Colorado’s Roan Plateau, a favorite backcountry zone for hunters, anglers and hikers because of its high-quality wildlife habitat, is once being proposed for oil and gas development. The Bureau of Land Management, in accordance with direction from the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to hold lease sales in Colorado every quarter, has listed four leases on top of the plateau in its proposed December sale, with two additional leases nearby.
Category: Environment
Aspen Journalism’s “Connie Harvey Environment Desk” is named in honor of the longtime Aspen environmentalist.
Posted inEnvironment
‘Where’s our bench?’
All departments/programs at the White River National Forest have seen reductions in the workforce, except the forest leadership team, which has been able to fill positions with Forest Service employees who have left other roles within the agency. Recreation, engineering and specialist roles have been particularly hard-hit.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Alternate route into Aspen now included in traffic counts
An analysis of a calendar year’s worth of data confirms that the side-entrance traffic makes up a significant portion of total traffic, as drivers seek to beat the gridlock that typically chokes Highway 82 during the morning and afternoon peak periods. Added together, vehicle counts from Highway 82 and Power Plant Road through all of 2025 show last year’s traffic approaching a 1993 threshold established as a benchmark to stay below.
Posted inEnvironment
Latest North Star plan includes ‘peak-use’ policy, commitment to conservation
The plan lays out 39 indicators that are meant to guide Open Space and Trails in ensuring that management is on track to meet the desired conditions, with thresholds that raise a red flag if something is amiss.
Posted inEnvironment
Aspen Highlands master plan includes gondola to Cloud Nine, summer operations
Highlands’ lift fleet has changed little since a push for upgrades in the ’90s. SkiCo wants to “be in business forever” and can’t do that on essence alone.
Posted inLocal Public Data
Record high temperatures compound low-snowpack problems
Temperature and precipitation data in the Roaring Fork Valley shows that most of this winter has experienced above-average temperatures with below-average precipitation, making this season one of the hottest and driest on record.
Posted inEnvironment
GarCo staff memo gives Harvest proposal a thumbs down
The recommendation for denial was based on numerous factors, according to the staff report, including concerns and noncompliance issues related to the developer’s proposed housing density and plans for commercial usages, water, wildlife, affordable housing, public transportation access, and impacts to traffic and other public infrastructure, among others.
Posted inEnvironment
Developers are selling the Harvest project as a boon for workforce housing. Others see a burden.
One project skeptic said he doesn’t doubt the developer is genuine about wanting to help address the valley’s housing needs. “I think he believes he can make money and solve a social problem, I’m not going to bet the farm on that.”
Posted inEnvironment
The Western Slope’s nuclear fracking legacy
Observers remain concerned that modern horizontal drilling and fracking technologies have increased the risk that the entombed radioactive material may be disturbed, and skepticism persists that the flaring of contaminated natural gas after the Rulison test had harmful effects.
Posted inEnvironment
As e-bike use grows, so do accidents
More than 60% of the bike and e-bike accidents on Pitkin County OST’s properties involved an e-bike, as they become increasingly popular among locals and visitors.