Outdoor recreation groups hope handing out poop-disposal kits will cut down on the problem piling up on Colorado’s public lands
Gunnison County
Posted inHousing
Western Slope voters overwhelmingly passed taxes on short-term rentals to fund affordable housing
Colorado’s Western Slope communities could generate about $40 million in new tax revenue from vacation rentals to support affordable housing
Posted inElection 2022
Voters across Colorado’s high country will weigh in on new taxes on short-term rentals, affordable housing proposals
As many as 14 Colorado municipalities and counties will ask voters next month to increase or repurpose taxes on short-term rental properties — offered on sites by Airbnb and Vrbo — to help fund affordable housing
Posted inOutdoors
A Crested Butte couple just wanted better backpacking coffee. They made something so good NASA came calling.
Mark and Alison Drucker co-founded First Ascent in 2014 and brewed up instant coffee four years later. Their product is now headed to the International Space Station at the request of an astronaut.
Posted inClimate, Energy, Environment, News
Environmental coalition sues Colorado over late air pollution permit for West Elk Mine
Colorado has missed by almost a year an air pollution permit deadline for the West Elk Mine near Paonia, a major Western Slope source of volatile organic compounds, n-hexane, methane and other pollutants, according to a lawsuit filed by a coalition of environmental groups. Arch Coal-owned West Elk applied for an air pollution permit in […]
Posted inBusiness, Housing, News
Colorado high country commissioners blast Airbnb report that disconnects short-term rentals from housing crisis
A group of 15 commissioners from seven mountain counties is blasting a recent study commissioned by short-term rental giant Airbnb that dismissed the idea that short-term rentals are eroding worker housing in Colorado’s high country. “Airbnb narrowly focused on positive impacts, and facts appear selected to craft a story that is not entirely true, especially […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors, Outsider
Record high calls for help are stressing Colorado’s mountain firefighters, emergency responders
There are more people living in their vacation homes in Colorado’s resort communities. There are more people visiting and staying in short-term rental homes. “But it’s a challenge to quantify any of this,” said Jake Andersen, deputy chief of operations for the Aspen Fire Protection District. Fire chiefs like Andersen can gauge one impact of […]
Posted inNews, Outdoors
Colorado’s geographic renaming board begins process of scrubbing Native American slur from 28 sites
The Colorado Geographic Naming Advisory Board on Sunday began the process of scrubbing the offensive slur “squaw” from 28 of the state’s peaks, valleys, passes and creeks. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland in November created a committee to strip the offensive name from federal maps. The Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force in February identified […]
Posted inEducation, News, Outdoors
The new standards for testing outdoor gear are being created by Colorado university students
GUNNISON — In the basement of the new Paul M. Rady engineering school at Western Colorado University, professor Greg VanderBeek directs six students using a horizontal bandsaw to cut 2-inch steel tubing. “Remember, perfection happens at the welding table,” VanderBeek says as the students measure. Soon the students are grinding corners and welding a frame […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Jeff Hermanson, developer of Denver’s Larimer Square and Union Station, is investing big in Crested Butte
There’s a new heavyweight investor buying up properties on Crested Butte’s historic Elk Avenue. But this time it’s not a reclusive billionaire from afar. Jeff Hermanson, who transformed Denver’s Larimer Square and Union Station, has lived in Crested Butte for 48 years. And he’s buying commercial properties on what he calls “one of the greatest […]