As Coloradans know, exploring the great outdoors is an essential cornerstone of our quality of life and with many of us confined to our homes during this spring’s shelter-in-place order we’re seeing people craving the freedom and tranquility of nature more than ever. Right now this means enjoying the trails, rivers and streams that are […]
Mayfly Outdoors
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
The Western Slope economy was already improving. Then Opportunity Zones added a power boost.
MONTROSE — David Dragoo leans over a balcony of the new headquarters for his Mayfly Outdoors. Inside, workers are forging high-end fly-fishing equipment. Outside, earth movers crawl across a dusty tract near cyclists leisurely pedaling along the lush banks of the Uncompahgre River. “Ten years ago, it just wasn’t cool to be here. It didn’t […]
Posted inBusiness, Energy, Environment, Growth, Outdoors
Are Colorado’s oil and gas and recreation industries all that different? Economists say no — and we need to protect them both
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 […]