Some neighbors aren’t convinced the county should own the property and have called for limitations on public use, a management tool county staff has said they can only explore once they have authority and own the land at the Wildwood put-in.
Author Archives: Elizabeth Stewart-Severy
Elizabeth Stewart-Severy is a freelance journalist based in Snowmass Village. She grew up in Aspen and has worked as an editor at Aspen Journalism, reporter at Aspen Public Radio and an English and journalism teacher at Aspen High School.
Posted inEnvironment
The heritage running through Toklat
Cardamone saw Toklat as key in the role that ACES aimed to fill — not just to educate students about environmental stewardship but to allow nature to infuse all parts of daily life in the community. “Hallam Lake is the school, Rock Bottom Ranch is the grocery store, and Toklat is the church.”
Posted inEnvironment
City of Aspen faces unique challenges in moving to all-electric buildings
Terui’s project is indicative of several challenges the city and communities across the country face in the effort to reduce building emissions by using electricity from renewable sources, rather than using gas, to heat homes. Even when there is a will to go electric, the way is not always clear.
Posted inEnvironment
Agencies from Pitkin County to Glenwood Springs are collaborating on a regional recreation, conservation planning effort
The 3-year-old Roaring Fork Outdoor Coalition, headed up by Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, is looking for expert and community involvement to help establish a plan for natural resource conservation and recreation in the Roaring Fork Valley.
Posted inEnvironment
Pitkin County will pay to preserve Nordic skiing through private meadow
The settlement averted the potential break up of a Nordic course adjacent to Aspen’s public schools that has long held a designation to host high-level races from the International Skiing Federation (FIS).
Posted inEnvironment
Habitat growth fosters wildlife use at North Star, study shows
The data from Lowsky’s report highlights a few areas of concern — including the decline of red-winged black birds and the fact that there are no current great blue heron or red-tailed hawk nests on site — but largely shows that habitat is improving and a wide variety of wildlife use the nature preserve.
Posted inEnvironment
City helping Aspen restaurants comply with compost mandate
Keeping food waste out of the landfill is beneficial not only because it helps to preserve space in the rapidly filling dump 8 miles downvalley from Aspen, but because it keeps that food from rotting under layers of other trash and turning into methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas.
Posted inEnvironment
Paperwork filed for gold-mine exploration near North Star Nature Preserve as county eyes land exchange
“Our intention with filing the NOI on the mining claim is to establish additional documentation of our rights to the mining claim so that we can have a seat at the table when a land exchange is discussed,” members of the Boyles family said in a statement.
Posted inEnvironment
History of North Star, new data to inform future management of nature preserve
Overall trends also show a clear increase in the number of river users, and neighbors and frequent local users say there is not enough reverence for the sacred place. It’s clear that many in the community want to see fewer paddleboarders on the preserve.
Posted inEnvironment
SkiCo closes Hero’s ski area boundary, impacting backcountry access
The move to close the boundary, unveiled when the company released this winter’s trail map in August, came in part at the request of landowners of two adjacent parcels, one of which is being marketed as a multimillion dollar real estate investment.