized it was also about political theory — about the possibilities we have for organizing ourselves and sharing power. At the end, I gesture toward the idea that if we become democratic citizens in online spaces, it could radically change our relationship to our other forms of citizenship, like our citizenship in countries.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH NATHAN SCHNEIDER
Kevin Simpson | Writer
Sunday Reading List
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
🌞 The boss at the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 is in trouble for violating national labor laws when she told her union-represented employees that if they were unhappy with work conditions, they could quit. Jesse Paul talked with workers who complained and learned the ruling has a lot of people worried that it could cause problems for the broader labor movement in Colorado.
🌞 Do we need 230 more public defenders? Yes, yes we do, according to an assessment by the National Bar Association. But the Office of the State Public Defender is only asking for a third of that number in its budget request for the next year. Brian Eason has the details.
🌞 In other political news, Nikki Haley made a campaign stop in Arapahoe County and had predictably sharp words for her opponent in the GOP presidential primary. Don’t forget to vote — even if it’s to mark Colorado’s version of none of the above on the Democratic ballot. Weld County Commissioner Scott James dropped out of the 8th Congressional District GOP primary, which leaves State Rep. Gabe Evans as the likely challenger to incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo. State Rep. Elisabeth Epps has worked remotely for most of the lawmaking term, which meant she couldn’t participate in debates or offer amendments on behalf of her constituents. She’s not the only one. Dave Williams, who is both state chair of the Republican party and running to replace U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn in the 5th Congressional District, has been using the state party email list to advance his personal agenda and aspirations.
🌞 Adams County has some of the most restrictive oil and gas regulations in Colorado and yet, Mark Jaffe learned, it is producing more oil than any county other than Weld County, its neighbor to the north.
🌞No two people are exactly alike, so it follows that no one cancer therapy would be effective for all. Colorado researchers told John Ingold how they are working to make it easier to match the drugs to a patient’s DNA.
🌞 Colorado Medicaid is discriminating against people with disabilities, a federal complaint claims. Jennifer Brown and Tatiana Flowers talked to families who are struggling with late or nonpayment for services for their severely disabled family members.
🌞 How much do you have to spend to save 20,000 acre-feet of water a year? A budget attached to a plan to encourage cities to remove “nonfunctional” turf, like the grass between a sidewalk and the street, estimates the tab at $2.5 billion, Shannon Mullane reports.
🌞 Do you miss reading quietly for a hour with no task or report attached? Parker Yamasaki went to a bookstore in Fort Collins that is paying people to do just that.
Dana Coffield | Senior Editor
Thanks for dropping in, friends and fam. As always, we very much appreciate your social and financial support. Without you sharing our links and preaching the community of The Colorado Sun, we would not be where we are today. See you back here next week — after we’ve sprung the clock forward.
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
Corrections & Clarifications
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