All Entries in the "Environment" Category
Lower Arkansas Valley Water District and Aurora plan talks to discuss controversial water purchase
The Catlin Canal winds its way through Otero County near Swink, Colo. on June 8, 2024. Water rights to the canal were purchased by Aurora Water earlier this year for $80 million. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) Lower Arkansas Valley water districts and Aurora plan to open talks as soon as December […]
Colorado Parks and Wildlife working to increase numbers of endangered black-footed ferrets
Colorado Parks and WIldlife officer Jonathan Reitz with a rare black-footed ferret captured during a survey of previously released ferrets at May Ranch, near Lamar in southeastern Colorado. The survey took place in early September, 2024, and found wild-born kits from previous releases, a major goal of the reintroduction program. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks […]
Department of Homeland Security adds sniffing device to AI tools to help fight wildfires in Colorado
Debra Deininger, chief revenue officer of N5 Sensors, explains the N5SHIELD artificial intelligence-assisted wildfire detection sensor in Boulder, Sept. 18, 2024. The N5 sensors are currently being deployed in the urban-wildland interface along the Front Range of Colorado. (Scout Edmondson, Special to The Colorado Sun) New technology allowing firefighters to “smell” points of origin […]
Colorado’s 2024 hunting season has begun
DENVER – The 2024 hunting seasons have begun, and hunters are gearing up for exciting adventures. However, hunters aren’t the only ones rushing to the outdoors this fall to enjoy everything Colorado has to offer. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) wants to remind hunters, hikers, bikers, leaf peepers, wildlife viewers, and OHV users that most […]
Colorado is having one of its worst grasshopper invasions in recent history
It was as if Doug Bay’s wish had come true, the day the doves landed. Bay, who grows alfalfa and a bit of corn and sorghum in Otero County, had been eyeing the 3 acres of fresh green shoots for days, worrying they were about to be destroyed by the swarms of crop-munching grasshoppers that […]
When are Colorado’s last coal-fired power plants closing?
Xcel Energy’s coal-fired Comanche Generating Station, located in Pueblo, is the largest power plant in the state of Colorado. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) About a third of Colorado’s electricity is still generated by 10 coal-fired power plants. That should drop to zero by the end of 2031. Coal may be on […]
Keep Colorado Wild passes have generated $39.7 million to support parks
DENVER—More than 1.5 million Coloradans opted to buy a Keep Colorado Wild Pass during its first full year of being on sale, which generated $39.7 million to support Colorado state parks and outdoor first responders. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) set a goal to raise at least $36 million annually from pass sales. The first $32.5 million […]
Tarantula migration coming soon
Be warned. Thousands of tarantulas will be making their way across Colorado very soon. No, it’s not the plot from the 1990 film “Arachnophobia,” but a perfectly normal, and very real (albeit creepy to some) annual migration that occurs in the state each year. This event, often informally called a migration, is more accurately […]
Greenhouse gas emissions from irrigation being studied
Pivot irrigation, like this operation near La Junta, Colo., helps farmers put a precise amount of water on a given crop. Area farmers draw water from the Arkansas River via a system of canal and ditches to irrigate their crops. (Mike Sweeney, Special to The Colorado Sun) Colorado State University researchers are counting greenhouse gases […]
Colorado’s first Firehawk helicopter is finally ready to fight fires
Three years after the state purchased its first Firehawk, four pilots have been trained how to operate the one-of-a-kind aircraft that can quickly slurp up and drop 1,000 gallons of water on flames Three years after lawmakers allocated $30 million to purchase its first “Firehawk,” the modified military helicopter that is capable of quickly crisscrossing […]
Drought Outlook Forecasts New Drought Development This Summer
Drought coverage in the U.S. is around 5-year low, but the latest summer outlook shows a big change in trend is coming. The latest Seasonal Drought Outlook predicts expansion of drought through September in several regions of the U.S., according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center. Drought is favored to develop and persist […]
Much of Colorado could be pushed into drought by late summer thanks to hot, dry conditions
Engineer Pass Road weaves through the alpine tundra in the San Juan Mountains near Ouray. Photo by Hugh Carey, The Colorado Sun Colorado has seen an average water year so far, but looking ahead, climate experts say much of the state could fall into drought conditions and struggle to find relief. Colorado’s very average […]
National Corn Growers, others file lawsuit challenging EPA’s electrical vehicle mandate
The National Corn Growers Association, American Farm Bureau Federation and six auto dealers representing 16 brands and collectively operating dozens of dealerships in major markets across the country joined the American Petroleum Institute today in filing a lawsuit in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s light-duty and medium-duty vehicle emissions standards […]
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to meet June 12-13, 2024
Winter Park, Colo. – At a hybrid meeting in Winter Park, the Parks and Wildlife Commission will open for final consideration of any changes to the 5-year big game season structure for 2025-2029, and discuss solutions to over-the-counter elk licensing. The Commission will also open for final consideration of regulations to allow the use […]
Colorado has the third-most lightning deaths in the country – Here’s how to stay safe.
A thunderstorm that turned roads into rivers and basements into swimming pools lit up the sky over Greeley on Tuesday night with flashes of light as bright as daytime. Three days earlier, a single lightning strike killed a Jackson County rancher and more than 30 of his cattle. Last week, a storm that raged over Yuma, rumbling […]
