By Carly Valerious Climate change is making the harsh winters in Crested Butte more livable, but also threatens the small towns solitude and wilderness. Warming temperatures in already hot states are pushing residents out to more temperate places. Ski areas are closing all around the country, which impacts the entire industry. The livelihood of the…
The Great Sand Dunes roll like waves without crests. Seven hundred feet tall, towering before me, their flawlessly smooth surface seemed impossible. Our class of twelve young journalists drove from our temporary home in Crestone, Colorado to Alamosa, hoping to clear our minds amidst the dunes after days of intensive interviewing and article writing. I…
Farmers in the San Luis Valley are working alongside researchers and government officials to maximize their yields of potatoes in a valley that may be undergoing aridification due to Climate Change. The depletion of water in the valley’s complicated aquifer system due to slow downward trends in snowfall could be disastrous for agriculture. Governmental programs…
By Lili Weir A regional trend of increased aridity will decrease the amount of water available to people in the San Luis Valley, and calls into question how residents of the greater area are responding to the economic and ecological shifts. “I don’t want to say bleak” but water levels “look diminishing” Rio Grande Water…
By Whitton Feer – Salida, Colorado The smoke was thickening, illuminated by amber truck headlights. Neighbors packed their belongings before speeding down the road. Homeowners scrambled, passports thrown into boxes, musical instruments shoved through car doors in haste. The sirens blared constantly, as first responders struggled to maintain some order through an event fraught with…
By Whitton Feer – Center, Colorado Facing depleted aquifers and a population opposed to change, farmers in the San Luis Valley must innovate and adapt in order to remain on the frontline of potato production in the US. Rusty, a chocolate lab chased a potato through a dusty patch of Rockey Farms, retrieving it for…
By: Olivia Dicks Climate change affecting the predictability of snowfall, wind, and fires is substantially changing how farmers, workers, and the community live in western Colorado. Western Colorado includes thousands of acres of farmland due to its weather, topography, and elevation. Higher up in western Colorado, beautiful scenic views from the mountain side are increasing…
By Rachel Colchete The mountains near Salida, Colorado have never been a stranger to the occasional wildfire, but as the climate grows increasingly arid and people move closer to forest boundaries, these formerly inconsequential and easily-contained burns are becoming a threat to residents. Hundreds were forced to evacuate during the recent Decker Fire, spanning 8,959…
By: Olivia Dicks CENTER – People of Colorado’s San Luis Valley are conflicted and struggling with climate change that appears to be having both positive and negative effects on their lives. Climate change is negatively affecting much of our Earth, but it may be helping farmers in the San Luis Valley by letting them grow…
SALIDA – Jerry Mallett and Mike Rosso, two citizens of Salida who were evacuated in September from the Decker fire, said that they had never thought they may have to pack up and leave. Mallett and Rosso have been living in their separate mountain homes for nearly 20 years each, and while they say the…
