Federal land managers are weighing a policy to prohibit fixed anchors in wilderness, stirring protest from climbers and legislation from lawmakers
wilderness
Posted inOpinion Columns
Opinion: What a whiteout on Wolf Creek Pass taught me
Staying calm and thinking clearly can get us through stormy weather and the storms of the human kind.
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Laura Pritchett: Over the Gunnison Valley, airplanes and acronyms converged
Three things are true: One: I crush on my birth state and forever state of Colorado. Two: I do not crush on acronyms. I loathe them. I loathe them because they generally signal something suspiciously complicated; meetings with too many acronyms make me want a whiskey. Three: Yet I crush on my job shepherding students […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Outdoors, Wildfire
20 years of planning saved Rocky Mountain National Park from the worst of the East Troublesome fire. It will take 20 more to fix the damage.
Early on the morning of Oct. 23, Mike Lewelling stood at the Forest Canyon Overlook on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and stared 2,500 feet down into what he called a cauldron of fire and swirling wood smoke. The East Troublesome fire had Lewelling, the park’s fire management officer for 15 years, […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Economy, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Off-highway vehicles are revving up locals (in a bad way) in Colorado’s remote mountain towns
When Teri Havens bought two acres tucked in a thick stand of aspen on a hill south of Marble in 1995, it was her bit of backcountry nirvana. Yes, it sat along a popular jeeping trail ̶ a county road leading to the historic Lead King Loop. But she could live with four-wheel-drive vehicles jouncing […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Let’s act now to protect Colorado’s desert wildlands. The ball is in our senators’ court.
Colorado is blessed with an abundance of wild and remote public lands, free for the exploration and enjoyment by any and all. Among these are some of the most spectacular and undeveloped canyons and mesas of the Colorado Plateau, the lesser-known cousins of Utah’s famously renowned canyonlands. Now, after decades awaiting congressional scrutiny and action, […]
Posted inOpinion, Write On, Colorado
Of whoopie pies and wilderness, and how isolation robbed me of my ability to focus
Here’s the thing about whoopie pies: They aren’t that good. Never were. The official Maine State Treat is a century-old tradition with a similar shelf life. Made mostly of sugar, flour, lard, and cocoa, they live somewhere between a cookie and a cake and are decidedly not pies. They are ubiquitous at the check-out counters […]
Posted inEnvironment, News, Outdoors, Politics and Government
Cory Gardner introduces bill adding 40,038 acres of wilderness to Rio Grande National Forest
As Colorado’s U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner rides a wave of accolades for swaying President Donald Trump to support legislation to fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund, he’s also floating his first-ever bill to grow wilderness acreage in Colorado. Last month the Republican quietly — as in without any news release or announcement — […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Under-investment in public lands hurts Coloradans and shortchanges all Americans
The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), America’s best conservation program, is crucial to supporting communities like ours in Colorado. Our economy and culture depend on continued access to the outdoors, and since 1967, Salida has received nearly $270,000 from LWCF that has supported projects ranging from the popular Milk Run Trail, a rails-to-trails effort […]
Posted inOpinion, Opinion Columns
Opinion: Let’s put Colorado back on track to fund and protect our state parks
When he was 7-months-old, my son went through a phase where he would cry as long as he was indoors, but smile as soon as we took him outside. As an outdoors-loving dad, I could think of worse phases for my child to endure. Now almost 5, my son’s desire to spend time outside has […]