More monitoring may be recommended; “We definitely need to dig deeper,” said one Pitkin County official
Category: Environment
Aspen Journalism’s “Connie Harvey Environment Desk” is named in honor of the longtime Aspen environmentalist.
Microgrid feasibility study underway to connect Aspen airport, RFTA, public works
Greater efficiency, renewable energy storage are implementation goals.
Thompson Divide conservation agreement is a step forward for Pitkin County, AVLT
Public access to be determined in the context of biodiversity using ’best available science’ as the guide.
Buildout projection, recent trends drive Pitkin County’s downzoning push
Studies show residential buildout is no more than halfway done, and that new homes are getting bigger and consuming more.
Degrees of warming: How a hotter, thirstier atmosphere wreaks havoc on water supplies in Pitkin County
Average summer-month temperatures in Pitkin, Garfield counties up between 2 and 3.5 degrees as runoff comes earlier and streamflows decline.
Smoke waves expected to intensify, continue to threaten public health across Colorado and the West
Researchers expect more smoke days per year, while public health experts uncover far-reaching consequences
Local ranchers face backlog of cattle due to coronavirus. Now comes the drought.
“We not only do have to keep them because there was nowhere to go with them, and then all of a sudden we find ourselves in the middle of a drought. We basically got to the point where we had to get rid of them, whatever price was being offered.”
Increase in human-caused bear deaths raises concern for forest health
When natural foods aren’t abundant, bears are forced to move around more, searching for calories. This makes bears more vulnerable to hunters, and it also leads to an increase in roadkills and conflicts in developed areas.
Increased use, violations on Pitkin County open space kept rangers busy this spring
The number of enforcement contacts — in which rangers had to remind people of the rules through a simple conversation, a warning or a ticket — exploded in the spring, especially in May.
CORE funding at risk; ‘transition year’ ahead
Fees from Pitkin County’s Renewable Energy Mitigation Program are likely to continue to decline because of recent changes to the building and energy codes.