Grand County rancher Paul Bruchez stands in a hay field near Kremmling, holding a small tuft of hay between his fingertips, twirling it back and forth, seeing how quickly it disintegrates after a summer without water. The plant, known as timothy, feeds thousands of cattle here in the Upper Colorado River Basin. This hay species […]
Grand County
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
While the world melts around me, I look to Colorado’s landscape for relief
I wake every morning looking out at the still-snowcapped Byers Peak with a pinkish hue from the sunrise. I believe in starting each day by giving gratitude and now more than ever I realize the importance of being grateful for my life. While the world is melting down around me, I watch Instagram-worthy sunsets over […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Veteran resort operator proposes to lead Granby Ranch out of chaos
A Colorado ski industry veteran has assembled a team that wants to run the ski area and golf operations at Granby Ranch even as the longtime owner of the resort navigates foreclosure. “The circumstance of Granby Ranch is relatively tumultuous. The current situation does not deter us at all,” Andy Wirth and his son Jace […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Lender scuttles Granby Ranch deal, files to foreclose on resort weighed down by $62 million debt
Nothing has come easy for Marise Cipriani in Colorado. Last month the owner of the struggling Granby Ranch ski and golf resort community in Grand County told local leaders she was walking away from the property she had developed for nearly 25 years and handing it over to a lender. That deed in lieu of […]
Posted inEducation, Environment, Growth, Outdoors, Politics and Government, Water
After decades of negotiations, restoration efforts on Colorado’s heavily diverted Fraser River are showing signs of success
For decades, the Fraser River has struggled with low flows, rising stream temperatures, sediment build-up, plummeting fish populations and degrading aquatic habitats due in large part to Front Range water diversions that drain 65% of the river. But after years of heated negotiations — and the formation of a partnership between environmentalists, Grand County officials […]
Posted inEducation, News
There’s an app for that: How two rural Colorado counties reached more kids with developmental delays
By Anne Schimke, Chalkbeat Colorado A decade ago young children who missed key developmental milestones — like walking or talking — too often fell through the cracks in northern Colorado’s Grand and Jackson counties. Some were never screened for delays as babies or toddlers. Others were screened, but not referred to the right place for […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Lawsuits, lenders and irked homeowners creating chaos around the sale of Granby Ranch ski resort
As an unnamed buyer circles Grand County’s privately owned Granby Ranch ski area, a roiling circus of family, lenders and homeowners is assailing resort owner Marise Cipriani. It’s not a pretty scene at the picturesque 5,000-acre ski and golf resort along the Fraser River, which Brazilian developer Cipriani has owned since 1995 and put on […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Cabin, RV and glamping resort promises to transform Granby as development wave rolls through Grand County
GRANBY — From atop a snowy knoll along the icy headwaters of the Colorado River, Derek Wilson beckons across a field of beeping, growling earthmovers. “Really, our plan is about what people want,” says Wilson, an executive with Sun Communities, the nation’s largest builder of manufactured home communities that is betting big on the expanding […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Environment, News, Wildfire
Wildfires in Colorado cost $130 million in 2018. Here are the details, down to the $40 daily rate on portable toilets.
KREMMLING — Dozens of empty tents staked on dried-up, end-of-summer grass rustled in a wind-whipped cow pasture north of town. Fire camp was nearly deserted, as the hundreds of crew members working to contain the Silver Creek wildfire had been gone since just after breakfast, fueled by fried eggs, sausage and potatoes. In the distance, […]