“There are some quite vulnerable systems in the Roaring Fork Valley — Snowmass being at the very top of that list — that really need some advance planning,” said a senior hydrologist with Wright Water Engineers. The post Snowmass Village’s wilderness water source poses unique wildfire risk appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
The issue of stream access highlights a basic tension in Colorado’s laws and values: Are rivers just another category of property that can be privately owned and fenced off? The post Boaters, anglers want clarity around public access to Colorado’s streams appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
As the Trump administration carries out its promise to ramp up Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, recently released data confirms that a growing number of people have been arrested in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties. The post New data confirms rising immigration arrests, and a changing profile of who gets detained appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
Los nuevos datos confirman el aumento de las detenciones por parte del ICE, y las leyes más estrictas hacen que permanecer en el país sea una “batalla cuesta arriba”| Aspen Journalism
One major sticking point hinges on differing interpretations of a Colorado River Compact call.| Aspen Journalism
Colorado has conditional water rights tied to 2.6 million acre-feet worth of additional reservoir storage on the Western Slope| Aspen Journalism
Aspen Journalism's nonprofit newsroom reporting on water, environment, social justice, history and data from Aspen to Marble to upper Colorado River Basin.| Aspen Journalism
“The fire department’s job is to put the fire out. We come in with a different mandate — to protect the home or commercial building. We apply our skills appropriately, adding to what the fire department is doing.” The post When the insurance company sends a fire crew appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
Club spaces can get “demonized,” because of their very nature: The same thing that gives one person a sense of belonging points out to another that they don’t belong. The post Boom in private clubs highlights tensions between belonging and exclusion appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
Working two full-time jobs was taxing, and it’s true that the federal government pays far less than local governments in the same resort communities. But the real push to leave the agency came from Washington. The post ‘The public is losing out’ appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
The Great Basin Water Network and partners released a report this week with what they say are nine common-sense recommendations to avoid conflict and prepare for a drier future.| Aspen Journalism
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority will consider new ways to use its railroad corridor, which extends from Glenwood Springs to Woody Creek and includes the popular Rio Grande Trail, to alleviate traffic on Highway 82 and respond to the valley’s transportation needs. The post RFTA to study how Rio Grande Trail’s railroad corridor can be used for mass transit appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
Over two days of hearings, Colorado water managers laid out their arguments related to the Shoshone water rights on the Colorado River and who should have the authority to control it.| Aspen Journalism
To avoid a contested hearing, River District proposes CWCB neutrality in Shoshone water rights deal| Aspen Journalism
The Glenwood Springs-based Colorado River Water Conservation District has inked a nearly $100 million deal with Xcel Energy to buy one of the oldest and biggest non-consumptive water rights on the main stem of the Colorado River, a first step in ensuring the water continues flowing west.| Aspen Journalism
In November, the Colorado River Water Conservation District filed an application with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for $40 million to help buy the water rights associated with the Shoshone hydropower plant in Glenwood Canyon.| Aspen Journalism
The Shoshone Hydropower Plant in Glenwood Canyon was not operating for nearly all of 2023 and more than half of 2024, adding urgency to the River District's campaign to secure the plant’s water rights for the Western Slope.| Aspen Journalism
Recent rainfall boosts local streamflows Local streams are flowing at 83-140% of normal in the Roaring Fork watershed as of Sept. 14, while the Colorado River is running at 90% of average at Dotsero and 90% near the Colorado-Utah stateline. Streamflows, which have been running below normal this year, spiked after Sept. 11 due to […] The post Real-time local streamflow appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| Aspen Journalism
The CWCB will decide next week whether to approve a proposal from the Western Slope that would allow one of the oldest and most powerful water rights on the Colorado River to be used to benefit the environment.| Aspen Journalism
The effort shows that upper-basin water managers are willing to do their part to prevent the system from crashing, but that part is small compared with the cuts they say are needed in the lower basin.| Aspen Journalism
Upper Colorado River Basin water conservation program comes with concerns and challenges about price, efficacy and grower attitudes.| Aspen Journalism
After years of studying and experimenting with pilot programs, the future of Colorado River management will almost certainly include a permanent water conservation program for the Upper Basin states.| Aspen Journalism
Seventeen projects in western Colorado aimed at drought and the environment are on pause after the Trump administration paused federal IRA money.| Aspen Journalism
A state work group has not reached a consensus about what Colorado should do to prevent investors from profiting off of speculating on the state’s water.| Aspen Journalism
This system, used widely in the western United States, creates an opening for investors who see water as an increasingly valuable commodity in a water-short future, driven by climate change.| Aspen Journalism
Allowing the state of Colorado to shepherd conserved water resurrects old concerns on the Western Slope.| Aspen Journalism
Aspen Journalism received six awards for fourteen stories in the Colorado Press Association’s 2024 Better News Media Contest.| Aspen Journalism
Firefighter helicopter Steve Cohen said that in his 25-year career, he has seen firsthand fires steadily increasing in size. It wasn’t that long ago, he said, that “we’d never heard of a 100,000-acre fire.”| Aspen Journalism
Aspen school district gets two grants to explore a potential geothermal well field. Some hope for an even-deeper dive.| Aspen Journalism
The recovery program works to reestablish healthy populations of four species of fish that are listed under the ESA by adding water to the river, restoring habitat, growing hatchery fish and controlling nonnative predator fish.| Aspen Journalism
Streamflows on the Western Slope have plummeted over the last month, sending water managers scrambling to boost flows for endangered fish and ranking it among the driest years in recent history.| Aspen Journalism
“It’s amazing that the local community, Basalt, Carbondale and Aspen [and more], came together like this and contributed this staggering amount of money,” he said. “But they can’t keep doing it.”| Aspen Journalism
Officials from Colorado laid out the proposal, which they are calling a supply-driven approach, that sets the amount of water released from Lake Powell.| Aspen Journalism
