As drought conditions worsened on the Western Slope, the National Weather Service has issued its first “extremely critical” fire danger warning in 15 years for northwest Colorado. The warning, in effect through midnight, covers parts of Moffat and Rio Blanco counties that also are in a state of “exceptional drought,” according to the weekly U.S. […]
Western Slope
Posted inNews, Politics and Government
Lauren Boebert is known for her far-right Republican views. But Republicans alone didn’t send her to Congress.
Lauren Boebert is best known for her far-right Republican views. But it wasn’t Republicans who were solely responsible for sending the Garfield County woman to Congress, a Colorado Sun analysis of voter registration data and the 2020 election results shows. Unaffiliated voters, who since at least February 2019 have made up the largest voting bloc […]
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: The Windy Gap settlement is a win for the Western Slope and its waters
The history of Western Colorado’s water is told in stories of hard-fought wins and losses, of lawsuits and government petitions, of tough negotiations and collaboration. In Grand County, the history of Western Slope water — and Front Range demand for that water — is more visible than in other areas west of the Continental Divide. […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, News, Outdoors
Colorado mountain, resort communities are rebounding — and then some — from coronavirus-scarred 2020
John Norton, Gunnison County’s tourism czar, was talking to his board last April. The ski resort had closed abruptly. Lodging and restaurants were closed. Visitors were being told to leave. The pandemic was triggering a panic in tourist-based economies across the country. A board member asked how much the Gunnison River Valley tourism community could […]
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: Diana DeGette’s Colorado wilderness bill goes too far
Spring is usually an exciting time for ranchers. Baby calves hop around and the land begins to thaw with the promise of food for the cattle we have cared for and fed all winter. Soon, it will be time to move those cattle out to graze. In western Colorado, many ranchers rely on some of […]
Posted inColoradans, News, Politics and Government
Lauren Boebert vowed to shake things up in Congress. She has delivered in her first week.
As she barnstormed across the 3rd Congressional District last year with a pistol on her hip and a steady stream of Democrat-aimed insults rolling off her tongue, Lauren Boebert promised to make a big, loud splash in the nation’s capital if voters sent her to Congress. Colorado’s newest U.S. representative has delivered on that – […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Economy, News, Wildfire
Grape disappointment: Colorado vineyards say an October freeze will chill their 2021 vintage
The grape vines lined up in rows throughout the Grand and North Fork valleys look promising for a 2021 vintage with their usual winter-brown foliage bunched neatly on trellises. But cut into a bud, or scrape a stalk, and there are hints of the underlying damage done by a severe late-October freeze. An estimated 70% […]
Posted inBusiness, Climate, Coloradans, Environment, Health
On Edge: In a rural Eastern Plains community plagued by drought, stigma won’t be easy to overcome
EADS – “The Splotch,” as some here call the brown mark on the map they check weekly, is the color of scorched earth. Here in Kiowa County, farmers have always relied on whatever moisture happens to fall from the sky rather than on irrigation. In August, this 1,300-person community bordering on Kansas was the first […]
Posted inOpinion
Opinion: A toast to Coloradans’ willingness to unite on water needs
It may be time to amend the old adage, “Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting.” On three different ballot questions in the 2019 and 2020 elections, Colorado voters set aside differences and chose to tax themselves to invest in the state’s water future. It’s clear that water wins in Colorado, and it wins […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Colorado needs a water market to reduce Colorado River water use
In November 2018, the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) established support and policy statements for a Demand Management Program requiring Colorado River water reductions under a Demand Management Program to be voluntary, temporary, compensated and proportional. The CWCB committed to working on the feasibility of a Demand Management Program in Colorado that would contribute our […]