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U.S. House of Representatives Passes Gardner-Backed SAFE Banking Act
Washington, D.C. – The U.S. House of Representatives passed Senator Cory Gardner’s (R-CO) SAFE Banking Act today 321–103, in a historic vote on federal cannabis policy. Gardner has led the charge in the Senate with Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) to ensure legal cannabis businesses can access banking services.

“Today Congress began to take its head out of the sand and recognize that states are moving forward with their own cannabis policies and the federal government is holding them back,” said Senator Gardner. “The conflicting federal and state marijuana laws make it difficult for legitimate businesses to use basic financial services, and this bipartisan legislation gets Washington out of the way and gives them the access they need to do business and pay taxes. Today’s historic action in the people’s House adds to the momentum the SAFE Banking Act gained following the Banking Committee’s hearing in July. The Senate should move forward with the SAFE Banking Act and deliver it to the President for his signature.”

In July, Senator Gardner testified at the first Senate Banking hearing on cannabis challenges, urging passage of the SAFE Banking Act and the Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States (STATES) Act.

“Forcing businesses to operate in cash is an invitation to crime, money laundering, and robbery. Whether you’re for or against legal cannabis, we can all agree that we want our communities to be safe from fraud and crime,” said Senator Merkley. “Today we saw overwhelming support in the U.S. House of Representatives to pass the SAFE Banking Act and get this common-sense fix into law. Now it’s time for the Senate to act. While we continue to work to address broader issues related to the harmful legacy of cannabis prohibition across the country, I am hopeful that we can get the SAFE Banking Act moving quickly through committee, to the Senate floor, and ultimately, to the President’s desk.”

“Allowing lawful cannabis companies to access commercial banking services and end their reliance on cash will greatly improve public safety, increase transparency, and promote regulatory compliance. CTF commends Senator Gardner for his leadership on the SAFE Banking Act, and we urge his colleagues to join him in supporting this legislative solution to the cannabis banking problem,” said Neal Levine, CEO of the Cannabis Trade Federation.

“As financial services providers serving over 1 million members in Colorado, credit unions play a central role in our communities by fulfilling banking needs that may not be otherwise available,” said Scott Earl, President of the Mountain West Credit Union Association. “The SAFE Banking Act is an important step toward providing the certainty we need as financial services providers to serve the growing recreational cannabis industry and protect our members, as well as the taxpayers of Colorado.”

“SAFE is commonsense reform that helps everybody. Whether you are a legal cannabis company struggling to pay taxes in cash or you are an ordinary small business in a legal cannabis community, you need banking and financial services. SAFE will make a strong contribution to the economy and make our communities more secure,” said National Cannabis Roundtable Chairman Kevin Murphy.

“We are delighted the House has passed the SAFE Act since it provides clarity and certainty in cannabis banking to help resolve the public safety problem of excessive tempting cash on the streets, enables governments to effectively tax and regulate cannabis businesses and gives banks flexibility to bank these state legal businesses,” said Don Childears, President of the Colorado Banking Association.

The SAFE Banking Act would prevent federal banking regulators from:
- Prohibiting, penalizing or discouraging a bank from providing financial services to a legitimate state-sanctioned and regulated cannabis business, or an associated business (such as an lawyer or landlord providing services to a legal cannabis business);
- Terminating or limiting a bank’s federal deposit insurance solely because the bank is providing services to a state-sanctioned cannabis business or associated business;
- Recommending or incentivizing a bank to halt or downgrade providing any kind of banking services to these businesses.
The bill also creates a safe harbor from criminal prosecution and liability and asset forfeiture for banks and their officers and employees who provide financial services to legitimate, state-sanctioned cannabis businesses, while maintaining banks’ right to choose not to offer those services.

The bill would require banks to comply with current Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance, while at the same time allowing FinCEN guidance to be streamlined over time as states and the federal government adapt to legalized medicinal and recreational cannabis policies.

The SAFE Banking Act has the support of bipartisan groups of state governors, attorneys general, treasurers, and banking regulators. It is supported by the state banking association in every state in the country as well as the American Bankers Association (ABA), Americans for Tax Reform, Credit Union National Association (CUNA), Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA), the Cannabis Trade Federation (CTF), the National Cannabis Roundtable, the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), Mid-Size Bank Coalition of America (MBCA), The Real Estate Roundtable, the National Association of Realtors, and various U.S. trade associations such as the American Land Title Association (ALTA), American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) and the Reinsurance Association of America (RAA), among others.

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October 5, 2019
Human noise culprit of masking iconic national park sounds

U.S. national parks are full of natural sounds. In Rocky Mountain National Park, visitors might hear the bugle of elks. At Yellowstone National Park, wolves howl in the distance. Iconic sounds like these are often associated with specific parks, creating unique soundscapes and enriching visitor experiences.

However, when you add human-made noise, these natural sounds are at risk.

“Anthropogenic” noise – sound caused by human activity – has the unintended impact of masking natural sounds important to both visitors and wildlife. Noise is increasingly prevalent in natural spaces. Not only does this take away from visitors’ experiences, but it also has significant ecological consequences. Many animals’ survival depends on listening for approaching predators, and successful breeding for some species hinges on listening for the song of a potential mate.

With these ecological consequences in mind, a team of scientists from Colorado State University and the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) characterized the predominant human noise sources in 66 U.S. national parks in an effort to help parks better manage the noise problem. The study, “Anthropogenic noise in U.S. national parks – sources and spatial extent,” was published Oct. 2 in the Ecological Society of America’s journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.

Human-made noise loud but localized in large parks

The researchers found that national park lands are largely bastions of natural sounds. While the team found anthropogenic noise causes a 10-fold or greater increase in natural background sound levels in over a third of parks in the study, the acreage impacted by such levels represents less than two percent of the total NPS lands.

The team found that even though trains and recreational watercraft are by far the loudest sources of noise, the greatest noise-causing culprits are vehicles and aircraft.

National Park Service lands quietest U.S. areas

Rachel Buxton, lead author of the study, said the team was encouraged by how quiet, for the most part, national parks areas are. Wilderness areas and natural resource parks were found to have fewer noise events and are quieter than other park types across North America, such as cultural parks or recreation areas.

Trent Hawkins and Rachel Buxton are former lab members of the Sound and Light Ecology Team at CSU. Photo courtesy of Rachel Buxton

While NPS lands remain among the quietest protected areas in the U.S., noise made by people or machines is increasingly common and is heard in 37% of recordings collected from NPS lands across the country.

“When we visit a park to experience nature, hearing cars and planes can be annoying,” said Buxton, who conducted the research as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology in CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources. “What many people don’t realize is that these noises disrupt the calming effect of being in nature, with significant effects on our wellbeing and the wellbeing of wildlife.”

She is now a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University in Ontario.

Analysis of nearly 47,000 hours of audio clips

The study relied on unprecedented audio data collection and analysis, the result of over a decade of collaboration between CSU and the NPS. Dozens of CSU students, trained to identify and measure different types of sounds, processed 46,789 hours of audio clips from 251 sites in 66 parks.

The research team then identified how frequent noise events were, what type of noise is most commonly heard, and their respective noise levels, or the loudness of the noises. The sounds were compared with measured noise levels across the continent, giving a more complete picture of where noise was highest and the most common sources.

Scientists found that it is more than just our vehicles making noise; another common source is simply human voices. In the context of visitor conversation, and speaking with and learning from park rangers, voices are intrinsic to park values and visitor experience. Yet, even when appropriate to the setting, these sounds affect wildlife. The designation of “quiet zones” can markedly improve noise levels, as successfully demonstrated in Muir Woods National Monument’s Cathedral Grove.

Insights on better managing noise for park service leaders, staff

The U.S. National Park Service was established over a century ago to conserve natural and cultural resources for future generations, which includes the iconic sounds found in nature.

“The Grand Canyon is grand because of its striking vistas, but also because of the sound of the river flowing through the canyon, wind rustling the leaves, and birds singing,” Buxton said. “Managing noise is essential for protecting our experiences in national parks, which are the country’s treasures.”

To fulfill this mission, NPS actively pursues innovations that will improve park sound environments and will showcase and improve sensory environments for people and ecosystems.

Researchers said the study findings can help parks understand the range of options available for managing noise from the most frequent noise culprits: cars and planes. To mitigate vehicle noise, parks can incorporate shuttle systems, establish speed limits, allow for electric vehicles, and use quiet pavement materials on roads. Aircraft noise, which can be heard from great distances at quiet sites, can be reduced by routing or scheduling flights to avoid sensitive areas.

George Wittemyer is the senior author of the new study.

“Numerous noise mitigation strategies have been successfully developed and implemented, so we already have the knowledge needed to address many of these issues,” said George Wittemyer, an associate professor at CSU and senior author of the study. “Our work provides information to facilitate such efforts in respect to protected areas where natural sounds are integral.”

The researchers said they are hopeful that as more noise research becomes public, people will consider sound as a valuable component of the natural environment, one that is currently at risk of being overwhelmed. “Protecting these important natural acoustic resources as development and land conversion progresses is critical if we want to preserve the character of parks,” Buxton added.

Co-authors of the study include Kevin Crooks (Department of Fish, Wildlife and Conservation Biology); Megan McKenna, Emma Brown, Kurt Fristrup (Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division, National Park Service); Daniel Mennitt (CSU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering); and Lisa Angeloni (CSU Department of Biology).

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October 5, 2019
USDA and the City and County of Denver Partner to Publish a Soil Survey of Denver County

DENVER, CO — USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is conducting a field inventory of soil resources within Denver County. NRCS’s Fort Morgan Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) Soil Survey Office in conjunction with the City and County of Denver will lead three soil survey teams collecting field data in Denver County for approximately one year beginning October 2019.

“This is an exciting time in soil data collection,” said Andy Steinert, MLRA Soil Survey Leader. “In the past, urban areas were low priority as conservation efforts were focused on cropland and rangelands. Today we have more knowledge and a better understanding of urban soils, how they function and our ability to identify and map them”.

To gather information for a soil survey, soil scientists traverse the land on foot to examine the soil in detail. They dig between five to seven feet by hand-shoveling or by hand-auguring. They then place the excavated soil on a tarp, and begin to study the layers, also called horizons. They record various properties of the soil, such as soil texture, organic matter, color, pH, etc. This information is then uploaded into a national soils database where it is merged with spatial data which is then used to create digital maps.

“The Denver County Soil Survey project is an important one because it supports the national conservation goal of completing soils mapping nationwide,” Steinert goes on to say. The digital maps illustrate soil types and locations while the database provides additional information, including chemical, physical, and engineering properties, along with suitability’s and limitations of the soil. In the end, soil surveys are extremely useful planning tools that can be used in design decisions for gardens, home construction, erosion control, park management sites, flood risk management, ecosystem and waterway restorations, water conservation plans, and recreational use planning.

Upon completion, the Denver County soil survey will be published online to the Web Soil Survey (WSS). WSS is updated annually, it is free to the public and can be accessed at https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/. The NRCS is asking interested property owners in the Denver County area for access to open spaces, parks, golf courses, cemeteries, community/urban gardens, lawns and yards. Folks should know that we practice a leave no trace etiquette, aiming to keep the area looking like it did before we were there. We may not get to every request, but a larger selection from which to choose will lead to a more accurate soil survey.

For more information about soil surveys in urban areas please visit www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/use/urban/. Interested property owners in the Denver County area should contact Andy Steinert at or 970-867-8568 x3359. You may also write to:

USDA NRCS

Fort Morgan MLRA Soil Survey Office

200 West Railroad Ave.

Fort Morgan, CO 80701

Attn: Andy Steinert, MLRA Soil Survey Leader

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October 5, 2019
Bennet Leads Colorado Congressional Democrats in Raising Concerns over Trump Administration Proposal to Take Food Assistance Away from 33,000 Coloradans

COLORADO – Today, Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette (C0-1), Ed Perlmutter (CO-7), Jason Crow (CO-6), and Joe Neguse (CO-2) urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to consider the detrimental effects of their proposed rule to alter broad based categorical eligibility (BBCE), which would take food assistance away from 33,000 Coloradans, including 11,000 children and 7,300 seniors, who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

In July, USDA proposed a regulation to drastically alter broad based categorical eligibility in SNAP, despite Congress rejecting such changes to SNAP rules on a bipartisan basis in the 2018 Farm Bill. In a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, the lawmakers expressed serious concerns about the proposed rule, which will take away SNAP from 17,872 Colorado households.

“As members of Congress, we are dedicated to ensuring an effective nutrition assistance program for Colorado and for the nation,” wrote the lawmakers in the letter. “Colorado has expanded SNAP eligibility using BBCE, helping many families save for essential household expenses such as the purchase of a reliable vehicle, the deposit for a new apartment, or to deal with a family emergency. Colorado now serves more than 460,000 individuals annually through the SNAP program many of whom would suffer under the Administration’s proposed changes to BBCE.”

The lawmakers also cited the economic benefits that SNAP generates in Colorado. The Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS) found that each federal dollar spent on SNAP generates as much as $1.70 in economic activity, leading the agency to estimate that the state stands to lose more than $20 million in economic activity due to the proposed rule.

Above all, the lawmakers emphasized the effect of the proposed rule on children across Colorado.

“…children who qualify for SNAP automatically qualify for the free school meal program,” wrote the lawmakers. “The rule would break that linkage, increase red tape for kids and families, and shrink program participation – to the detriment of Colorado students.”

“We urge the Department to consider the detrimental effect this proposed rule would have on our constituents,” the lawmakers concluded.

The text of the letter can be found HERE and below.

Dear Secretary Perdue:

We write with serious concerns regarding the Department of Agriculture’s recent proposed rule “Revision of Categorical Eligibility in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (84 FR 35570)”. The proposed rule will take away SNAP from an estimated 3.1 million people nationwide. Vulnerable SNAP participants in Colorado, including senior citizens and children, will face increased hunger and insecurity.

SNAP is essential for the 430,150 households across Colorado that do not earn enough income to meet their basic needs-the vast majority (88 percent) of which have at least one worker in the house. Nearly one in eleven (9.2%) Coloradans struggle to put food on the table, including many adults in the workforce who may be struggling due to a job loss, lack of available full-time hours, or low pay.

Broad Based Categorical Eligibility (BBCE) is a policy that provides states the option to adjust the income cutoffs in SNAP so working families – whose incomes are often volatile – don’t abruptly lose support when they earn slightly more money. Over 40 states use BBCE to help families build savings to carry them through emergencies and build a bridge out of poverty to self-sufficiency, while reducing the administrative burden for individuals and state agencies. Colorado has expanded SNAP eligibility using BBCE, helping many families save for essential household expenses such as the purchase of a reliable vehicle, the deposit for a new apartment, or to deal with a family emergency. Colorado now serves more than 460,000 individuals annually through the SNAP program many of whom would suffer under the Administration’s proposed changes to BBCE.

According to the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS), the proposed rule would take away benefits from 33,000 Coloradans, including 11,000 children and 7,300 seniors. Multiple studies show that SNAP has a positive effect on poverty reduction, nutrition, and health, particularly for the children and older Americans who will be most severely affected by the changes.

Research suggests that each dollar spent by the federal government on SNAP benefits generates as much as $1.70 in overall economic activity. The average benefit amount for the 17,872 Colorado households who would be kicked off due to the BBCE rule change is about $58 per month. Therefore, CDHS estimates that the state stands to lose more than $20 million in economic activity

Students are yet another population impacted by this ruling; children who qualify for SNAP automatically qualify for the free school meal program. The rule would break that linkage, increase red tape for kids and families, and shrink program participation – to the detriment of Colorado students.

Lastly, states will also suffer increased administrative costs and processing hurdles. The Trump Administration’s own calculations estimate the proposed rule would result in an increase of 4.3 million annual processing hours for State Agencies across the country at a total cost of $92.5 million.

Not only does the Administration’s proposal strip nutrition assistance from the most vulnerable and increase costs for states, it clearly ignores the longstanding congressional intent of the program. SNAP categorical eligibility was first authorized in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. Congress has re-authorized it multiple times since then, most recently in the bipartisan 2018 Farm Bill. Congress considered changes to BBCE during the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills, and in both cases explicitly rejected changes to BBCE on a bipartisan basis in the final bills. For example, the House-drafted 2018 Farm Bill would have limited SNAP categorical eligibility, yet the final 2018 Farm Bill Conference Report, which was approved by 369 members of the House and 87 members of the Senate, deleted the House provision, rejecting changes to BBCE.

As members of Congress, we are dedicated to ensuring an effective nutrition assistance program for Colorado and for the nation. We urge the Department to consider the detrimental effect this proposed rule would have on our constituents.

Sincerely,

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October 4, 2019
AccuWeather Special Report: 2019 US Winter Forecast

The wait is over. AccuWeather’s annual winter forecast for the lower 48 is out. As 2019 comes to a close, AccuWeather’s long-range forecast team predicts an active winter season is ahead for the northeastern United States.

The Southeast, however, is more likely to be targeted by rain than wintry weather. Meanwhile, ample snowfall during winter in California will help stave off drought conditions come springtime. And will Arctic air surging down from a disturbance in the polar vortex make a return this winter?

Take a look above at a complete region-by-region breakdown.

Northeast

Despite a few cold spells across the Northeast during autumn, winter’s chill won’t arrive until at least the end of 2019.

AccuWeather Expert Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said, “I think you’re going to see a touch of winter come in in December. But I think its full force will hold out until after the new year.”

Once the wintry weather does get underway, an active season will be in store.

“Whether or not it’s snowstorms, ice storms or mixed events, I do feel this is going to be an active year for the Northeast,” he said.

Above-normal snowfall could be in store for areas from New York City to Boston.

Meanwhile, cities farther south, including Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, will be more likely to get a mix of rain and snow.

Southeast

While the Northeast braces for snow and cold, the Southeast is more likely to experience a wet couple of months.

Water temperatures from the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast and mid-Atlantic coasts are running higher than normal, Pastelok said.

As storms move into the east early on in the season, the warm water could generate a significant amount of rain.

However, it’s not out of the question that the region could experience a winter storm, similar to last season, which brings snow or ice to areas like Winston-Salem, Charlotte or Asheville.

North/Central Plains and Midwest

Last January the polar vortex unleashed a record cold snap across much of the U.S., but at least for the first part of winter, the polar vortex isn’t expected to make a debut, according to Pastelok. While Pastelok cautioned that predicting exactly how the polar vortex will behave several months out is difficult to do, he stated that it could still be a key player in part of the winter.

“The polar vortex is particularly strong this year, and that means that frigid air is likely to remain locked up over the polar region early in winter,” Pastelok said. Instead, cold air that could reach the Midwest at times early in the season is likely to originate from a Siberian Connection, rather than straight from the North Pole, and that has implications on just how cold it will get.

However, conditions may change and allow the polar vortex and accompanying Arctic air to bust loose later during the winter, he said.

With such a pattern expected this winter, milder-than-normal weather will kick off the season in December across the northern and central Plains states.

But it won’t last for long.

Arctic air is expected to surge into the region at points during the season, although it’s too soon to tell exactly where the coldest conditions will take hold.

Pastelok predicts near- to below-normal snowfall across the northern Plains, with near- to above-normal totals in the central Plains.

Farther east, in the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes, cold air will encourage a number of lake-effect snow events.

Residents will want to stock up on shovels, as an above-normal season for snowfall is in the offing.

Southern Plains

The southern Plains will experience a “back-and-forth” weather pattern for much of the winter.

Pastelok said, “When we say ‘back and forth,’ we’re talking about extremes.”

“In January, you may get a couple of chilly air masses, but it’s offset by December and February when the temperatures actually end up being above normal,” he said.

Early on, the region may get a few wintry events with snow and ice before milder air returns.

“The cold air will be lacking from time to time,” Pastelok said. “The best chance of getting any significant chill is probably in January for Dallas and Oklahoma City.”

Southwest and California

A cool, unsettled pattern is in store for the Southwest and California this season.

“At times, these areas could also have back-and-forth conditions, between some periods of dry weather and some active weather in the early winter, which is not really typical,” he said.

In California, the winter will yield enough precipitation to stave off drought conditions into the spring.

Snow falling at Mammoth Mountain ski resort in California. (Twitter / Mammoth Mountain)

“I think they will get ample snowfall, just enough that will fill those reservoirs up in the spring and early summer. It’s the late summer, of course, that becomes more critical,” Pastelok said.

A normal season in terms of snowfall will also translate to a decent ski conditions for resorts in California.

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October 4, 2019
Colorado Climate Strikers to Protest Fracking in Broomfield
DENVER– Climate strikers will protest neighborhood fracking in Broomfield on Sunday during the final event of the Colorado Climate Strike Week of Action. Participants will offer an alternative future for the use of open space and public lands, proposing a zero-carbon community garden be put in place of oil and gas development.

Supporting the demands from Friday’s Youth Climate Strike, protestors are calling on to Gov. Jared Polis to implement a ban on fracking, including a halt to all leasing and permitting for fossil fuel extraction, processing, and infrastructure projects immediately.

Additionally, strikers are demanding the COGCC implement an immediate moratorium until protective rules are in place based on assessments of cumulative impacts to health and safety, air quality, local toxic exposures, and the climate crisis are completed; with a plan to end phase-out fracking no later than 2024.

The event will take place across from the Livingston pad, where hundreds of Broomfield community members are being forced pooled by Extraction Oil and Gas. Local community members are asking the COGCC to deny the permits at both the Livingston and Acme pads as well as end fracking on public open space land.

When: Sunday, September 29, 4:00-7:00 p.m.

Where: Anthem Community Park at Siena Reservoir

15663 Sheridan Pkwy, Broomfield, CO

What:
- Live music by Tierro with Bridget Law (of Elephant Revival)
- Face painting and other activities for kids
- Food & Drinks
- Propose a community garden to absorb carbon and create a positive alternative vision for our future
- Sign petitions calling for no new fossil fuel infrastructure, including stopping permits for fracking, and a rapid transition to 100% renewable energy
Learn More: Click here

Quote Deck:

“Neighborhood fracking is plaguing Colorado communities. From dozens of explosions, polluted air, and devastating health impacts – it is time we put an end to fracking in Colorado,” said Micah Parkin of 350 Colorado.

Nick Tuta of Sunrise Movement Boulder/Denver said: “Our planet is in a climate crisis, driven by fossil fuels. In a time when we need to be slamming on the brakes, each new permit fracking permit is pushing the gas pedal harder and harder. For our government to care more about industry profits than the health and safety of our community and of our plant is unconscionable.”

Sophia Chivers, a student at Niwot Highschool said: “It is absolutely unacceptable that a climate aware government continues to put the profits of fossil fuel companies over the health, safety, and welfare of their people.”

“As long as Colorado continues to extract oil and gas, we are contributing to climate chaos,” said Julia Williams of 350 Colorado.

The Colorado Climate Strike Week of Action is Supported by:

11th Hour Calling

350 Colorado

500 Women Scientists

Aspen Snowmass

Be the Change USA

Boulder CAN

Boulder.Earth

Boundless in Motion and Boulder Ecodharma Sangha

Catholic Network US

Center for Biological Diversity

Clean Energy Action

Climate Courage, LLC

Climate Reality Project

Colorado Coalition for a Livable Climate

Colorado Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

Colorado Renewable Energy Society

Colorado Rising

Denver Metro Sierra Club

Earth Focus Group

Earth Guardians – Boulder & CO Climate Strikes

EarthLinks, Inc.

Eco-Justice Ministries

Environment Colorado

Erie Protectors

Extinction Rebellion Boulder County

Extinction Rebellion Denver

Extinction Rebellion Fort Collins

Food & Water Watch

Fort Collins Sustainability Group

Global Greengrants Fund Inc

Greenfaith

Greenpeace

Indivisible Denver

International Indigenous Youth Council – Denver

Keep Colorado Green

Lookout Alliance

Moms Clean Air Force

Mothers Out Front- Colorado

North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)

Patagonia – Denver & Boulder Stores

Pikes Peak Justice and Peace Commission

Protect Our Winters

Renewables Now Loveland

Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center

Sunrise – Boulder/Denver

Sunrise – Colorado Springs

The Climate Mobilization

The Wilderness Society

Wall of Women Colorado

What the Frack? Arapahoe

Wind & Solar Denver

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom Greeley Chapter

Womxn’s March Denver

& More

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September 30, 2019
Colorado deer hunters: Keep an eye on your mailbox for mandatory chronic wasting disease testing letter
DENVER – Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will be conducting mandatory chronic wasting disease (CWD) testing during the 2019 hunting season in specific Game Management Units (GMU) as part of efforts to control the spread of CWD with its Colorado Chronic Wasting Disease Response Plan.

Beginning in late September, CPW will be sending out letters to Colorado rifle season deer (buck and doe) hunters who have been selected for mandatory CWD testing. Seventy-eight GMUs, including all eastern plains units, are included in the 2019 mandatory sample. Mandatory and voluntary sampling is critical for data collection on this disease that impacts the long-term health of our herds. For a complete list of this year’s mandatory GMUs, see pages 20 – 29 of the 2019 Colorado Big Game Brochure.

CWD is a prion disease that affects Colorado’s deer, elk and moose. The disease course generally lasts 2 – 3 years and is always fatal. Although there has been no evidence that CWD has yet been transmitted to humans, the Center for Disease Control, along with CPW, recommend that hunters not eat the meat of a CWD-infected animal.

Click here for complete CWD Testing and Submission Information, including a list of testing submission sites and their schedule of operations.

New in 2019

Temporary CWD Submission Sites
CPW is implementing temporary CWD submission sites (in mandatory testing units) this year to assist those who are hunting in more remote locations. You can find a complete list of CWD testing submission sites along with hours and locations on CPW’s website: cpw.state.co.us/CWD

More stringent requirements for CWD processing reimbursement
As in the past, CPW will reimburse costs incurred from processing CWD-positive animals. The standard rate will be up to $100 for animals non-commercially processed and up to $200 for deer and elk that are commercially processed. The maximum reimbursement for commercial processing moose is $250.

Please note: the process for reimbursement has become more stringent this year. In order to be reimbursed for processing costs, you must have:
1. Hunting license showing CID number
2. CWD Head Tag
3. Proof of payment:
a. Credit card slip
b. Copy of both the front and back of canceled check
c. Receipt showing cash payment
d. Itemized invoice (if processor can provide one)

Other regulations related to CWD samples and CWD-positive test results
- CPW does not offer a replacement license or refund license fees to hunters that harvest a CWD-positive animal. This is in line with other states’ CWD regulations and helps ensure the testing program maintains adequate funding.
- Hunters whose deer tests positive for CWD will get a letter mailed to them by CPW explaining what we know about CWD, disposal recommendations, as well as public health information. It will also provide links to online sources for additional information. In addition to this letter, each hunter with a CWD-positive animal will be notified once by phone and email.
Updated information on CWD and the 2019 mandatory sample will be posted on CPW’s website at cpw.state.co.us/CWD.

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September 28, 2019
Wyoming forensics lab plays a major role in prosecuting wildlife violations in Colorado

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Late August when Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers wanted confirmation if they had captured the offending mountain lion involved in an attack on an eight-year-old boy in Park County, the agency turned to its friends at the Wyoming Game and Fish Wildlife Forensic & Fish Health Laboratory in Laramie.

DNA samples submitted to the forensics lab proved without a doubt that they had the offending mountain lion.

“The mountain lion that was guilty in the case had goat and human DNA on its paws,” said Wyoming’s Wildlife Forensic Program Manager Tasha Bauman. “Our numbers on this one were really very high for the likelihood ratio of a match, it was less than one-in-27 billion that its genotype would be reproducible.”

CPW is contracted with the Wyoming Forensic Lab to conduct its forensic analyses. Colorado is one of 12 states that Wyoming does forensic work for, which soon will bump up to 14, as Utah and Kansas are in the process of formalizing contracts with the lab as well.

The forensic lab is used as a tool in investigations over poaching cases and for positive identification in wildlife attacks on humans.

CPW’s current contract is a five-year deal with Wyoming, running from 2017 through 2021. From June 1, 2018 through May 31, 2019, CPW sent 14 law enforcement cases up north that resulted in 99 forensic samples and 3,086 analytical tests being run off of those.

Wyoming is in the process of gaining its international accreditation issued by the International Organization for Standardization.

As it currently stands, there are only four wildlife facilities in the world that have the international accreditation known as ISO 17205 – the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Forensic Laboratory in Ashland, Ore., Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Forensic Lab in San Marcos, one at the University of California, Davis and the fourth is the UK Wildlife DNA Forensics Laboratory located in Scotland.

Just last summer, Wyoming opened a new state-of-the-art facility in Laramie.

“We already follow the Society for Wildlife Forensic Science standards and guidelines and we follow the ISO 17205 guidelines, so we are working at that standard already, just don’t have the official accreditation,” Bauman said. “We are working towards accreditation with this new building. We were not able to meet the requirements of accreditation previously with our lab that used to be on the University of Wyoming campus.

“[This lab] was set up in the manner where we can run everything through in a timely matter, but keep everything separated by space,” she added. “Forensics requires all your tests to be separated by time and or space, with space being ideal, so we set it up for that. We also set it up so we can store everything long-term. The lab space is amazing.”

There are only 28 certified wildlife forensic scientists world-wide, and two of them operate out of the Wyoming facility. Bauman is one of the two, and she works closely with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, not just on the cases CPW sends to the lab, but she also holds an annual training with wildlife officers on the proper steps to follow when submitting samples for forensic analysis.

“Colorado has been on as long as I think we have been open,” Bauman said. “Colorado generally sends the most cases into the forensic lab out of all the states we have contracts with. They are very receptive to our trainings and their wildlife officers do a very good job of sending in forensically useful samples.”

The Wyoming lab sees 70-80 cases a year from all the states they are contracted with and of those 5-10 are from wildlife attacks on humans.

“I have worked 74 bear and mountain lion attack cases in my career,” said Bauman, who is in her 12th year with Wyoming Game and Fish. “I’ve worked approximately 800 total wildlife cases from all the states we work for and the bulk of those come from Wyoming, Montana and Colorado.”

The tests the laboratory run are a crucial component in investigations. Serious violations of wildlife laws can be successfully prosecuted off of its results.

“The testing we run is not really subjective,” Bauman said. “It is ‘yes this is a match, or no it is not.’ “

Most cases the Wyoming lab works on come directly from wildlife law enforcement officers from the states it contracts with. When the lab is ready to do the sub-sampling, they identify the most forensically-useful sample for testing.

“We will run it through species identification using protein analysis,” Bauman said. “We will test for specific proteins to determine what species it is. If it is a sample that is not protein heavy, like a bone sample or a sample that is producing weird results on our protein test, we’ll run it through DNA sequencing.

“Once we have all of our species figured out, we’ll extract the DNA and then we can set up sex ID and microsattelite matching, where we can match two items together, like a gut pile in the field to the meat in a freezer, or to the head on somebodies wall.”

The Wyoming lab can process forensic analysis on 13 species of wildlife – elk, moose, mule deer, whitetail deer, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, black bears, pronghorn, bobcats, mountain lions, grizzly bears, turkey and sage grouse.

They keep regional database samples on the various species to help with case work.

“For our database samples when we run DNA matching cases we have to have a statistic likelihood ratio to say how likely the animal we tested is to be reproduced in the wild,” Bauman said. “We look at our regional database, look at the different alleles in those databases for each one of those animals and then we run some math to say an animal is less than one in a hundred billion to be reproduced in that population. It just gives a statistical weight to the match that we have made.”

Illegal poaching activities may require special efforts to detect, deter and prosecute. CPW also employs forensics services from other agencies. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation conducts bullet examination and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has forensic capabilities as well – the Federal lab specializing in endangered or federally protected species.

Colorado has seen 49,994 wildlife violation citations issued in the last 10 years (2009-18). Having a tool like the Wyoming Forensics Lab at its disposal to help prosecute the most serious of offenses plays a big part in helping protect and conserve Colorado’s wildlife resource.

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September 27, 2019
Colorado Sees One of Nation’s Largest Declines in Children Living in Concentrated Poverty

DENVER—The number of children living in concentrated poverty fell faster in Colorado than in almost any other state in the country in recent years, according to “Children Living in High Poverty, Low-Opportunity Neighborhoods,” a new KIDS COUNT® data snapshot released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Using the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, the snapshot examines where concentrated poverty has worsened across the country despite a long period of national economic expansion.

On average, between 2013 and 2017, 5 percent of Colorado kids lived in areas of concentrated poverty, down from a peak of 9 percent between 2008 and 2012. The number of Colorado kids living in areas of concentrated poverty fell by nearly half between these two time periods; in comparison, the number of children living in concentrated poverty nationwide fell by only 9 percent. Colorado was one of 29 states to see a decrease in the share of children in concentrated poverty. Despite the improvement, nearly 60,000 Colorado kids still lived in an area of concentrated poverty according to the most recent estimates available.

Growing up in a community of concentrated poverty—a neighborhood where 30 percent or more of the population is living in poverty—is one of the greatest risks to child development. More than 8.5 million U.S. children live in these settings, which is nearly 12 percent of all children in the United States. Children in high-poverty neighborhoods tend to lack access to healthy food and quality medical care and they often face greater exposure to environmental hazards, such as poor air quality, and toxins such as lead. Financial hardships and fear of violence can cause chronic stress linked to diabetes, heart disease and stroke. And when these children grow up, they are more likely to have lower incomes than children who have relocated away from communities of concentrated poverty

“Every child deserves to grow up in a community with great schools, safe places to play, reliable transportation and good job opportunities for their parents,” said Sarah Hughes, Vice President of Research at the Colorado Children’s Campaign. “But with 60,000 Colorado kids still living in high-poverty, low-opportunity communities, it’s clear that we have more work to do to ensure that every child can grow up in a community with the resources needed to help them and their families thrive.”

The Census Bureau also released data today from the American Community Survey that shows overall child poverty in Colorado remained flat at 11.9 percent in 2017, which was not a statistically significant increase from 12 percent in 2018.

The “Children Living in Concentrated Poverty, Low-Opportunity Neighborhoods” snapshot shows that leaders still need to confront the far-reaching effects of racial inequities and inequality. Children of color and children in immigrant families in Colorado are much more likely to live in a community of concentrated poverty than their peers as a result of legacies of racial and ethnic oppression as well as present-day laws, practices and stereotypes that disproportionately affect people of color. American Indian children and black or African-American children in Colorado are most likely to live in concentrated poverty, with 12 percent of all American Indian children and 11 percent of all black or African-American children living in a high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhood, compared to 2 percent of white children.

“These inequities show that historical policies and practices designed to segregate neighborhoods and create barriers to wealth for communities of color are still having an enormous impact on the opportunities available to children of color today,” Hughes said. “If we want all of our children to reach their full potential, we have to work harder to create a state where a child’s race doesn’t predict the type of neighborhood she lives in or the opportunities available to her outside her front door.”

Other key national findings from the snapshot include:

●        Overall, urban areas have both the largest number and share of children living in concentrated poverty: 5.4 million, or 23 percent of all kids in cities. About 11 percent of kids (1.2 million) in rural areas live in poor communities, while 5 percent of suburban kids (2 million) do.

●        States in the South and West tend to have high rates of children living in concentrated poverty, making up 17 of 25 states with rates of 10 percent and above.

●        African American and American Indian children are seven times more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than white children and Latino children are nearly five times more likely, largely as a result of legacies of racial and ethnic oppression as well as present-day laws, practices and stereotypes that disproportionately affect people of color.

The Colorado Children’s Campaign joins the Casey Foundation in calling on national, state and local stakeholders to act now to help families lift themselves out of these circumstances. Policies at the community, county and state level can have a significant impact on the lives of children in struggling families. In Colorado, policy recommendations for improving housing security were recently outlined in a report from the Colorado Health Institute

The Colorado Children’s Campaign is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization committed since 1985 to realizing every chance for every child in Colorado. We advocate for the development and implementation of data-driven public policies that improve child well-being in health, education and early childhood. We do this by providing Coloradans with trusted data and research on child well-being and organizing an extensive state-wide network of dedicated child advocates. For more information, please visit www.coloradokids.org.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for the nation’s children by developing solutions to strengthen families, build paths to economic opportunity and transform struggling communities into safer and healthier places to live, work and grow. For more information, visit www.aecf.org. KIDS COUNT^® is a registered trademark of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

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September 27, 2019
PUC opens proceeding to collect information pursuant to Colorado Transmission Coordination Act

DENVER – The Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) today opened a proceeding to gather input from stakeholders on the potential advantages and disadvantages of regional market participation by electric utilities.

The Colorado Transmission Coordination Act, passed by the legislature this spring, directed the PUC to open a proceeding by Jan. 1, 2020, to investigate the costs and benefits to electric utilities, other generators, and Colorado electric utility customers resulting from electric utility participation in energy imbalance markets, regional transmission organizations, power pools, or joint tariffs. As part of the investigation, the PUC must determine under what conditions the costs, benefits and consequences materialize, and whether such participation is in the public interest.

Commissioner Frances Koncilja was designated as Hearing Commissioner and will work with PUC staff, stakeholders and other interested participants to collect and organize information, conduct public comment hearings or workshops, and make recommendations to the full Commission as to the next steps in conducting the investigation required by the statute.

The PUC is requesting initial written comments related to the proceeding by Nov. 15, and reply comments by Dec. 15.

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-0495E.

Visit https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/dora/puc_legislation_implementation for updates on PUC proceedings related to 2019 legislation.

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September 25, 2019