Colorado and Roaring Fork Valley snowpack plummeted in March, due to a combination of above-average temperatures and below-average precipitation. Early in the month, watershed nonprofit Roaring Fork Conservancy (RFC) raised alarms in a community newsletter, highlighting that snowpack in the Valley was at 65% of normal on March 4, with average site depths of 8.7 […]
environment
Posted inEnvironment
Fire & Water takes cinematic journey along Colorado River and through wildfire
The Middle Colorado Watershed Council (MCWC) will host the second event of its 2026 Fire & Water Speaker Series next week. The Rifle-based nonprofit organizes events each spring to engage community on topics around water, wildlife and humans within the Colorado River Basin. The first event, hosted last month, introduced hydrologist and writer Robert R. […]
Posted inColumns
How did fracking ever become legal?
Freeing oil and gas deposits from its shale, tight sand and coalbed methane coverings was first done with explosives in 1865. Using pressurized fluid and sand, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, was invented in 1947 and commercialized by Haliburton in Kansas in 1949. Beginning in the 1990s, the process, combined with horizontal drilling, started the methane […]
Posted inColumns
CVEPA Views: McClure lore and the road to power
At a town hall-style meeting in late 1971, the White River National Forest (USFS) presented its vision to designate the Chair Mountain-McClure Pass area as “primitive.” The area was basically untouched save for a horse and foot trail starting at the top of the 8,755-foot pass and an annual sheep grazing permit. There was, however, […]
Posted inColumns
CVEPA Views: Treachery at the highest level
It has been a long, slow evolution in the United States to achieve the environmental standards and protections that the American people have come to benefit from. We stand stunned at the short period of time that these achievements have unraveled. Clean air and water… are they not inalienable rights? Greed, an unquenchable thirst for […]
Posted inColumns
CVEPA Views: A conundrum, pure and simple
The news of the massive methane leaks emanating from the abandoned Coal Basin Mine above Redstone for years was shocking to many, but not to all. Anyone familiar with the Mid-Continent Coal and Coke (MCCC) mine knows that it was one of the most gaseous mines in the West.The horrific gas blast of April 15, […]
Posted inOpinion
Freedom’s just another word…
“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.” I love the curious lyric in Kris Kristofferson’s ballad of Americana, and it’s good enough for Bobby McGee. I resonate more with Dylan’s perspective on such values as freedom: “I spoke the word, as if a wedding vow.”On the birthday of The Sopris Sun, I keep […]
Posted inNews
GarCo Report: Communist library board, DC lobbyist, proposed property tax reductions
Anti-manga activist John Lepkowski brought copies of the Japanese illustrated books to Monday’s Garfield County Commissioner (BOCC) meeting that he and others in the county want moved or removed from the Silt Library. He said that as of Saturday, Dec. 2, “The trash books are still at low level,” referring to the low shelves at […]
Posted inNews, Uncategorized
The sinking of Highway 133
Nature is coming for Colorado drivers from all sides during springtime in the Rockies. Commuting in the mountains is like Chicken Little’s version of Russian Roulette with rock slides, mudslides and sinkholes. Coloradans may not have to slalom alligators and roll over Burmese python speed bumps, as they do in Florida, but I contend driving […]
Posted inNews, Uncategorized
Poop, there it is!
It’s a sight too familiar — dog waste, bagged and otherwise, littering our favorite trails. As the snow thaws, the problem is especially evident. One might wonder, did this person intend to grab their bag on the way back? Or do they think it’s somebody’s job to ferry poop away? Not only is it unsightly, […]