As Roaring Fork Valley residents navigate this winter’s low precipitation, leaders at the Aspen Center for Environmental Studies (ACES) are warning that shifting average temperatures are also a significant concern. At the beginning of the month, Forest and Climate Director Adam McCurdy noted the asymmetric warming trend in ACES’ monthly “Wild Tracks” newsletter. Asymmetric warming […]
Environment
Posted inEnvironment
Why the wooden stakes?
Red Hill Council update Visitors to Mushroom Rock Trail may have noticed an increase in wooden stakes and boundary lines along sections of the trail. These markers outline closure areas where a test-case revegetation project was initiated by volunteers during the fall of 2025 in order to protect and restore the trail and surrounding landscape […]
Posted inEnvironment
The Arctic Hoarder returns to Colorado
The North American wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) is a survivor. It is called the Arctic Hoarder for good reason. This small mammal, a member of the weasel family, lives at high elevations where it’s cold and snowy. Wolverines scavenge for food in the summer and cache it away for winter. And they are returning to […]
Posted inBusiness
Good Earth prioritizes people and place in landscaping
For over three decades, Carbondale-based Good Earth Landscaping & Maintenance has made it their business to enhance Valley homes and buildings. Originally started by David and Melanie Crandall, the company has been owned by business partners Jeff Margulies and Josh Austin since the winter of 2017/18. Good Earth focuses on high-end landscaping in Aspen and […]
Posted inColumns
Former local reporter’s new novel strikes a chord for resort-town residents
Editor’s note: Potential spoilers lie ahead. Michael Bourne, a professor of writing at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and a former reporter for Aspen Daily News, recently wrapped a mini tour promoting his second novel, “We Bring You an Hour of Darkness,” a riveting read that offers a peek, albeit fictional, into the world […]
Posted inNews
1,500-unit development faces fierce opposition ahead of February planning meeting
On Jan. 6, hundreds of Roaring Fork Valley residents gathered remotely, and in person at Carbondale’s Third Street Center, to voice concerns about Harvest Roaring Fork, a proposed 1,500-unit residential community on roughly 283 acres of open space near the confluence of Cattle Creek and the Roaring Fork River. Hosted by a citizen-led opposition group […]
Posted inEnvironment
Former Forest supervisor warns of ‘deliberate dismantling of the public lands system’
Last year, Scott Fitzwilliams retired from his position as supervisor of the White River National Forest. He had been in the role for 15 years, nearly half of his 35-year career with the U.S. Forest Service. His previous locations with the agency included northern Wyoming, Alaska and parts of the Pacific Northwest. The newly inaugurated […]
Posted inEnvironment
Roaring Fork Watershed faces ‘exceptional’ drought
January 2026 began with a drought that persisted through 2025. Signs were already apparent last winter, which saw the lowest average snowpack in a decade. Despite rains in September and October, for much of last year, all of Colorado was experiencing drought conditions. Both November and December saw less precipitation than average, and warmer temperatures […]
Posted inEnvironment
West Slope wildlife finds care at PSSWF
It’s wintertime at the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation (PSSWF) in rural Garfield County, and as the season sets in, educational visits and wildlife caretaking shift toward repairs, ruminations over a challenging year and meditations on the future of its operations. When Nanci Limbach founded the wildlife rehabilitation center over 40 years ago, it began […]
Posted inEnvironment
CPW seeks public input on beaver conservation and management strategy
In mid-November, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) released the draft of its “Beaver Management and Conservation Strategy” (“Beaver Strategy”) study and invited the public to review and comment on it. As stated in the document’s Executive Summary, the strategy’s purpose “is to increase and sustain the prevalence of beaver and beaver-influenced wetlands in suitable habitats […]