Rocky Mountain Voice

Menu

Tag: Western Slope

Wolf Reintroduction Costs Mount as Colorado Faces Another Budget Shortfall
No Comments
Approved, Aspen Times, State

Wolf Reintroduction Costs Mount as Colorado Faces Another Budget Shortfall

By: Ali Longwell | The Aspen Times A Joint Budget Committee briefing looked at how Parks and Wildlife has spent general fund allocations on wolves. To implement Colorado's voter-mandated reintroduction of gray wolves, the state legislature annually allocates $2.1 million as well as additional funds for compensating ranchers for wolf-related livestock losses. Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy Photo Colorado lawmakers continue to raise questions about the cost of the state’s wolf reintroduction during the early phases of the annual budgeting process for 2026. On Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Joint Budget Committee was briefed by committee staff on the 2026 budget for the Department of Natural Resources, which includes Colorado Parks and Wildlife.  It’s the second step in th...
Read More
Copper Creek Wolves Linked to Another Livestock Killing in Gunnison County
No Comments
The Denver Gazette, Approved, Local

Copper Creek Wolves Linked to Another Livestock Killing in Gunnison County

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette A heifer found dead in eastern Gunnison County on Nov. 22 was killed by one of the yearlings from the Copper Creek wolf pack, according to a rancher, who did not want to be identified. It’s the fourth livestock death in November attributed to wolves. Two calves and a ewe were also killed by wolves in November in Routt, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The Copper Creek pack is believed to be responsible for numerous livestock deaths in Pitkin, Gunnison and Grand counties. One of the yearlings was killed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff in May in Pitkin County after a weekend of livestock killings; a second was shot by wildlife officers in Rio Blanco County in September after it killed si...
Read More
Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Cannot Afford to Leave Its Pioneering Communities Behind

By Tiffany Dickenson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado was built by pioneers. That pioneering spirit still defines the rural communities that grow our food, produce our energy, protect our water, and carry the transportation and natural resource backbone of this state. These communities have never asked for special treatment. They have always done the hard work without complaint and have carried Colorado through every major challenge for generations.  Today, they are being asked to carry far more than their share.  A wave of overlapping state mandates, rising costs, and policy decisions made on the Front Range is hitting rural Colorado all at once. These challenges are reshaping the economic landscape of the Western Slope and other rural regions. If Colorado’s...
Read More
SBA brings disaster loan support to counties hit hardest by Elk and Lee fires
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

SBA brings disaster loan support to counties hit hardest by Elk and Lee fires

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Small businesses on the Western Slope are still digging out from the economic fallout of the Lee and Elk Fires—and the mudslides and debris flows that followed in August. The Lee Fire grew at a pace that stunned fire officials, blowing past 100,000 acres in about a week and briefly becoming the fourth-largest wildfire in Colorado history before later mapping placed it as the fifth-largest. Federal disaster loans are now available to help cover those losses, and the declaration extends across Garfield, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt counties, plus Utah’s Uintah County. Rio Blanco County—where the SBA will place its Business Recovery Center—has some of the highest exposure in the region. Local officials estimate more than 80 percent of the county...
Read More
Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control
No Comments
The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Western Slope Wins State Support In Long Fight To Preserve Shoshone Water Control

By: Shannon Mullane | The Colorado Sun The Colorado Water Conservation Board approved a proposal to use two powerful Colorado River water rights to help the environment. GOLDEN — In a momentous decision for the Western Slope, state water officials unanimously approved a controversial proposal to use two coveted Colorado River water rights to help the river itself.  Members of the Colorado Water Conservation Board voted to accept water rights tied to Shoshone Power Plant into its Instream Flow Program, which aims to keep water in streams to help the environment. The decision Wednesday is a historic step forward in western Colorado’s yearslong effort to secure the $99 million rights permanently. But some Front Range water providers pushed back during the hearings, worried ...
Read More
Erasing My Line in the Sand: How Montrose County Proved Colorado’s “Blueprint” is Complete
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Erasing My Line in the Sand: How Montrose County Proved Colorado’s “Blueprint” is Complete

By Sean Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Earlier this year, I wrote in these pages that “The Constitution isn’t a suggestion. It’s a line in the sand.” I meant every word of it. I said I was done being quiet. I said this was no longer about politics, it was about survival. The survival of liberty, of local control, and of the rural Colorado way of life. I believed I was drawing that line on firm ground, in one of the last conservative strongholds in the state, Montrose County. I was wrong. This week’s recall of Commissioner Scott Mijares did not just remove one man from office. It erased that line in the sand. Not with a court ruling or a federal order, but with a ballot. With a local vote. If you think your county is safe from what just happened here, you are l...
Read More
Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’
No Comments
DENVER7, Approved, State

Colorado Counties Push Back on Polis Over Costly ‘Unfunded Mandates’

By: Allie Jennerjahn | Denver7 In Mesa County alone, Commissioner Bobbie Daniel tracked down almost $10 million a year in unfunded mandates. DENVER — More than 40 Colorado counties have voiced concerns to Governor Jared Polis about laws being passed without funding. They claim it's putting a burden on local governments, and in some cases, leave taxpayers to foot the bill. The concern started in Mesa County when Commissioner Bobbie Daniel started to notice "unfunded mandates" getting brought up constantly when discussing budget. "I asked, 'Anyone tracking this? Is this something that we're, collectively as an organization, tracking?' And no, and we weren't at the time," Daniel said. "And so I said, "Let's continue looking at this. Let's track it and see what we come up with.'"...
Read More
Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?
No Comments
Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Why is Denver trying to buy Western Slope school boards?

By Christy Anderson | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice In the Grand Junction area you may have seen flyers in your mailbox accusing our current school board members, Andrea Haitz, Angela Lema and “Willie” (Will) Jones of being “enemies” who “cannot be trusted.” These false attack ads come from Denver’s “Students Deserve Better” campaign. After digging into the financials, Students Deserve Better is also majorly funded by none other than the Colorado Education Association.  The teachers union has a long history that started in the 1970s of using money to influence local elections, but this year’s spending is unprecedented. The Colorado Education Association (CEA) is pouring tens of thousands of dollars into our local school board race to regain control and push their highly...
Read More
West Slope’s Conscience v. Denver’s Memory
No Comments
GregWalcher.com, Commentary, State, Top Stories

West Slope’s Conscience v. Denver’s Memory

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com Washington Evening Star humorist Philander Chase Johnson created a great character named Senator Sorghum. A 1902 piece called “A Delicate Distinction” had one character saying, “That friend of yours seems to have a clear conscience.” Senator Sorghum answered, “No, not a clear conscience; merely a bad memory.” A convenient memory is common in politics. And current negotiations regarding the Colorado River District’s attempt to purchase the Shoshone water rights from Excel Energy provide a perfect example. Water providers up and down the Front Range, and especially Denver Water, seem to be conveniently forgetting the agreement made more than a decade ago – to support the purchase, and even help finance it. No water rights question i...
Read More