I think it was Charles Dickens who described a March day as summer in the light, and winter in the shade. This year there’s been a lot more of winter in the shade, a welcome circumstance for water managers. All those overcast days could even be part of the reason for more snow accumulation at […]
Post Type Archives: Newsletters
Posted inThe Roundup
The Roundup | Tracking the Curve will cease; reporting on SCP applications will not
Three years after the first COVID-19 case was reported in Colorado and Pitkin County, this week’s update of “Tracking the Curve” will be the last. Over the past few months, the data has become less reliable as people rely more on at-home testing, resulting in fewer cases and positive tests being reported to the state […]
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The Roundup | Buydown assistance pilot program aims to shift housing paradigm
“Show what it’s like to have a home.” Vague as it might be, that was the direction photographer Daniel Bayer and I settled on before he made his way to Eagle to meet the Carlton family, to gather images for our story published this week by freelancer Andrew Travers, about the efforts of a new […]
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The Roundup | Low-elevation snow and child care shortage stack up from Aspen to Parachute
Anyone who has dealt with childcare in the Aspen-to-Parachute region knows it’s a tough business. If you are lucky enough to find a spot for your little one, you probably had to sit on a waitlist for quite some time and the cost is right up there with a second mortgage. Providers face a constant […]
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The Roundup | Farm operator, not just landowner, may apply for water conservation program
Water managers set criteria for conservation program participation Grand Valley Water Users propose payment for land, not water By Heather Sackett | February 22, 2023 The Grand Valley Water Users Association (GVWUA) is rejecting the concept of paying farmers based on an amount of unused water, even as the association’s board voted to participate in […]
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The Roundup | How the sausage gets made with X Games attendance numbers
When Aspen Journalism got an invited to check out the operations center staffed by the Pitkin County incident management team assembled to help handle the public safety aspects of Winter X Games, we saw it as an opening for our data desk to mine the rich vein of metrics coming out of what has historically […]
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The Runoff | Legislation, funding applications and instream flow loans
The opening weeks of 2023 have been filled with legislative updates and new bills, state water board news, Colorado River happenings and new chapters for local issues. Let’s dive in. – Heather SackettEditor and Reporter on the Water Desk No-flush wipes bill drafted State Senators Dylan Roberts and Perry Will, who represent the Western Slope […]
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The Roundup | Going to extremes to get the story
Our Water Desk broke news on two fronts. We also posted our write up from the Jan. 5 event we hosted with author Ted Conover,
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The Roundup | The strongest incentive to stay
It’s clear that this stock of housing is important to the community, based on the sheer numbers. But there’s something more. The ability to own a home, affordable to those who work in the community, might be the strongest incentive there is to hold on, stick it out, keep playing “the lottery” because eventually something will work out.
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The Runoff | From panic to acceptance
Some water managers at CRWUA acknowledged a truth that is widely known but rarely stated so candidly: As the Colorado River crisis deepens, water to cities will not be cut off in favor of continuing to grow hay in the desert, no matter what the law of the river says.