When the mines closed and the railroad left town in the 1980s, “pretty much everyone in Salida was unemployed,” Mayor P.T. Wood remembers. And when the West Slope oil and gas industry took a nosedive in 2014, sales tax revenue in Fruita plummeted 90%. Both communities have filled at least part of the void left […]
Colorado State University
Posted inEducation, Health, News
Colorado State University is fast-forwarding archaeology with tech to help future researchers understand today’s Earth
Colorado State University archaeologist Chris Fisher was in the beginning stages of unearthing an ancient “megalopolis” in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, a decade ago when he ran up against a tough reality: it would take him the rest of his career to document such a huge find using traditional archaeological methods. The buried city […]
Posted inEducation, News
In a shifting climate for research, Colorado State hosts a museum teeming with bugs — and that’s a good thing
FORT COLLINS — Amid a campus in metamorphosis, tucked in the basement space of a building that stands in the shadow of Colorado State University’s sparkling football stadium, Boris Kondratieff nurtures a collection of common and exceptional creatures — some that have been in residence since before statehood. The C.P. Gillette Museum of Arthropod Diversity, […]
Posted inEducation, Health, News
How Colorado’s rural education network went from teaching home economics to fighting the opioid epidemic
CSU Extension agent Abby Weber covers a lot of wind-swept territory putting on workshops about rabbit and poultry care, sustainable living and cake decorating, and she also oversees shooting-safety classes, robotics challenges and dog-training courses for Bent County 4-H clubs. And now Weber and other extension agents are moving to the front lines in the […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
How a small Colorado town fought the Japanese beetle and won
PALISADE — In 2003, Brant Harrison needed a project. The Palisade peach grower was part of an agricultural leadership program and needed something good. Around the same time, he attended a meeting hosted by Colorado State University about a new insect found in the area: Japanese beetles. They’d found a few in 2002. “The next […]
Posted inEnvironment, Outdoors, Water, Wildfire
Climate change is transforming Western forests. And that could have big consequences far beyond wildfires.
LA VETA — From her family’s summer cabin north of Walsenburg, Camille Stevens-Rumann could see the glow of the Spring Creek Fire on the ridge to the south in the summer of 2018. “It was pretty spectacular, my 4-year-old was excited,” she said This past June, Stevens-Rumann walked a burnt slope near the town of […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, Opinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Western states buy time with a 7-year Colorado River drought plan, but face a hotter, drier future
As Midwest states struggled with record spring flooding this year, the Southwest was wrestling with the opposite problem: not enough water. On May 20, 2019, federal officials and leaders from seven states signed the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, a sweeping new water management agreement for this arid region. The plan is historic: It acknowledges that […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, News, Water
Controversy over Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir expansion offers a glimpse into water woes in the West
Tucked out of view in the foothills southwest of Boulder, Gross Reservoir is a mountain oasis surrounded by pine trees, alpine flora and chattering wildlife. On a typical summer day, hikers, campers and kayakers leisurely come and go, lured by the landscape’s beauty. Residents who live on the north shore of the reservoir take their […]
Posted inBusiness, Culture, Education, Growth, News
Meet the city-guy-turned-cattle-rancher driving the $1 billion effort to preserve the National Western Center’s roots
At age 47, long-time Denver architect Brad Buchanan found himself in the uncomfortable position of helping a mama cow give birth. “I had my iPhone propped up in the crook of my shoulder the first time I pulled a calf at four in the morning,” said Buchanan, who, despite his day job in the city, […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News
Chemical contamination from 7 Colorado coal-fired power plants found during groundwater monitoring
When Platte River Power Authority checked the groundwater near its Rawhide power plant for coal-ash contamination last year, it found some. Levels of selenium, which can cause human hair loss and deformities in fish and wildlife, were higher than deemed safe by federal groundwater protection standards. The authority, which released the Rawhide report in January, […]