The I-70 Scout & Eastern Colorado News

Category: Colorado News

Citizen committee evaluating fiscal options in Arapahoe County
The Arapahoe County Long Range Planning Committee will continue its evaluation of how Arapahoe County can best meet future needs, especially public safety issues posed by aging facilities at the Arapahoe County Justice Center.

WHAT: Key elements and construction costs under review:
- Replace existing Arapahoe County Detention Center: $464 million
- Replace the Arapahoe County District Court House: $425 million
- Upgrade District Attorney facilities: $42 million
Arapahoe County’s current and projected budget cannot absorb these costs. The County could pay for the proposal by asking voters to approve either a property tax or sales tax increase. For example:
- Constructing, operating and maintaining a new jail, courthouse and DA facilities would cost taxpayers $8.43 a month in property taxes on a $380,000 home (county average price) or 58 cents in sales tax on every $100 spent.
The Committee will be discussing all funding options and whether or not to recommend any sort of increase to the Board of County Commissioners in early August.

WHO:                        25 residents, business leaders and nonprofit representatives from the county.

WHEN:            4 p.m., July 30, 2019

WHERE:            The Arapahoe Room at Lima Plaza, 6954 South Lima Street, Centennial

More information is available at www.arapahoegov.com/countyconversations
July 30, 2019
CSU fundraising continues to soar to new heights in 2018-19
Alumni and donors gave more than $160 million to Colorado State University in the 2018-19 fiscal year, marking the fourth-largest fundraising total in CSU’s history as the university continued to soar past the $1 billion milestone in its State Your Purpose campaign.

CSU reached its initial $1 billion goal in September – 651 days before the campaign officially ends on July 1, 2020. In November, a second phase – Beyond a Billion – was launched, with a goal of building upon the momentum generated by record support throughout the campaign.

“Our donors give from the heart, and their gifts have a profound impact on what our students, faculty and staff are able to do at Colorado State University,” said Kim Tobin, vice president for university advancement. “It is an honor to get to know our donors, hear their stories and help them give back in a way that is most meaningful to them.

“Many thanks to CSU’s alumni and friends who continue to support our students and programs in purposeful ways.”

Tobin announced that more than 39,000 donors contributed $162,937,329 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019. With one year remaining in the State Your Purpose campaign, CSU already is experiencing a transformative impact in its quest to increase student scholarships, attract and retain top faculty and researchers and develop world-class facilities to support their collective work in solving global challenges.

Campus transformation continues

Three such buildings – the Translational Medicine Institute in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, the JBS Global Innovation Center in the College of Agricultural Sciences, and the Nancy Richardson Design Center in the College of Health and Human Sciences – opened during the fiscal year, providing new research and educational opportunities for students and faculty.

Giving to CSU in 2018-19 included several additional highlights:
- The College of Agricultural Sciences received gifts totaling $25,460,099 – a record for the college.
- Enrollment, Academic and Student Affairs also experienced a record year, receiving more than $11.8 million in donations to support student scholarships and programs.
- The Department of Athletics secured a $2 million planned gift that endows the head coach’s position in women’s swimming – the first endowed head coaching position in the department’s history.
- A Fort Collins Catholic priest, Fr. Don Willette, made a donation establishing a faculty position for a professor of theology in the College of Liberal Arts – the fourth endowed faculty position for the college.
- University Libraries recorded more than $1 million in gifts – the second-highest fundraising total in its history.
- The College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences continued to set the pace, exceeding than $50 million in gifts for the third time.
Tony Frank’s impact on fundraising

The end-of-fiscal-year announcement also illustrates the remarkable impact of Tony Frank on CSU’s fundraising during his 11-year tenure as university president. Frank, who officially stepped down as president June 30 to become full-time chancellor of the CSU System, has seen the university surpass fundraising goals in the first two comprehensive campaigns in its history – the $500 million Campaign for Colorado State University, which ended in 2012, and the State Your Purpose campaign. In all, CSU has raised more than $1.4 billion during Frank’s tenure.

“There is so much I could say about Tony Frank,” said Nancy Richardson, a passionate alumna donor for whom the Nancy Richardson Design Center is named. “As a graduate, it has given me such pride to learn from someone who leads by example, who puts the future of CSU’s students in the number one position.

“Thanks to his leadership, our beautiful campus has been transformed and much of that has been due to his ability to connect the dots for people and to inspire us to invest in the future of our state’s land-grant university.”

New CSU President Joyce McConnell, who succeeded Tony Frank on July 1, previously served as provost at West Virginia University, where she played a key role in helping the institution exceed fundraising goals in their first $1 billion campaign. She’s excited to play an active part in sustaining CSU through fundraising.

“I like the magic that happens when you tell someone what you need—or in our case what our students, faculty and staff need—and they reach out to meet those needs,” McConnell said. “That generosity generates such energy and inspires a sense of community. There’s a feeling of, ‘Oh my gosh – we’re all in this together, and we can make this happen.’

“We can do tremendous things here, and I’m truly thankful for everyone who has supported CSU.”

Tobin said CSU will continue to engage with alumni and donors through the Beyond a Billion phase of the campaign to provide even more student and faculty support as CSU commemorates its 150^th birthday in 2020.

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July 27, 2019
Dream Stream cleanup coming on Aug. 10

LAKE GEORGE, Colo. — Eleven Mile and Spinney Mountain State Park officials are partnering with Landon Mayer Fly Fishing to host the fourth annual “Clean the Dream” volunteer event on Saturday, Aug. 10 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The volunteer event is focused on cleaning up the Dream Stream, a Gold Medal water on the Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area that is the section of the South Platte River between Spinney Mountain Reservoir and Elevenmile Reservoir. The Dream Stream is famous for its runs of rainbow and cutthroat trout in the spring and brown trout and kokanee salmon in the fall.

“This is our way of giving back to a river that provides so many anglers such great rewards,” said Park Ranger Kasey McClurg.

CPW is expecting a very large number volunteers from across the country to participate in the event and keep the Gold Medal water pristine.

Participants are asked to meet at the Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area parking lot off of County Road 59 near the bridge to break into groups to clean the complex.

Thanks to Landon Mayer Fly Fishing and event sponsors, free food and drinks along with raffle prizes will be provided to participants.

No registration is required. For questions, please contact Eleven Mile State Park at 719-748-3401.

https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/Parks/ElevenMile

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July 24, 2019
CPW reintroduces endangered toad to wetland after experimental ‘Purple Rain’ treatment

NATHROP, Colo. — As temperatures climbed under a blistering sun, about 35 Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologists, staff and volunteers headed up a steep mountain trail last week, each loaded with large bags of water filled with 200 or so squirming, black Boreal toad tadpoles.

In all, the hikers hauled 4,600 tadpoles up to an alpine wetland on Brown’s Creek at 9,780 feet, beneath the snow-tipped reaches of Mount White.

The grueling six-mile roundtrip by the team was part of an effort by CPW, led by Paul Foutz, CPW native aquatic species biologist and Boreal toad specialist, to restore the state-endangered toad, whose numbers have been crashing due to a deadly skin fungus.

At the picturesque wetland, the hikers were greeted by University of Colorado PhD candidate Tim Korpita, who had set up a laboratory on the edge of the water. Korpita and several graduate students took possession of the bags of tadpoles and separated the black, squirming amphibians based on how far developed each was toward metamorphosis into full-grown toadlets.

After placing the tadpoles in tubs in the water, the team of scientists began preparing an experimental probiotic bath they’ve dubbed “Purple Rain” due to its purplish hue. They use bacteria native to the local biological community and naturally found on toads to increase the abundance of protective bacteria during a vulnerable life stage of the toads. Scientists hope the fungus-fighting bacteria will be absorbed into the amphibian skin and protect the toads.

After hours of swabbing and mixing, the Purple Rain solution was suctioned from dozens of Petri dishes, collected in a large bottle and then carefully poured into the tubs full of tadpoles.

Then the scientists waited. The tadpoles needed to be bathed in the solution for 24 hours before they could be released into the wetlands, an historic Boreal toad breeding site that is now absent of toads.

“This is a potential game-changer for Boreal toads and amphibians worldwide,” Foutz said as he prepared to release a tub of tadpoles, which had sleek, black heads, long, translucent tails and tiny little legs. “It’s critical we find a cure to this deadly skin fungus that is killing our amphibians.”

The release of tadpoles went on for several days and marks the first large-scale field application of Korpita’s CPW-funded research in the McKenzie Lab at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Korpita and Dr. Valerie McKenzie and their research team have spent three years investigating the use of bacterial treatments to armor Boreal toads against the skin fungus. In their lab, Korpita and McKenzie increased toad survival by 40 percent after bathing the toads in the probiotic treatment.

The CPW staff and CU researchers will continue to monitor the tadpole’s development and metamorphosis this season. Next July they hope to find yearling toads returning to the wetland, where they will resurvey toads and check for the continued presence of the Purple Rain solution.

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July 21, 2019
PUC to solicit input on rules to implement railroad fining authority

DENVER — The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) said today it would seek input from stakeholders about how to implement fining authority for railroad crossing safety matters granted by the passage of Senate Bill 19-236.

The bill, which reauthorized the PUC for seven years, added a provision allowing the Commission to impose a civil penalty of up to $2,000 per offense on railroad companies that fail to comply with a PUC order or rule on railroad crossing safety.

The PUC is requesting written comment by Aug. 15 about what should be included when it initiates a rulemaking to implement the fining authority. PUC staff also intends to conduct workshops and webinars that would allow statewide participation from towns and cities, counties, state agencies, railroads and other interested entities.

The information received from this stakeholder input process will be used to develop proposed rules that will be issued in a separate proceeding at a later date.

Interested persons may submit written comments by using the PUC’s on-line comment form at www.dora.state.co.us/pacific/puc/puccomments under proceeding number 19M-0379R.

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July 20, 2019
Gardner, Blunt, Klobuchar, Cortez Masto Introduce Bill to Support Travel & Tourism, Boost Jobs

Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) introduced legislation to reauthorize Brand USA, a public-private partnership that enhances tourism across the country by promoting international travel to the United States.

“Colorado’s tourism industry has exploded in growth as more than 80 million visitors each year travel to ski our world-class resorts, enjoy the great outdoors, and experience the real American West,” said Senator Gardner. “With direct flights to Denver International Airport from countries as varied as Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, and Germany, our state shines as one of the nation’s top ten most visited states. This bill will boost further tourism by strengthening the Brand USA program, which is the promotion agency for U.S. tourism and operates at no cost to the U.S. taxpayer. I look forward to working to get this legislation signed into law and helping grow the U.S. tourism industry, which generates more than $20 billion in annual spending in Colorado.”

Since 2013, Brand USA has brought 6.6 million incremental international visitors to the United States, generating a total economic impact of nearly $48 billion and supporting an average of around 52,000 jobs annually. In 2018, Brand USA generated $4.1 billion in incremental visitor spending, resulting in a marketing return on investment of 32:1.

The program has been a proven success in boosting tourism to the United States and driving economic growth, but the 2018 congressional budget caps agreement diverted Brand USA’s user fees away from the program to general revenue.

Brand USA is funded by international visitors and private contributions – not U.S. taxpayers. Half of its budget comes from the private sector through cash and in-kind contributions. The rest of the budget – up to a maximum of $100 million – is funded by a nominal fee assessed on visa-free international visitors screened by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Electronic System for Travel Authorization. Amounts collected in excess of the cap are returned to the U.S. Treasury to help reduce the deficit.

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July 19, 2019
Gardner, Coons, Scott, Rosen Introduce Bipartisan, Bicameral Legislation to Support Investment in US Manufacturing

Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. Senators Cory Gardner (R-CO), Chris Coons (D-DE), Tim Scott (R-SC), and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) introduced legislation to increase investment in American small manufacturers. The Strengthening Investment to Grow Manufacturing in America (SIGMA) Act would support American manufacturers through increasing affordable loans, incentivizing operation growth, and expanding financial resources and education assistance to small manufacturers. A companion bill in the House was introduced by U.S. Representatives Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Tom Reed (R-NY).

The SBA’s 7(a) and 504 loan programs assist small businesses by providing federally guaranteed loans for businesses. These loan programs, along with the SBA’s Small Business Investment Company, provide investment in America’s start-up manufacturers and growing businesses that have limited access to cash reserves. The SIGMA Act spurs additional investment for small manufacturing businesses in low- or moderate-income areas, rural areas, areas of high unemployment, and those that are veteran-owned, minority-owned, woman-owned, or are important to national security

“For the sake of national and economic security, the United States must remain a global leader in manufacturing,” said Senator Gardner. “But small manufacturing can face some of the steepest startup costs. The SIGMA Act will help ensure small manufacturing entrepreneurs have access to capital to start and grow their businesses. This legislation will create jobs, spur investments in our local communities – particularly our rural economies – and strengthen American manufacturing.”

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July 18, 2019
New research shows importance of climate on spruce beetle flight

If the climate continues warming as predicted, spruce beetle outbreaks in the Rocky Mountains could become more frequent, a new multi-year study led by Colorado State University finds.

While insect disturbances naturally cycle through forests, the current spruce beetle epidemic affecting Colorado Engelmann spruce forests has been one of the largest on record. The Colorado State Forest Service estimates that since 1996, over 40 percent of the state’s high-elevation forests, encompassing an area larger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined, have already been affected by this latest cycle. According to the research team, this has resulted in a widespread die-off of trees valued for their contributions to clean water, recreation and wood products.

The study, recently published in Environmental Entomology, provides new clues about spruce beetle behavior. Study co-authors Seth Davis, assistant professor in CSU’s Forest and Rangeland Stewardship department, and Isaac Dell, a graduate student at Montana State University, combined new beetle population and environmental data with climate projection models to see what could be in store in the future.

“Unfortunately, what we found suggests there is no best-case scenario,” said Davis, a specialist in plant and insect interactions. “Even if the climate increases by just one degree Celsius, we can expect spruce beetles to reproduce at higher rates than we’ve seen, with more time to invade trees.

Their results indicate slightly warmer conditions could contribute to longer flight periods and more eruptive beetle populations, due to larger populations of fertile females. This combination could equate to more intense insect pressure on spruce forests.

Temperature plays a critical role in this species’ lifecycle by affecting the insect’s development, dispersal and flight patterns. At field sites that spanned the length of Colorado, Dell collected hourly temperature data along with more than 70,000 insects across the 2017 and 2018 growing seasons. With corresponding winter temperature data from the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University, some patterns emerged.

“It became apparent that beetles in 2018 were larger in size, after a warmer and drier winter than in the previous year, and that females were also more numerous,” said Dell, who recently graduated from CSU with a master’s degree in Forest Sciences.

By adding one degree Celsius to the daily temperature data set, climate projections showed a likely increase of 200 growing degree-days, which are used to predict plant and animal development, at these locations. According to the researchers, this could extend the beetle’s potential flight period from a few weeks to multiple months. This projection is based on the assumption that new global greenhouse gas production would be eliminated by 2020.

The study found that the insects’ flights would also become more varied, making coordinated beetle attacks harder to predict.

To monitor these populations and subsequent impacts on Engelmann spruce trees, Dell said management efforts need to consider this expanded time period.

“For monitoring efforts, the best course of action for people is to place traps out earlier in the season,” added Dell. “We also recommend removing infested trees and traps in August, at the end of the beetle flight period.”

Davis said that while this scenario isn’t good news, he remains an optimist. By his estimates and through personal observation, up to 30 percent of beetle-infested, high-elevation forests have survived.

“It’s not always as bad as it looks when you’re driving by,” he said. “These interactions have been happening for thousands of years, and life, whether it’s a beetle, a tree or a forest, seems to find a way.”

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July 11, 2019
CPW reminds the public not to feed wildlife and to maintain safe distances from them on Mount Evans

DENVER — Every year thousands of residents and tourists drive up the highest paved road in North America located at Mount Evans to be on top of one of Colorado’s 54 14ers, those that soar over 14,000 feet in elevation.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife reminds those that ascend up the Mount Evans Scenic Byway (Colorado Highway 5) to its peak elevation of 14,264 feet to do their part in helping keep wildlife wild by not feeding any animals they encounter and keeping a safe distance from them.

Staff with CPW, United States Forest Service and Denver Mountain Parks have observed an increasing trend in habituated mountain goat and bighorn sheep behavior. It is likely a result of people feeding wildlife or getting to close to them while taking pictures.

“We have been taking a collaborative approach with the Forest Service and Denver Mountain Parks to help combat an increase in human-wildlife conflicts we are seeing at Mount Evans,” Wildlife Officer Joe Nicholson said. “The agencies will be up there all summer monitoring activity and actively enforcing or using aversive conditioning techniques with the hope that we can curb small problems from growing into worse or even dangerous encounters.”

The most commonly observed unnatural behaviors seen during the 2018 season were mountain goats and bighorns licking vehicles for the salt on them, putting heads inside open car windows, running toward the sound of crinkling food wrappers, running towards people holding food, entering restrooms and tolerating large groups of people surrounding them to take photographs and videos from unsafe distances.

“People have gone as far as attempting to pick up mountain goat kids and we have seen groups of mountain goats surrounding and following people, which is far beyond the natural behavior of these animals,” Nicholson said.

Just last week video surfaced of a mountain goat climbing on top of a SUV, hanging out on its hood for a couple of moments before moving on.

These increasing conflicts and the ones in close proximity can be very dangerous, and even deadly. In 2010, a 63-year-old hiker was killed by a mountain goat in Olympic National Park in Washington.

With the escalating problems of wildlife-human interactions on Mount Evans, CPW has started implementing tactics to help prevent dangerous encounters by discouraging animals from coming up to vehicles or people. Wildlife officers have focused on reinstating the natural fear of humans by using hazing tactics on the wildlife. The hazing tactics used include sound and direct contact from tasers, cattle prods, paintball guns and employing the use of K9 Samson to haze offending animals away from people and cars.

Other indirect interactions between humans and wildlife have shown a disturbing trend.

“We have growing concerns over the health and wellbeing of mountain goats and bighorns that come into contact with human and domestic waste both at restrooms and along heavily used trails,” said Lance Carpenter, wildlife biologist with CPW who has conducted the radio-collared studies on the mountain goat herds on Mount Evans. “Data from our 2015-17 study showed that the collared mountain goats are selecting for higher elevations. It is at these high elevations that are also heavily used by people up there where potential problems exist.”

In late August 2013, an unknown disease outbreak caused severe diarrhea in mountain goat kids and yearlings. Almost an entire age class of mountain goats died, which caused a population decline. Necropsies were conducted on several sick mountain goats and fecal samples that were collected. The lab results indicated that mountain goats had high loads of E. Coli.

In 2018, CPW euthanized a sick kid that showed the same symptoms as observed in 2013-14 with extreme diarrhea. Then already this summer, wildlife biologists are monitoring another sick mountain goat with similar symptoms.

CPW has recommended the United States Forest Service and Denver Mountain Parks construct physical barriers around the restrooms to prevent access to the area by mountain goats and bighorns. CPW has also recommended salt not be placed around bathrooms, parking lots and pathways on Mount Evans.

“Salt is a strong attractant for mountain goats and bighorn sheep, so we are recommending using alternative substances that will address visitor safety when ice is present, but not attract wildlife to these high visitor use areas,” Nicholson said.

CPW will also have volunteer crews up at the summit this summer to educate people about the animals they may encounter and help disrupt any improper behavior, like the feeding of wildlife or taking selfies with them.

The goal through these multiple efforts and collaboration between agencies is to see a reduction between wildlife and human interactions, which will help keep the wildlife wild and safe on Mount Evans.

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July 11, 2019
Mule train helps CPW restore rare Hayden Creek cutthroat to mountain stream

WESTCLIFFE, Colo. – With his sidearm sticking out from under leather chaps, Justin Krall swung up into the saddle of his mule, Speedy, and gently nudged it up the Cottonwood Creek trail as he tugged the reins of his other mule, Jenny, following behind.

On Jenny’s back were two large saddle tanks packed with about 2,000 rare Hayden Creek cutthroat trout and pressurized steel canisters pumping oxygen into the water. Krall, a District Wildlife Manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), was helping the agency’s aquatic biologists move the fish about six miles up the steep trail to the upper reaches of the creek.

Two more mules shared the trail with Krall, Speedy and Jenny. They belonged to Jeff Outhier of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) who also helped carry the load up Cottonwood Creek trail along with dozens of CPW, USFS and Trout Unlimited volunteers on July 1.

They all endured hot sun and drenching rains as they hauled bags of four-inch fish and deposited them at various points upstream.

CPW went to extremes to get these fish into the creek because they are very special fish. They contain genetic markers matching museum specimens collected by early explorers. In 1889, ichthyologist David Starr Jordan collected a pair of trout specimens from Twin Lakes, near Leadville. Today those specimens reside at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. The Hayden Creek cutthroat trout are the only known modern fish to share their genetics.

The fish stocked July 1 are descendants of 158 trout rescued by CPW from the Hayden Pass Fire in 2016, which threatened to wipe out the only known population still in existence.

As the 2016 fire raged southwest of Cañon City, aquatic biologists and staff from CPW and USFS crossed fire lines to rescue the trout before monsoon rains came, flushing the creek with choking sediment. The fish caught that day were taken to the Roaring Judy Hatchery isolation facility near Crested Butte and spawned the following springs. Meanwhile, CPW surveys of Hayden Creek after the fire and subsequent ash flows didn’t find a single survivor.

But it’s not enough to save them in a hatchery. CPW wants to restore them to several streams within the Arkansas Basin to ensure these unique cutthroat genes survive.

“We are looking at several streams in the Arkansas basin where these fish could be introduced,” said Josh Nehring, CPW senior aquatic biologist. “Spreading them across the region makes them less vulnerable to extinction due to an isolated catastrophic fire or flood event. Restoring these unique fish is a key first step to preserving these unique genes and ensuring we continue to have them on the landscape.”

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July 10, 2019