As the Jaws of Life pried open the crumpled wreckage of the Rohwer’s Farm GMC Sierra to rescue family members, their community was rallying to help them as word quickly spread of the early morning crash on a highway just outside Durango. It was market day, and many were on that same road into town. […]
Cortez
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Farms should not be a default source of water to growing Colorado cities
The seven Colorado River Basin States and stakeholders are engaging to replace an important document with a long name: The 2007 Interim Guidelines for Lower Basin Shortages and the Coordinated Operations for Lake Powell and Lake Mead. These Interim Guidelines are set to expire in 2026. Over the past year, the Family Farm Alliance has […]
Posted inCOVID, News
High case numbers drive southwest Colorado tribes to revive COVID restrictions
The Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian Tribes in southwestern Colorado have revived coronavirus restrictions on gatherings, hoping to quell coronavirus case numbers that have risen to the highest point since the pandemic began in 2020, according to tribal spokespeople. The Ute Mountain Ute tribal council Monday imposed its second-most stringent coronavirus precautions — […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Sale of Osprey Packs marks yet another public-company acquisition of a Colorado-raised outdoor company
Osprey Packs, a 47-year-old pack maker in Cortez, has sold to publicly traded consumer company Helen of Troy for $414 million. It’s the latest in a growing list of out-of-state, publicly traded companies buying Colorado outdoor businesses since last year. Compass Diversified spent $454 million to buy Denver-based Boa Technology last fall, marking one of […]
Posted inCrime and Courts, Environment, Equity, Growth, News, Outdoors
What happens when the lure of outdoor rec starts to pull people onto tribal lands?
INDIAN WELLS, ARIZONA — When the FBI suspected someone was illegally digging artifacts from the Navajo Nation, an agent called Jonathan Dover for help. Dover was working as a Navajo Ranger who specialized in archaeological crimes. He drove with the FBI agent out into a search area that spanned hundreds of square miles. They were […]
Posted inGrowth, Housing, News
Housing in small Colorado towns is “damn near a crisis.” But the solution isn’t as easy as just building more.
MANCOS — There’s no affordable housing in Mancos. Zero rental units. Nearly no houses on the market. The town’s school district struggles to hire teachers because they can’t find a place to live. It’s the same story with the town government, the hospital and the nursing home. It’s an “overwhelming issue” for the town of […]
Posted inEconomy, Growth, Housing, News
“It’s scary”: The housing shortage has reached a crisis point in southwest Colorado
DURANGO — Pagosa Springs paramedic Matt Robison was living with two friends in a 1,200-square-foot house until this summer — when his rent would have leapt 60%, to $2,400 a month. Robison hit the road, working wildland fires and living out of his truck. Sixty miles west, professor Rebecca Clausen has heard from faculty at […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Economy, Environment, News, Water
As drought in the West worsens, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Colorado faces a dwindling water supply
TOWAOC — In late June, Simon Martinez drove along one of the dirt roads crisscrossing the parched rocky shrubland on the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Farm & Ranch Enterprise, a 7,700-acre agricultural operation owned by the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in the far southwestern corner of Colorado. In normal times, he would be driving past […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water, Wildfire
Northwest Colorado under “extremely critical” fire warning for first time in 15 years as Western Slope drought worsens
As drought conditions worsened on the Western Slope, the National Weather Service has issued its first “extremely critical” fire danger warning in 15 years for northwest Colorado. The warning, in effect through midnight, covers parts of Moffat and Rio Blanco counties that also are in a state of “exceptional drought,” according to the weekly U.S. […]
Posted inClimate, Coloradans, Economy, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Hard-right rooted group has made inroads in Colorado opposing Biden’s vision for public lands
Land grab or precious-resource preservation? The battle over where the truth ̶ and where Westerners’ hearts ̶ lie on that matter is rumbling through Colorado counties as a federal government initiative nicknamed 30×30 gains momentum, and opposition. Colorado has become the beachhead in a Texas-based group’s efforts to use local governments to thwart the Biden […]