Author Archives: Curtis Wackerle

This week, Aspen Journalism published three stories from our environment and water desks that highlight connections among resources, climate change, infrastructure, growth demand and environmental impact. 

Aspen Journalism has made the most of these last few weeks of summer. Since the last letter from the newsroom, Aspen Journalism has published a total of six in-depth stories showing the depth and range of our talented staff and freelancers. Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett gave us three bylines, including the latest in a […]

An astounding number of private planes at Aspen Airport, and an environmental Pandora’s box as Aspen Ski Company readies for expansion.

Recently at Aspen Journalism, we published Water Desk Editor Heather Sackett’s report on the conclusion of two studies looking at backup-water-supply options for the Crystal River, where late-summer low stream flows threaten water availability for some residential subdivisions with junior water rights.

A three-part series on the history of the Northern Utes, this region’s indigenous peoples, from Aspen-based history writer Tim Cooney.

As someone who has lived my entire life in the American West — between a childhood in Portland, college years in Montana, and the time since in the Roaring Fork Valley — I’ve grown to be shocked and saddened over how little we as a society understand and acknowledge the extent of what took place […]

Why are water managers, whose operational lives are now dominated by making and planning for adaptations in response to climate change, so notably absent from climate-action discussions?

Recently at Aspen Journalism, we brought you a story (“The outsized impact of REMP residences,” May 27) born of Data Editor Laurine Lassalle’s curiosity about what could be learned by examining permit data for homes subject to the city of Aspen and Pitkin County’s Renewable Energy Mitigation Program, or REMP. For more than two decades, […]

Putting together our announcement post, linked below, was a great trip down memory lane, revisiting the stories and reflecting on all that went into each of them. See which of AJ’s stories from last year the judges from SPJ chapters in Chicago and Ohio chose as among the best journalism in a four-state region.