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
Defiende Nuestra Tierra's program director said reconnecting Latino families with their ancestral roots to the land is at the heart of the organization’s mission to get more people involved in protecting public lands. The post Community shows up for ‘Latino Conservation Week’ despite concerns over immigration crackdowns and DEI rollbacks 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
Velichkovikj was one of about two dozen J-1 employees at the Meadows who sent a letter at the end of last summer detailing a range of concerns involving tipping and wage practices, workplace treatment and housing conditions. The post Former J-1 visa student receives about $17,000 in wage complaint against Aspen Meadows appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| 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
The preferred alternative is projected to have a negligible impact on congestion, and in some cases makes it worse. “If that’s all we do, we’re stuck with an hour and seven minutes from Brush Creek to the S-curve basically, and that is not a happy picture,” said John Bennett, a former Aspen mayor and a coalition co-founder. The post Carrots won’t cut upper-valley congestion without sticks appeared first on Aspen Journalism.| 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