COLORADO SPRINGS – America’s wild places are increasingly swamped under a deluge of sightseers and adventure seekers. In 2013, national parks drew almost 274 million visitors nationwide. In 2017, they drew more than 330 million. In Colorado, visitation at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve during that period nearly doubled. The short-term economic benefits…
COLORADO SPRINGS – Across the west, river systems are flowing at record low levels, snowpack is decreasing, farmers are struggling to successfully grow their crops, and pollution and debris is covering ecosystems. Problems in the west are threatening the future of pristine wilderness, and challenging communities connected to them. Overuse and drought in Colorado and…
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ARSENAL NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE — American Bison, a species that has greatly declined in number, roam on an open, recovering prairie, grazing on freshly-burned land, the Denver skyline in the background. Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge is an ex-chemical and weapons manufacturing site turned refuge. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been…
ROCKY MOUNTAIN ARSENAL – Prairie used to cover hundreds of millions of acres of North America, from Canada to Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to eastern Missouri. Much of it has since been plowed over. “There’s not very much of it anymore,” Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) National Wildlife Refuge manager David Lucas said in…
COLORADO— Millions of tourists fly every year into Denver International Airport hoping to see the natural beauty Colorado is known for. Huge signs on the walls as they arrive exclaim “WELCOME TO COLORFUL COLORADO,” against color-saturated pictures of people straddling mountain bikes looking astonished at mountain vista they find themselves in, and skiing chest deep…
COMMERCE CITY – Short grass prairie is starting to re-emerge at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Wildlife Refuge just outside of Denver. Flocks of birds move across the sky along with airplanes from Denver International Airport. The 15,000 acre refuge has to handle more than just the wildlife. The refuge’s urban location means that, in many…
DENVER – Land conservation is a tricky business, and everything is a trade off, according to David Lucas, manager of The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, outside metro Denver. Native insects most likely perish from the chemical-laden flea spray wildlife managers use, but the endangered mammals that live on the refuge stay plague-free. The…
DENVER- The Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge sits 8 miles northeast of downtown Denver. Prairie dogs sit watchfully on their hind legs while deer and bison keep their heads down mowing the prairie covering 15,988 acres. The skyline and smokestacks towering in the distance remind visitors of their proximity to urban life. This contrast…
There are about 2,250 toxic mine sites in Colorado, according to Mark Rudolph, project manager at the Summitville Mine Superfund cleanup site. These toxic waste-emitting mines have degraded landscapes throughout the state, but the EPA’s Superfund program has proved effective in remediating these sites and giving them new futures. At Summitville, mine operators poured liquid…
SUMMITVILLE- The historic mine here, sits 12,000 feet elevation with open scars from over a century of mining. Like thousands of abandoned mines around western Colorado, the remanences of the boom and bust gold rush are crippled mine camp houses and informative plaques about mining’s glory days. The land was first used by the Ute…
