Environment
Report highlights ‘tree equity’ gaps in Colorado neighborhoods
How much of the open space, sidewalks and other land in your neighborhood is shaded by trees? It depends on where you live — and, environmental advocates say, on decades of inequities that break down along class and racial lines. Only about 3% of Sun Valley, a west Denver neighborhood where 94% of residents live […]
The link between extreme mudslides and climate change
Without a doubt, one of the largest threats to American infrastructure is climate change. This was illustrated yet again as upwards of 10 landslides ravaged sections of Colorado’s Interstate 70 corridor, closing the Glenwood Canyon portion of the highway indefinitely. This came after weeks of intermittent slides that have exhausted personnel and had a chilling […]
‘Shocking’ mudslide damage could keep I-70 through Glenwood Canyon closed for weeks
A 40-mile stretch of Colorado’s only east-west interstate highway will remain closed indefinitely amid unprecedented damage from recent mudslides and the “ongoing” threat of additional monsoon rains, state officials said Monday. A safety closure of Interstate 70 through Glenwood Canyon has been in place since the night of July 29, amid the latest in a […]
Tracking Front Range ozone pollution as summer smog worsens
It’s been another smoggy summer along Colorado’s Front Range, with ozone pollution in and around the Denver metro area spiking to its worst level in more than a decade. Air quality advisories issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment have been a near-daily occurrence since the start of June. At ground level, […]
‘It’s a tinderbox situation’: Western governors ask Biden for better wildfire prevention
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden met virtually with governors from Western and Midwestern states on Friday to discuss how federal intervention can best aid states battling wildfires, amid complaints from states about federal forest management. “We’ve got big, complex wildfires burning across multiple areas,” Biden said. “We’re in for a long fight this year, and […]
Summer of smog: Colorado on track for its worst air quality in over a decade
Amid scorching heat waves, record highway traffic and rebounding oil and gas drilling activity, Colorado’s Front Range is on track in 2021 to experience its worst summer of air pollution in well over a decade, putting millions of people in and around the Denver metro area at greater risk of serious health impacts and premature […]
National parks refine ticketed-entry systems to manage visitor boom
WASHINGTON — Watching the sunrise from Cadillac Mountain at Maine’s Acadia National Park is a gorgeous view — so breathtaking that on some days, as many as 500 cars could be found vying for the scenic overlook’s 150 parking spots. That competition has become more manageable since Acadia officials began using a reservation system in […]
Snow can disappear straight into the atmosphere in hot, dry weather
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Creeks, rivers and lakes that are fed by melting snow across the U.S. West are already running low as of mid-July 2021, much to the worry of farmers, biologists and snow hydrologists like me. This is not surprising in […]
Report touts local Colorado conservation efforts in support of Biden’s 30×30 goal
A coalition of local government officials from across the West on Wednesday released a report highlighting the region’s efforts to support President Joe Biden’s “America the Beautiful” initiative, which aims to boost conservation nationwide with an eye towards protecting 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. “The America the Beautiful goal to expand conservation […]
U.S. Senate advances nomination of Stone-Manning for public lands post
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday agreed 50-49 to bring to the floor the nomination of Montana’s Tracy Stone-Manning to head the Bureau of Land Management, following weeks of GOP attacks over her ties to a 1989 tree-spiking scheme. Due to a deadlocked 10-10 vote out of the U.S. Senate Energy & Natural Resources […]
Extreme heat waves in a warming world don’t just break records — they shatter them
“Extreme heat waves in a warming world don’t just break records — they shatter them” originally appeared in The Conversation. Summer isn’t even half over, and we’ve seen heat waves in the Pacific Northwest and Canada with temperatures that would be hot for Death Valley, enormous fires that have sent smoke across North America, and […]
Secretary Haaland meets with Colorado delegation in Grand Junction
During her first official visit to Grand Junction, the nation’s first Native American secretary of the interior, Deb Haaland, wouldn’t say whether the Bureau of Land Management headquarters will remain in the city or return to Washington, D.C. “It’s an open question, but needs to be known soon,” she said. Haaland was joined on Friday […]