Every summer in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, a long, high desert valley ringed by mountains, Jose Martinez watches in admiration as water flows from an irrigation pipe across the contours of his land, feeding the 8 acres of alfalfa he grows near his home in San Francisco, a town of fewer than 90 people. The […]
Colorado Open Lands
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Environment, Growth
Mitigation “bank” near Greeley will offset wetland damage, meet Clean Water Act rules
Developers often dropped by unannounced at the Allely farm to ask if the family would consider selling their 70-acre property south of Greeley at the confluence of the Big Thompson and South Platte rivers. The answer was always no — the Allelys did not want their land, which had been in the family since in […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
A world-renowned climate research site near Crested Butte is now protected by a conservation easement
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic has spent almost a century working to protect pristine swaths of wild lands. The research site, which draws scientists from across the globe every summer and ranks among the world’s largest, oldest and most productive field stations, now is permanently protecting its entire 270-acre research site. As part […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, Opinion, Opinion Columns, Outdoors
Video opinion: Battle over San Luis Valley water draws in sandhill cranes
Sandhill cranes have been migrating through the San Luis Valley of Colorado for thousands of years. The Rio Grande River likely attracted the first cranes to the Valley, providing the ideal habitat and abundant food resources that they required to complete their migration. Early settlers brought agriculture to the San Luis Valley with them. To […]