Happy new year, and welcome back to the Roundup, Aspen Journalism’s newsletter sharing our most recent stories and insight from the newsroom. Thank you for bearing with us through our end-of-year campaign and helping us to raise donations to fund much of our 2024 reporting. Thanks to readers and funders who believe in this work and support this newsroom’s nonprofit model, we are honored to share that we met our goal.
The recent reporting shared today spans a few weeks of story publication representing a few months of effort. In the final weeks of December, we kicked off a series that will be ongoing over the coming months from longtime local writer and editor Paul Andersen, who has spent decades thinking about what makes this community tick and is uniquely poised to help us understand the challenges and opportunities it faces in the current moment. The first installment in his “In search of community series” covered the importance of regionalism in the increasingly connected space between Aspen and Parachute where the population has swelled to some 90,000 people. Part two was an intimate look inside the phenomena of the community potluck, exploring how such events represent the better angels of our nature while introducing us to some of the folks who make these things happen.
Andersen has lived in the valley for 40 years and has authored 15 books about the region. Before reporting on the series “In search of community,” he last wrote for Aspen Journalism in 2014, penning stories on environment and history. Look for more to come soon in the series — Andersen is currently at work on the third installment, which is being broken up into four parts, under the theme of “Aspen: The embattled community.”
From Heather Sackett on the water desk, three stories offer glimpses into the future of Colorado’s water. The reporting covers a forecast through 2050 of how climate change will increasingly cut into streamflows; what is being done locally to shore up water rights in a historic deal inked by the River District; as well as the challenge of agreeing on conservation program recommendations amongst competing interests.
And we published the last story in our five-part series in collaboration with Allen Best, another experienced Colorado journalist who publishes the energy and climate news source Big Pivots, examining evolving norms in how Colorado uses water in urban landscapes. Best’s reporting on this topic took him from headwaters communities on the Western Slope that have started rethinking their use of water for landscaping, to the suburban expanse of the Front Range, where cities face existential questions about growth and sustainability. The final installment examines the question of how far policy will have to go to regulate water use for urban landscapes in order to keep up with the challenges presented by a water-short future.
Laurine Lassalle, editor and reporter for the local public data desk, continues to produce a weekly data dashboard which uses data visualization and reporting to give relevance to local data points, from snowpack levels to Lake Powell water storage levels, air temperatures and air quality.
We hope your 2024 is off to a great start. And, as always, thank you for reading, and supporting, our nonprofit, local newsroom.
– Curtis Wackerle
Editor and executive director
Holiday potlucks and food pantries nourish scents of community
Initiatives key to building bridges and creating welcoming spaces with intention
By Paul Andersen | December 30, 2023
“This dinner was for lifties, ski instructors and service workers who have come into Aspen from Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Peru and other faraway places,” said chapel minister Nicholas Vesey, who led a raucous caroling session after a turkey dinner with all the fixings. “We wanted to give them a good Christmas.”
Regionalism evolves as a uniting force from Aspen to Parachute
“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” – John Muir
By Paul Andersen | December 24, 2023
This community is contiguous but divided, homogenous but diverse, connected yet fractured. This community is complex and often at odds with itself over its past, its present and especially its future. It contains microcommunities delineated by overlaps and separations, yet strongly influenced socioeconomically by Aspen and Snowmass.
Colorado River crisis looms over state’s landscape decisions
Do we really need thirsty nonnative grasses in road medians? Colorado will consider curbs on water use for imported turf species.
By Allen Best | December 29, 2023
The deepening troubles of the Colorado River, a significant source of water for most of Colorado’s 5.9 million residents, has implications for the types of grasses we grow in our yards and in street medians.
Climate report projects continued warming and declining streamflows for Colorado
Warming could lead to decreased water supplies and more shortages
By Heather Sackett | January 8, 2024
This warming, which scientists are very confident will come to pass, will drive the other water system changes that Colorado can expect to see.
Drought task force can’t agree on conservation program recommendations
Some members said recommendation ‘premature’
By Heather Sackett | December 21, 2023
The lack of recommendations about conservation programs highlights the complicated nature of water in Colorado and the difficulty of achieving consensus among competing interests.
River District inks historic water rights deal for Western Slope
Water for Shoshone hydropower plant is key to Colorado River flows
By Heather Sackett | December 20, 2023
According to the purchase and sale agreement, the River District must pay $1 million by Jan. 1, but that is just the start.
Data dashboard: Roaring Fork basin snowpack is down to 80% of normal
ASE records swinging air temperatures during the holidays.
By Laurine Lassalle | January 8, 2024
• Snowpack at McClure Pass reached 67% of normal with a snow-water equivalent of 4.8 inches on Jan. 7, which slightly up from last week’s 4.7 inches.
• High air temperatures at ASE went as low as 20°F on Dec. 25 before going back up to 39°F on Jan. 2.
• Lake Powell was 35.9% full on Jan. 7, down from 36.2% last week.
Data dashboard: Snowpack at Indy Pass reaches 62.5% of normal
Roaring Fork basin snowpack is below last year and below normal.
By Laurine Lassalle
January 3, 2024
• The monitoring station at McClure Pass recorded a snow-water equivalent of 4.7 inches on Jan. 1 or 71% of median. That’s up from 4.6 inches on Dec. 25. but down from 9.1 inches of water last year.
• Lake Powell was 36.16% full on Jan. 1, down from 36.37% a week ago.
• Aspen air quality remains “good.”
There are always stories that need a journalist to pursue them. These Aspen Journalism investigative stories are published for you, the community, and our collaborators as a public service, thanks to the generosity of our readers and funders.
