After wildfires burn through vegetation and scorch soils, there’s an increased risk of erosion, flooding and debris flows. On Basalt Mountain, the unusual topography added a new layer to the hydrology.
Category: Environment
Aspen Journalism’s “Connie Harvey Environment Desk” is named in honor of the longtime Aspen environmentalist.
Bill McKibben has a message for Aspen’s billionaires
“I’m coming to Aspen mostly because, frankly, it’s where lots and lots of people in the financial industry come to play, and the financial industry — the biggest banks and asset managers in the world — are increasingly the focus of efforts to try and slow down climate change.”
Mountain-lion hunting expands near Aspen
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.