In a basin high above Ouray’s bustling tourist shops and hot springs pools, one of the precious metals that birthed this town and fired up its early boomtown days, is readying for a comeback. The first major silver mine in the San Juan Mountains in at least 80 years is on course to be in […]
Trout Unlimited
Posted inColoradans, Energy, Environment, Health, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
EPA announces Colorado-based office dedicated to cleaning up abandoned mines
The Environmental Protection Agency is creating a new office in Lakewood that will focus on cleaning up abandoned hardrock mining sites west of the Mississippi River, including the Bonita Peak Mining District where the Gold King Mine disaster originated in 2015. The Office of Mountains, Deserts and Plains will be located in the EPA’s regional […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: We argued for years. But now we’re working together to benefit people and fish.
Born in Colorado, the mighty Colorado River serves over 40 million people and irrigates nearly 5 million acres of farmland before it enters Mexico. It is the hardest-working river in the West. The river also provides some of the finest trout fishing in the country and attracts millions of dollars in associated outdoor-related revenue to […]
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 inEnvironment, News, Politics and Government, Water
Cory Gardner, Scott Tipton bring new “good Samaritan” bill to address abandoned mines and stoke solution for $50B problem
Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner and U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton on Thursday introduced the latest version of a so-called “good Samaritan” bill to address abandoned, leaking mines in the U.S. with hopes of breaking roughly two decades of congressional gridlock on the topic. With just weeks left before the end of the year, the legislation […]
Posted inNews
First efforts to revive populations of Colorado’s state fish seemed fruitless. Then the greenback cutthroat trout surprised everyone — again.
HERMAN GULCH — It has been a long road — or river — to recovery for Colorado’s state fish, the greenback cutthroat trout. First, the species was considered extinct. Then it was rediscovered, reproduced and reintroduced to waterways across the state for decades, only for scientists to learn through genetic testing in 2012 that they […]
Posted inEnvironment, Growth, Health, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Three years after the Gold King Mine spill there’s no fix to leaky abandoned mines. What’s the holdup?
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY — When the Gold King Mine spill sent a plume of yellow sludge cascading down the Animas River in southwest Colorado three years ago, environmentalists and conservationists saw an opportunity to educate the public about a problem that’s been around for decades. They also saw it as a way to draw new […]