The Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission voted Wednesday to open the tract of land — officially called Game Management Unit 471 — for lion hunting. The change gives hunters more flexibility and range, and is designed to push the big cats away from town and reduce encounters with humans.
Category: Environment
Aspen Journalism’s “Connie Harvey Environment Desk” is named in honor of the longtime Aspen environmentalist.
Posted inEnvironment
Biologists: Feds’ target numbers too low for Gunnison sage-grouse recovery
The Gunnison sage-grouse disappeared from Pitkin County in the 1960s; in the 1990s, it was extirpated in Eagle and Garfield counties.
Posted inEnvironment
Challenges ahead for aspen forests
In addition to drier soils, aspen forests across the world are under stress from human activities such as mining, logging and urban development — as well as from some of the very wildlife they help support.
Posted inEnvironment
Degrees of warming: Rising temperatures, shorter winters and a declining snowpack are impacting Aspen’s snow-dependent culture
Pitkin County is warming, the number of frost-free days is increasing and snowpack is declining, with notable impacts on the underpinning of modern Aspen’s economy: snow and skiing.
Posted inEnvironment
Changes ahead for commercial operations at North Star Nature Preserve
Open Space staff is now proposing firm deadlines; any business who misses the deadline wouldn’t be eligible for a permit.
Posted inEnvironment
Anxiety, grief about climate change lead to new support group in Aspen
As awareness of the potential effects of climate change grows, so does anxiety and grief about the seriousness of the crisis.
Posted inEnvironment
Plan for Penny Hot Springs bans dogs, calls for Leave No Trace ethics
The plan hinges on an agreement with CDOT. Pitkin County actually only owns about a tenth of an acre, and the rest of the property that people know as Penny Hot Springs sits in a CDOT right of way.
Posted inEnvironment
Moose settle in to Colorado and hunters take aim
There are now moose in just about every drainage in the upper Roaring Fork River valley, but wildlife officials can’t pin down specific numbers.
Posted inEnvironment
Court: BLM must revamp oil and gas development plan, consider climate impacts
Under last week’s settlement, the Bureau of Land Management must revamp the plan to adequately consider the climate impacts of increased greenhouse-gas emissions from transport and consumption of oil and gas. It must also consider land-management alternatives that would meaningfully limit drilling.
Posted inEnvironment
Holy Cross looks to build energy resilience post-Lake Christine Fire
The Lake Christine wildfire last summer not only destroyed three homes and torched thousands of acres of forest, it also came dangerously close to taking down poles holding the full loop of power lines in Basalt.