By Leah Thayer NORTH FORK VALLEY- Questions ring in the minds of Coloradans as changes and uncertainty rise in the state. We are living in an age where scientists warn the earth could warm somewhere between 1.5-5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century. The latest national climate assessment says such a rise in…
Lili Weir — PAONIA and GOTHIC In a time where much of the conversation surrounding climate change is focused on human adaptability and global catastrophes, the individual lives of the flora and fauna living in these changing landscapes are being ignored. For many of the plants and animals observed at Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratories, changes…
By Emily Stamper Auden Schendler is the vice president of sustainability at the Aspen Skiing Company. He’s passionate about climate change. And he acknowleges significant waste in his industry, which caters to skiers who use carbon to fly across the world for skiing and still relies partly on coal-generated electricity to power ski lifts. Skiers come…
By Emily Stamper Crested Butte tourism association director and former ski company chief John Norton lives in a gorgeous home at the top of a mountain valley, where he contends business overall can benefit from climate warming, which may be pushing more visitors toward the relatively habitable conditions here. Norton calls his energy-efficient abode the…
By Leah Thayer SALIDA — Perched atop a small bluff, with a perfect view of the Sawatch Range, lies a house at the end of Ridge Road. The beautiful cottage belongs to Jerry Mallett, founder of the nonprofit Colorado Headwaters, and 20-yearlong resident of Salida, Colorado. Just over a month ago, on October 2nd, Mallett’s…
By Sam Bower Plans to expand coal operations at Arch Coal’s West Elk Mine in Somerset recently were stalled by a federal judge after environmental groups sued the government for allowing increased extraction. And in the mine’s conference room, West Elk environmental engineer Kathy Welt lamented during a recent interview the lawsuit and the potential…
By Mitchell Adams PAONIA– Casually zooming through dimly lit tunnels deep inside a mountain housing Colorado’s last underground coal mine, John Poulos, an engineering manager at West Elk Coal Mine, blinked the headlights of a rugged pickup truck before taking a sharp turn. As Poulos routinely navigated the 7.5-mile long maze, he discussed the future…
By: Olivia Dicks NORTH FORK VALLEY—Younger and middle generations working in industries that are harming and increasing our climate warming are being affected much more as the concern for the climate change increases in the North Fork Valley. In the West Elk Coal Mine, “we’re running out of coal, we’ll be done with this panel…
By Rainy Adkins Recently a small group of student journalists drove seven miles under the earth through narrow tunnels and low ceilings to the only long-wall mining site at the West Elk coal mine. The headlights of the pick-up reflected off walls of coal dusted with limestone. Each turn looked exactly like the last. This…
By Rachel Colchete The mining towns of the North Fork Valley have had a long and reliant relationship with coal, so as America pulls away from the controversial industry, their population feels the direct aftermath. The West Elk Mine, which stands just east of Paonia in the small mining community of Somerset, is the last…
