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Tag: Grand County

Colorado Faces Long Fire Season As Crews Gain Momentum On Major Blazes
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Colorado Faces Long Fire Season As Crews Gain Momentum On Major Blazes

By Justin George | The Colorado Sun Procession along I-70 scheduled Monday for pilot killed fighting Gold Mountain fire. On Sunday, firefighters worked across Colorado and prepped for monsoon weather. As firefighters work to fortify containment lines on wildfires burning across Colorado, a procession is set for Monday to escort the body of helicopter pilot Nicholas Dale from Montrose to Denver International Airport.  Dale, 56, of Canada died July 12 when his helicopter crashed into Silver Jack Reservoir while fighting the Gold Mountain fire near Ouray.  A small convoy of about 10 emergency vehicles is scheduled to leave Montrose at 7 a.m. Monday from Cripping Funeral Home and will travel north to Grand Junction then east on Interstate ...
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Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Dozens Of Amicus Briefs Challenge Boulder Climate Case Before SCOTUS

By: Kyle Kohli | Complete Colorado As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments in the now 8-year old Boulder climate lawsuit, more than three dozen amicus briefs submitted in the case have made the same essential point: Boulder’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies is an unconstitutional attempt to use state courts to dictate national energy and climate policy, and the high court should put a stop to it.   The briefs represent one of the broadest coalitions to weigh in on climate litigation in years, spanning the U.S. Department of Justice, 78 members of Congress, 27 state attorneys general, energy-producing Colorado counties, former senior national security officials and major business, legal and policy organizations.  Ahead of oral arg...
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Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan Beef, and mutton, are often what's for dinner for one Colorado wolfpack that has racked up a $700,000 tab, according to a review by the Coloradoan. The Copper Creek pack has been implicated in more than 60% of the state's confirmed depredations — 49 of 78 —since Colorado began reintroducing wolves in December 2023, a review of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's confirmed depredations records and ranchers' depredation claim filings shows. Those losses led to payouts by the state exceeding $700,000. That is greater than 40% of the total amount Colorado has paid for wolf depredations in that time. In total, the agency awarded ranchers more than $1.6 million in wolf depredation claims combined in 2024 and 2025. That's more than doub...
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Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is requesting public comment and information regarding Colorado’s gray wolf importation program. This request comes just months after the federal agency threatened to take over wolf management in Colorado due to ongoing problems. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, FWS sent an official warning to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) management saying Colorado violated the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by releasing 15 wolves in January 2025 without informing citizens. FWS also criticized CPW’s management of the Copper Creek pack, which has a history of livestock depredation, and which cost Grand County ranchers alone $450,000 in losses. On April 4, FWS issued ...
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Grand County Demands Answers After State Returns Problem Wolf
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Grand County Demands Answers After State Returns Problem Wolf

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado In a letter to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, Grand County commissioners demanded answers after a gray wolf that recently wandered into New Mexico was returned. They accused the Colorado Department of Parks and Wildlife of violating the Wolf Restoration and Management Plan by returning the wolf to the area, citing a history of depredation. The letter accused the department of ignoring the problem this causes for local ranchers: "Wolf 2403 is a known depredator whose pack's actions have resulted in nearly $450,000 in compensation to Grand County ranchers alone. By re-releasing 2403 back into the county where its pack had previously been removed due to chronic depredation, the state is effectively "translocating the problem" for a ...
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Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate

By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun The Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission voted 6-5 to compensate rancher Conway Farrell after a heated debate that revealed division on the commission. A rancher who received $287,408 in compensation for livestock killed by wolves in 2024 was granted an additional $100,046 on Thursday, after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission narrowly approved his latest claim.  The vote on the table was for the commission to adopt CPW staff’s recommendation to deny rancher Conway Farrell’s claim for direct losses of 89 calves during the time wolves were known to be attacking his sheep and cattle in 2024. The commission voted 6-5 to reject the guidance, effectively granting Farrell’s request.  Commissioners Gabriel Otero, Eden Vardy, Frances S...
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Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Feds unfreeze $4M for Upper Colorado River Basin watershed restoration

By Jerd Smith | Colorado Sun The cash will allow work in fire-damaged watersheds and the Kawuneeche Valley in Rocky Mountain National Park to continue Millions of dollars in federal funding have been released to continue restoring lands and streams in the fire-scarred Upper Colorado River Basin watershed in and around Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park. The roughly $4 million was frozen in February and was released in April, according to Northern Water, a major Colorado water provider and one of the agencies that coordinate with the federal government and agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service to conduct the work.  Esther Vincent, Northern Water’s director of environmental services, said the federal government gave no reason for the  freeze and release of funds....
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers reward for information on Colorado wolf’s death
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Approved, coloradopolitics.com, State

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service offers reward for information on Colorado wolf’s death

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The US Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a reward for information regarding the killing of the male of the Copper Creek wolf pack. The male, known as 2309-OR, was captured in Grand County on Aug. 30 and died on Sept. 3. He was found to be in poor condition. USFWS said a necropsy, which has not yet been released because the investigation is ongoing, revealed that a gunshot wound "initiated the poor condition of the wolf and ultimately led to the cause of death." Wolf 2309-OR was one of 10 wolves from Oregon, which came from packs with a history of killing livestock in that state, that were relocated to Colorado a year ago. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Wolf killed in Grand County was shot; federal officials seeking information
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Approved, kdvr.com, State

Wolf killed in Grand County was shot; federal officials seeking information

By Jacob Factor | Fox 31 News Federal officials are seeking information in the illegal deadly shooting of one of the reintroduced gray wolves that died in Grand County in 2024. The wolf, one of three that died in 2024, was the adult male wolf of the Copper Creek pack Colorado Parks and Wildlife captured in 2024 that repeatedly attacked livestock, prompting the whole pack’s capture. The male wolf died less than a week after his capture, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said at the time. Parks and Wildlife staff found the wolf already in poor condition, with several injuries to his right hind leg and a body weight nearly 30 percent lower than when he was released. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 31 NEWS
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Voters approve lodging taxes for child care in Montrose, along with La Plata, Grand counties
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Approved, Chalkbeat Colorado, Local

Voters approve lodging taxes for child care in Montrose, along with La Plata, Grand counties

By Ann Schimke | Chalkbeat Colorado Voters in three western Colorado communities approved lodging tax measures in Tuesday’s election that will send money to efforts aimed at making child care more affordable and easier to find. The measures passed easily in La Plata and Grand counties and by a slimmer margin in the City of Montrose, according to unofficial election results. With Tuesday’s lodging tax victories, the three communities join about a dozen others in Colorado’s mountain resort regions where voters have agreed to allow some lodging tax proceeds to be used for child care efforts. Often, the funding is used to help families pay for child care or to boost wages for teachers. READ THE FULL STORY AT CHALKBEAT COLORADO
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