Author: I-70 Scout

Colorado Parks and Wildlife encourages people searching for autumn gold to peep responsibly. 

DENVER – As the aspen trees start to change colors, Colorado’s “leaf-peeping” season is kicking into high gear. While the stunning display of fall foliage is worthy of the annual crowds drawn to the state’s most scenic trails and parks, Colorado Parks and Wildlife reminds people searching for autumn gold to peep responsibly and balance recreation with mindful conservation. 

“As we head into peak leaf-peeping season, it’s one of the busiest times of the year at our park,” said Todd Farrow, Park Manager at Golden Gate Canyon State Park. “We ask that people plan ahead, watch out for people and wildlife crossing slowly on roads and park in designated parking areas to avoid damaging vegetation.”

When heading out to the vast outdoors to find the perfect view this fall, it’s important to practice the following Care for Colorado – Leave No Trace principles to keep our landscapes colorful and clean.  

Know Before You Go – To help prepare for a more enjoyable outdoor experience, check the weather and foliage conditions for where you plan to visit.

• If the parking area is full, move on to the next designated parking area. 
• Use the CPW Park Finder to explore Colorado’s 42 state parks and visit the park’s individual web page to learn about any possible park or trail closures. 
• Have a backup plan! With the recent wildfires and mudslides, some roads and trails may be closed for safety reasons. Download the free Colorado Trail Explorer app (COTREX) to find outdoor opportunities in the surrounding areas if your desired trailhead, park or location is crowded or closed.

Stick To Trails – While it’s tempting to find a new and unique spot to photograph, or to move to areas with fewer people, it’s important for our plants, trails and visitors that you stay on the trail.

• Help natural areas stay natural by sticking to designated trails. 
• Avoid trails closed for maintenance, vegetation projects or wildlife reasons. We all love our flora and fauna, so let’s keep them healthy for future generations. 

Leave It As You Find It – In this busy season, it’s especially important to park in designated areas – undesignated parking destroys vegetation and encourages those coming up behind you to continue the trend. With over 40,000 miles of trails in Colorado, you can find the right spot by planning ahead.

• Leave plants, acorns, leaves, rocks and historical items as you find them so others can experience the same joy of discovery.
• Carving or hacking plants and trees may kill or disfigure them, and also impacts the experiences of your fellow hikers for years to come.

Trash the Trash – If you’ll be spending time wandering through Colorado’s colors, you’re likely to need a drink, a snack or to tend to your pet’s needs. 

• Put litter, dog waste, and even crumbs, peels and cores in the nearest waste/recycling bin – or pack it out in your car or backpack until you can find one.
• Bring an extra bag or two to help leave the area better than you found it. 

Keep Wildlife Wild – While you hope to spot the perfect cascade of yellow aspens, part of your experience may include seeing wildlife on roads and trails. 

• To keep wildlife — and you — safe, don’t feed or approach wildlife. 
• Wildlife is on the move so be aware, drive with caution and slow down to help prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions.
• Be bear-aware on trails to avoid encounters with bears. As bears start to prepare for hibernation and hunt for food, Coloradans may see more bear activity in urban areas.
• Dangerous conflicts between people and moose are increasing. Keep a safe distance and enjoy moose from afar. 
• Keep dogs leashed when enjoying dog-friendly trails, and pack out waste all the way to a trash can. Do not hang waste on trees. 

Share Our Trails and Parks – This is one of the busiest times of the year on our trails, so please be courteous and patient with other visitors. 

• Be considerate when passing others on the trail and yield to the uphill hiker and biker – they need the momentum and good etiquette is always in season.
• Nature belongs to all of us. Together, we can live life outside and give back to the outdoor spaces we love.

“We want everyone to have a great time experiencing the vibrant colors and the natural wonders our beautiful state has to offer,” said Farrow. “No matter where you plan to peep- be respectful of our natural resources, park staff and your fellow recreationists out searching for Colorado gold.” 
 
To learn more about outdoor activities at Colorado state parks, visit cpw.state.co.us/thingstodo. For information on The Seven Principles of Leave No Trace, visit https://lnt.org/.

LATEST MEETING AGENDA AVAILABLE

Board of County Commissioners Study Session on 09-21-2021

Tuesday, September 21, 2021 at 12:00 AM MDT

Administration Building West Hearing Room

VIEW AGENDA

(COLO) – From Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day Weekend, the Colorado State Patrol, along with state transportation and law enforcement agencies from Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Utah came together with a united message for the State2State. Buckle Up. Campaign.

Over the summer Colorado State Troopers issued 4,248 seatbelt citations with the majority of motorists coming from Colorado (85%). However, forty-five other states were represented with motorists choosing not to buckle up. The top three states were Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. 

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), seat belts reduce the risk of injury or death in a crash by 50%.

Unfortunately, some motorists still made the choice to travel without this protection. From Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend Colorado troopers responded to hundreds of crashes that seriously injured or killed 261 people that were not using a seatbelt or improperly wearing one. These individuals came from 15 different states in addition to Colorado residents.  

“To help make Colorado roads a safer place, drivers and passengers need to do their part and buckle up no matter what state they call home,” stated Matthew C. Packard, Chief of the Colorado State Patrol. “It doesn’t matter how long or short the trip, we see lives lost over ‘excuses’ like discomfort or forgetting. There is no excuse good enough for your loved ones or our troopers – buckle up.” 

STATE2STATE. BUCKLE UP. 

State2State. Buckle up. is a multi-state seat belt safety campaign led by local transportation and law enforcement agencies from Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Utah, and Wyoming. The summer-long seat belt awareness campaign launches alongside the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) and the Colorado Click It or Ticket May seat belt enforcement period. 

COLORADO’S SEAT BELT LAWS

• Adults — Colorado has a secondary enforcement law for adult drivers and front-seat passengers. Drivers can be ticketed for violating the seat belt law if they are stopped for another traffic violation.
• Teens— Colorado’s Graduated Drivers Licensing (GDL) law requires all drivers under 18 and their passengers, regardless of their age, to wear seat belts. This is a primary enforcement, meaning teens can be pulled over simply for not wearing a seat belt or having passengers without seat belts.
• Children— Colorado’s Child Passenger Safety law is a primary enforcement, meaning the driver can be stopped and ticketed if an officer sees an unrestrained or improperly restrained child under age 16 in the vehicle. 

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – A bear that entered a home on Tue., Sept. 7 just east of Highway 40 in Steamboat Springs, trapping the residents inside, was euthanized by Colorado Parks and Wildlife after displaying aggressive behavior with responding wildlife officers.

A large black bear entered a home near downtown Steamboat Springs through an open garage door and became trapped inside, also trapping the owners in an upstairs room. The bear was aggressive with responding wildlife officers and could not be hazed from the house after 45 minutes. The bear was put down for reasons of health and human safety.

Residents in the area told CPW District Wildlife Manager Adam Gerstenberger the bear had gotten into food in their garage recently as well.

“The bear had a broken lower jaw that was split in the middle,” Gerstenberger said. “It had healed up wrong and one of its canines was hanging out from its upper lip. The other lower canine was shattered, so its teeth weren’t meeting up. The injury is likely the reason why the bear had turned to human food sources.”

Black bears in Colorado are entering hyperphagia and will spend up to 20 hours a day trying to eat more than 20,000 calories to fatten up for winter. As bears start to prepare for hibernation and hunt for food, Coloradans may see more bear activity in urban areas. Coloradans should be careful to secure attractants and food sources around their house that can attract bears.

For more information on bears in Colorado, visit cpw.state.co.us/bears. If you have questions or need to report bear problems, call your nearest CPW office. 

What:             Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for Work Options’ Mountain View Café

 

Who:              Speakers include Adams County Commissioner Emma Pinter, Adams County Human Services Director Katie Griego, and Work Options Executive Director Julie Stone.

                       

Where:          Adams County Human Services Center, Third Floor, 11860 Pecos St., Westminster.

 

When:            Wednesday, Sept. 15, 11 a.m.

 

Why:              To celebrate the grand opening of the Work Options program and Mountain View Café. The program will provide a free culinary training program for Adams County residents.

Denver, Colo. — The final steel beam will be laid on the Hydro building at the new CSU Spur campus on Sept. 16, marking a milestone for the largest and final building at CSU Spur. 

The Hydro building will focus on water and will open in November 2022 – it is one of three buildings at the CSU Spur campus in north Denver. Vida (health) will be the first building to open in January 2022, with Terra (food) shortly thereafter, opening by April 2022.

CSU Spur is a new concept – a first-of-its-kind place. It will be an educational destination for the public – and while it’s an offering of the CSU System, its main goal is to appeal to K-12 students, members of the general public as visitors … rather than higher education students. 

The campus will be home to real science and research, and will welcome the public to see it “in-action” as a way to elicit learning and action around the campus’ topics of food, water, and health. 

“This topping out is a major milestone as we look forward to opening the CSU Spur campus starting in January,” CSU System Chancellor Tony Frank said. “We’re grateful for the exceptional work of our construction partners who have kept the project on time, and for the partnership with Denver Water that will really bring the Hydro Building to life.”

The topping out – or laying of the final steel beam on the building – is a significant milestone in the construction of the building which usually results in a public celebration, complete with people signing the beam prior to placement. CSU Spur will welcome people to the site to sign the beam, and livestream the beam placement. 

The 122,000 sq. ft. Hydro building is focused on water and will be home to programs that allow the public to connect with and understand the significance of water by inviting experts and researchers and giving visitors an opportunity to connect with those experts. 

The new Water Quality Lab from Denver Water will open on the third floor of the Hydro building, and researchers will work behind glass, allowing the public to see what hasn’t been seen previously – the water they drink, being tested. 

“Denver Water is very excited to be part of this amazing facility and opportunity with CSU Spur, giving us a closer connection with the public and the 1.5 million people we serve,” said Tom Roode, chief Operations and Maintenance officer for Denver Water. “This puts us right in the heart of a new research environment, in a spot where we can work far more closely and readily with academics and other innovators studying a wide spectrum of emerging and current water quality issues and solutions to ensure we can continue to deliver safe, reliable, great-tasting water to the Denver metro area not only today, but also well into the future.”

Hydro will also be the “home base” of the public-facing CSU Spur educational campus including spaces that will be programmed and be available for nonprofits and existing programs to use, such as:

• A flexible theater space that can hold up to 300 people
• A farm-to-table café, selling foods grown onsite at Spur in the Terra building
• Artist studios with garage doors that allow indoor/outdoor space
• Flexible classroom, laboratory, and outdoor event spaces and terraces
• Four major art installations (there are eight total installations at CSU Spur)

About CSU Spur

Coming in 2022: CSU System will open Spur, where innovative ideas and unforgettable experiences come to life at the National Western Center. Spur’s three buildings at the center of the landmark project in north Denver will ignite and fuel new ideas around water, food, and health and their impact on our lives and our world. Spur is where learning is open and accessible to all. Where researchers tackle the world’s most pressing problems around water, food, and health. Where art and culture challenge and surround you. Where rural and urban, local and global intersect. The state legislature allocated $200 million for the construction of the CSU Spur project in 2015, citing the educational, economic, and public benefits that the campus would bring. Learn more at csuspur.org.

About Denver Water

Denver Water proudly serves high-quality water and promotes its efficient use to 1.5 million people in the city of Denver and many surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is a public agency funded by water rates, new tap fees and the sale of hydropower, not taxes. It is Colorado’s oldest and largest water utility. Subscribe to TAPto hydrate your mind, and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

DENVER (Sept.14, 2021)  – In its first outdoor exhibition since the last pandemic more than a year ago, the historic Denver Auto Show has returned to the Mile High City – this time at Elitch Gardens, and presented by AAA. The show runs from Wednesday, Sept. 15 through Sunday, Sept. 19 with tickets and more information available at DenverAutoShow.com. 

Attendees can expect state-of-the-art automotive technology as showcased in the newest model-year import and domestic vehicles – including cars, vans, crossovers, hybrids, light trucks, and sport utility vehicles.

This year, electric vehicles will take center stage at Xcel Energy’s Drive Electric Experience, offering attendees the chance to drive electric vehicles (EVs) while offering tips on how electric vehicles can fit your lifestyle. Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Kona EVs will also be making their Colorado debut, alongside newly electrified offerings from other major auto manufacturers.

AAA Colorado will be showcasing its dedicated electric vehicle charging truck, the nation’s first when it debuted in 2015, now updated with cutting-edge charging technology. 

“With nearly a century of service to Colorado, we’re proud of our historic role in mapping the roads, numbering the highways, and popularizing the car in this great state,” said Skyler McKinley, regional director of public affairs for AAA – The Auto Club Group. “We’ve never stopped innovating. At the 2021 Denver Auto Show, we’re proud to show Colorado all that we’re doing to usher in another new era of mobility.” 

Future Fuels & Mass Transit
As part of the Denver Auto Show, and in partnership with New Day Hydrogen, AAA is proud to welcome the New Flyer Xcelsior CHARGE H2, a zero-emission, hydrogen-fuel-cell-electric bus, to Colorado for its first time. Powered by hydrogen fuel-cell technology, the bus can run long routes, up steep inclines, in cold or hot weather with the same performance and range as a diesel vehicle – and it fuels up in only minutes.

“Hydrogen fuel-cell technology is an exciting solution that will help decarbonize Colorado’s transportation sector faster, because it offers gas/diesel vehicle owners the same performance and experience as their current vehicle,” explains New Day Hydrogen’s Chief Executive Officer, Seth Terry. “We’ve seen fleet and bus owners reluctant to switch to battery electric vehicles because the time lost to charging, the weight of the batteries, and the loss of range in the mountains and cold weather.” New Day Hydrogen will build the fueling stations in Colorado to support the deployment of this technology. 

The Xcelsior CHARGE H2 bus will be open to the public onsite at the Denver Auto Show – alongside Toyota’s Mirai, a mid-size sedan and one of America’s first commercially available fuel cell vehicles – on Friday, Sept. 17 from 9am to 9pm. Members of the press are invited to join for a tour, program, and media availability and Q&A at 3pm on Sept. 17. 

“There’s no question that the future of mobility will depend on mass transit, alternative fuels, and other new transportation tools,” McKinley said. “AAA has always fought for the freedom to get around safely, no matter how you choose to go, and we’re energized by every opportunity we get to expand that freedom – both by way of individual vehicle ownership, and beyond.” 

Learn more about the Xcelsior CHARGE H2, the Toyota Mirai, and other Denver Auto Show offerings at DenverAutoShow.com.

 

DENVER – Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is pleased to announce the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Program (CWHP) 2021 Request for Proposals (RFP). The CWHP is a statewide program that supports CPW’s mission by offering funding opportunities to private or public landowners who wish to protect important wildlife habitat on their property, and/or provide wildlife-related recreational access to the public.

The CWHP is an incentive-based program which uses conservation easements, public access easements, and fee title purchases to accomplish strategic wildlife conservation goals and/or public access goals. Priority is given to proposals for conservation easements and public access easements over fee title purchases (per CPW policy and Title 33-4-102.7 C.R.S.).

Funding for the 2021 cycle is approximately $11 million and is made possible by revenue generated from the sale of the Habitat Stamp, hunting and fishing licenses, and through a partnership with Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO).

To Apply
The landowner, or a third party representative, must complete a project proposal form (“Proposal”) that addresses one or more of the following Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 2021 funding priorities:

• Public access for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing
• Big game winter range and migration corridors
• Protecting habitat for species of concern (specifically those Species of Greatest Conservation Need, as identified in the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Statewide Action Plan)
• Riparian areas and wetlands
• Landscape-scale parcels and parcels that provide connectivity to conserved lands

All application materials will be available on Thu., Sept. 16, 2021 here: https://cpw.state.co.us/cwhp

All proposals must be received by 5 p.m. on Thu., Oct. 28, 2021.

Completed Proposals are to be emailed to: Wildlife.RealEstateProposals(at)state.co.us

Applicants will receive a confirmation email acknowledging receipt of Proposals. 

The CWHP funds conservation easements to be held by CPW or a certified third party holder. Certified third party conservation easement holders, such as a land trust, local government, or other conservation organization (collectively, “Third Party,”) may submit a Proposal on behalf of the landowner. Third Party holders must be qualified to hold conservation easements under federal and state law. 

 

Brighton, CO — On Friday, September 10, 2021, members of the 17^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office (Adams and Broomfield, CO) Diversion Program will pass out information and provide resources at the Reunion Coffee House (10601 Reunion Parkway) as part of World Suicide Prevention Day.

 

Every year 800,000 people worldwide will take their own life. In the United States there are 130 suicides per day, and it is the 10^th leading cause of death. In 2019, 1,287 Coloradans committed suicide. Mental health continues to be a top priority for newly elected District Attorney Brian Mason.

 

“The mental health crisis has a severe impact on our community and disproportionately impacts the criminal justice system,” said District Attorney Brian Mason.  “The District Attorney’s Office is deeply committed to addressing this mental health crisis and to bringing greater awareness to World Suicide Prevention Day and other similarly important events.”

 

“Suicide is complex, and there is still much to learn about how to help people, but we refuse to remain silent about those who’ve we lost to suicide, so our work continues to help strip away the shame and blame around the subject by connecting people to hope, healing and support,” said Levon Hupfer, Diversion Director.

 

Who:
17^th Judicial District Attorney’s Office Diversion Program in partnership with the Reunion Coffee House

 

What:
World Suicide Prevention Day: provide information and resources

 

When:
Friday, September 10, 2021; 8:00am-12:00pm

 

Where:
Reunion Coffee House: 10601 Reunion Parkway, Commerce City, CO

(Media interested in covering the event should RSVP to Chris Hopper, Director of Communications)

In observance of the Labor Day holiday, County administrative buildings
will be closed on Monday, Sept. 6.