Tag: Conservation
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Water destination poised for northern Colorado after years of controversy
Back in 2009, Zac Wiebe was hiking near the foothills of northern Colorado, where today a dam rises close to its final height of 350 feet. “I recall a sign that actually stated the reservoir could be built as soon as 2009,” Wiebe said. That would not be the case — not in the face of…
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Where bison roam and human history was rewritten: Colorado’s Soapstone Prairie
The people overseeing a sprawling place of intrigue near Colorado’s northern border have a saying about it. “We like to say Soapstone will blow you away,” Zoë Shark says. “That has a couple different meanings to it.” The views are one thing at Soapstone Prairie Natural Area: The Mummy Range looms in one direction, rolling…
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After funding, controversial Mad Rabbit trails in Colorado remain ‘in limbo’
It’s been four months since a highly controversial trail project in Colorado gained major funding — what proponents and opponents thought would break a yearslong stalemate. Still, the Mad Rabbit project is showing no signs of progress. That’s the view of Routt County Riders and Keep Routt Wild, two Steamboat Springs groups that have long led…
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Elk migration eased by South Park conservation effort
From the peaks of the Lost Creek Wilderness, more than 2,000 elk migrate annually down to South Park near the towns of Fairplay and Jefferson for the winter. These herds have been traveling these routes since time immemorial. And one of those primary migration routes passes through Dave Gottenborg’s 4,000-acre Eagle Rock Ranch. Gottenborg recently…
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‘It’s just astounding:’ 4,200-plus acres conserved in Colorado’s mountains
Land managers in Colorado’s central mountains are celebrating what they’re calling an unprecedented open space acquisition. Eagle and Pitkin counties recently finalized their acquisition of Three Meadows Ranch — 4,251 acres sprawling to the west of Cottonwood Pass over the Roaring Fork Valley. It’s Eagle County’s largest such open space purchase: $12.5 million toward the total…
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Cloning: The latest in black-footed ferret recovery in Colorado and beyond
Facebook Twitter WhatsApp SMS Email Print Copy article link Save For years, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers have driven out to the eastern plains in the middle of the night, a predator’s hunting hours, in hopes of spotting a pair of green, gleaming eyes. Officers are expected to do just that sometime next year, out…
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Butterfly Pavilion releasing hundreds of monarch butterflies Friday
The Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster will release hundreds of monarch butterflies at their large “Wings of the Tropics” conservatory this Friday at 10 a.m. The release is part of the ongoing “Monarch Magic” event which runs through the end of November. The event seeks to educate visitors about the critical role monarchs play in maintaining…
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‘A miracle’ 30 years later: Advocates celebrate Douglas County open space program
Along Interstate 25 between Colorado Springs and Castle Rock, urban sprawl ends and land and sky prevail. Driving this stretch means more to some people. People like Mark Weston. He looks out to the cattle, out to the mesas and buttes along the way, out to the more distant mountains, and he feels proud. “That…
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Federal judge rules government violated law in authorizing Gross Reservoir expansion, plunging project into uncertainty
Construction of Denver Water’s project is already underway, and Senior Judge Christine Arguello directed the parties to discuss what should happen in light of her ruling
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Western Colorado officials present alternative to controversial national monument idea
Officials in western Colorado have offered an alternative to a controversial national monument proposal surrounding a legendary riverscape. Mesa and Montrose counties have presented a map covering 29,806 acres closely following the Dolores River — proposed acreage for a national conservation area, a designation floated in recent years. Local and national conservation groups have more recently…