A U.S. District Court judge blocked a plan approved by federal agencies for 35 fracked gas wells across 30,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land between Gunnison and the Grand Mesa, handing a victory to environmental groups suing the government for failing to take climate change into account in approving new drilling. U.S. District for […]
Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors
Changes to logging planned near Grand Mesa Nordic ski trails could cut conflict. But will the sawmill agree?
Nordic skiers and forest managers took steps Friday toward lessening the impacts of a logging operation on a popular winter recreation area on the top of the Grand Mesa. Officials with the Grand Mesa Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forest sat down with representatives from the Grand Mesa Nordic Council for two hours and came away […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors
A recent timber sale is about to send 250 giant logging trucks through a pristine Grand Mesa Nordic skiing area
High atop the Grand Mesa in Western Colorado, where elevation and a rippling topography come together to create some of the state’s prime early-season cross-country ski terrain, logging is about to collide with recreation. A planned timber sale near the Grand Mesa Nordic Council’s Skyway trail system will allow logging trucks to rumble over a […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree came from threatened Colorado national forest lands
Every year the Capitol Christmas Tree is set on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol and stands as a majestic symbol of America’s national forests. This year’s tree — a towering, 55-foot-tall, 25-foot-wide Engelmann spruce — was selected from western Colorado’s Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forest lands, an impressive expanse of […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, COVID, Environment, Outdoors, Water, Wildfire
“Too many uncontrollables”: From coronavirus to wildfires, Colorado’s hunting season brings a slew of uncertainties
Earl Oesterling first noticed the smoke plumes of the Cameron Peak fire near his business, Ivory & Antler Outfitters, in mid-August. He knew that signaled trouble for hunting even beyond the crowds and the drought that already beset the area. The Jackson County outfitter, located about 20 miles west of what became a massive wildfire […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Newsletters, Outdoors, Outsider
“Bigger than a trail”: Grand Valley’s Palisade Plunge set to open after 10 years of planning, partnerships
PALISADE — “This next stretch, this is where the exposure becomes, um, moreso,” Scott Winans says. The dozen-plus mountain bikers lean over their handlebars and scan the cliff next to the narrow singletrack. A few nervous chuckles evaporate in the gusting wind. For the next hour, the riders mutter “moreso” to each other as they […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Coal company says its freshly bulldozed road in roadless area near Paonia is legal
Mountain Coal Co. says the road it blazed into the Sunset Roadless Area below Kebler Pass is legal and that the Forest Service approved the construction. Conservation groups have attacked the Somerset-based mining company for building the road in early June after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on March 2 ruled the Forest […]
Posted inBusiness, Crime and Courts, Energy, Environment, News
A federal court ruled a coal company couldn’t build a road on public land near Paonia. The company did it anyway.
Mountain Coal Company has bulldozed about a mile of new road into the Gunnison National Forest’s Sunset Roadless Area barely two months after a federal court ruling that banned the mining company from building new roads or methane-venting drill sites in the protected forest near Paonia. A flurry of legal filings by conservation groups last […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
The Palisade Plunge (and its 6,000-foot descent) will be one of Colorado’s crown jewels
GRAND JUNCTION — Perched on basalt boulders at the end of a path freshly carved through a jungle of scrub oak, Scott Winans is as close as ever to a 10-year goal that promises to highlight the recreational assets of his Grand Valley home turf. “It’s been a lot of work to get here. A […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, News, Outdoors
Message scent: Douglas fir beetles detoured from Ouray forest by pheromone packets
These are not the trees you’re looking for. That’s the message sent by the scent wafting from Douglas fir trees on Ouray’s perimeter. The smell emanates from bubble packs stapled to the trees. The packs contain chemicals that mimic the pheromones pine beetles use to send messages to each other. This time, the message is […]