Western Slope

Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget

Westword, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

Colorado is eighteen months into the state’s wolf restoration project, and the teeth are still coming out.

So far, the state has paid over $370,000 in claims to ranchers who have been impacted by the presence of wolves near their operations. Although wolf advocates and detractors both agree that Colorado should compensate people for wolf-related losses, ranchers believe the funds are not enough to cover the full breadth of the impact of the carnivores in this state. Conversely, wildlife advocates question if some of the reimbursements that ranchers have claimed are a good use of taxpayer money.

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Nearly 10 pounds of fentanyl powder seized in drug trafficking operation on Colorado’s Western Slope

CBS Colorado, Approved, Local, Western Slope / / , ,

Seven people have been arrested, accused in a drug trafficking operation in Garfield County on Colorado’s Western Slope. According to investigators, approximately four pounds of methamphetamine, three ounces of cocaine, nine-and-a-half pounds of fentanyl powder, and approximately 220 fentanyl pills, along with a firearm, were seized.

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Colorado ranchers and commissioners urge halt on wolf ballot measure, seek better management plan from state

State, Approved, coloradopolitics.com / / ,

While they might agree on the problem, a group of Western Slope county commissioners and agricultural groups are asking proponents of a ballot measure to repeal Proposition 114, which allowed the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado, to back off.

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Mesa County Commissioner advocates for fair share of transportation dollars

Top Stories, Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice / / , ,

With an ever shrinking budget, and an ever increasing demand for state money for road repairs and construction due to increasing population and use on the Western Slope, Mesa County Commissioner, Bobbie Daniels went to the state legislature to put a spotlight on the needs of western Colorado.

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Western Slope officials supporting the nuclear option for energy

Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State / / ,

Jump started in the past year by Gov. Jared Polis’ clean energy mandate and the imminent closing of the Craig Station Power Station, local governments have been studying new technologies — such as small modular nuclear generation and technologies that allow spent nuclear fuel to be recycled and repurposed.

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Cattle rustling — the ‘easy crime’ — decimating Western Slope ranchers

Approved, gazette.com, Local / / ,

The grass crunches underfoot and dust billows in dense clouds as a truck and trailer speed out of public lands in Montrose County. The trailer is full of calves lowing plaintively. The driver gives the Western salute, one or two fingers raised as a four-by-four rumbles past. The truck turns on to the highway, nose pointed east.

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Gaines: The people doing ag in this state need to speak up for each other

Approved, Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary / / , , , ,

Whether you run cattle on the Western Slope of Colorado or you grow forage on the Plains, there are precious few people in Colorado in Production Ag, while there seems a never-ending list of advocates — paid, volunteer, and sometimes from out of state — who are speaking up in support of things that either have the potential to harm producers or that will most assuredly harm them.

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Ranchers hit CPW with $580k in compensation claims for livestock impacted by wolves

Approved, State, The Colorado Sun / / , , ,

Ranchers in Grand County hit Colorado Parks and Wildlife with a $582,000 bill for wolf kills and related impacts on cattle and sheep in the first year of reintroduction, and they are hoping the sum will convince the parks and wildlife commission to pause the next phase of the program at its meeting in Denver on Jan. 8. 

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