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Western Slope officials supporting the nuclear option for energy
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Western Slope officials supporting the nuclear option for energy

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Jump started in the past year by Gov. Jared Polis’ clean energy mandate and the imminent closing of the Craig Station Power Station, local governments have been studying new technologies — such as small modular nuclear generation and technologies that allow spent nuclear fuel to be recycled and repurposed. In consideration of lost jobs and lost revenue to counties that will devastate historical fossil fuel energy counties, and seeing the increase in energy demands in the future related to AI technologies, data centers, semiconductor industries and quantum technology, local governments are working to keep those communities in their jurisdictions employed and electrified. Elected officials that make up the members of the ...
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Cattle rustling — the ‘easy crime’ — decimating Western Slope ranchers
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gazette.com, Local

Cattle rustling — the ‘easy crime’ — decimating Western Slope ranchers

By Rachel Wright | The Gazette, via the Denver Gazette The grass crunches underfoot and dust billows in dense clouds as a truck and trailer speed out of public lands in Montrose County. The trailer is full of calves lowing plaintively. The driver gives the Western salute, one or two fingers raised as a four-by-four rumbles past. The truck turns on to the highway, nose pointed east. And without anyone the wiser, more calves have disappeared. Cattle rustling is a tale at least as old as Colorado itself, when poverty and drought turned desperate people into thieves. And now, thanks to the high price of cattle and uneven enforcement of branding laws across the surrounding states, ranchers say rustling is back in a big way on the Western Slope. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE GAZETT...
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Gaines: The people doing ag in this state need to speak up for each other
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Colorado Accountability Project, Commentary

Gaines: The people doing ag in this state need to speak up for each other

By Cory Gaines | Guest Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Whether you run cattle on the Western Slope of Colorado or you grow forage on the Plains, there are precious few people in Colorado in Production Ag, while there seems a never-ending list of advocates — paid, volunteer, and sometimes from out of state — who are speaking up in support of things that either have the potential to harm producers or that will most assuredly harm them. Listen to any CPW commissioners meeting and you’ll have no trouble at all seeing what I mean. I have heard from people in the past that testifying is a challenge because of jobs, lack of technology, and lack of know how. I understand the constraints and so I made this quick guide to help ease some of those problems, to help you find ways t...
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Ranchers hit CPW with $580k in compensation claims for livestock impacted by wolves
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State, The Colorado Sun

Ranchers hit CPW with $580k in compensation claims for livestock impacted by wolves

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Ranchers in Grand County hit Colorado Parks and Wildlife with a $582,000 bill for wolf kills and related impacts on cattle and sheep in the first year of reintroduction, and they are hoping the sum will convince the parks and wildlife commission to pause the next phase of the program at its meeting in Denver on Jan. 8.  The claims are from three producers and center around attacks on livestock in 2024. A breakdown includes $18,411.71 for confirmed attacks resulting in injury or death of cows, calves and sheep; $173,526.63 for yearling cattle, calves and sheep reported missing from ranches with a confirmed attack or death; $216,772.20 for cattle from said ranches taken to market with a lower-than-normal weight; $172,754.64 for lower conception rat...
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It’s lower basin states versus the upper basin in fight over Colorado River water
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

It’s lower basin states versus the upper basin in fight over Colorado River water

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice As he prepares to begin his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives, on priority for U.S. Rep.-elect Jeff Hurd will undoubtedly be protection of water in Western Colorado, via the Colorado River. During a Dec. 5 conference in Las Vegas, Nev., representatives of the seven states that utilize water from the Colorado River Basin were so at odds over what states and how much water use needs to be cut that they couldn’t even be on stage at the same time.  Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico make up the Upper Basin. California, Arizona and Nevada represent the Lower Basin. The current rules for sharing water expire in 2026, and each group has submitted a separate proposal for new guidelines thereafte...
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Modern-day cattle rustlers? In Western Colorado, authorities want to know what happened to 200 head of cattle
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Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Modern-day cattle rustlers? In Western Colorado, authorities want to know what happened to 200 head of cattle

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Although cattle rustlers are no longer hung in the state of Colorado, the penalty is still pretty high for people who are convicted of stealing cattle.  Yet, in Western Colorado, in a story that sounds as if it came right out of John Dutton's Yellowstone, about 200 head of mostly this year’s calves appear to have been stolen in a major financial loss to ranchers. Cattle rustling is defined as knowingly killing, selling, driving, leading or driving away with cattle that don’t belong to a person, or knowingly purchasing cattle from someone who doesn’t have the legal right to sell them. Western Colorado sheriffs from Montrose, Delta and San Miguel Counties are looking for what they believe to be modern-day cattle r...
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Mesa County makes progress in eradicating Japanese beetle from Western Slope
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Local, Rocky Mountain Voice

Mesa County makes progress in eradicating Japanese beetle from Western Slope

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Mesa County commissioners are breathing just a little bit easier after discovering that their efforts, combined with resources from the state and the community, are working to get rid of the Japanese beetle infestation on the Western Slope. The Japanese beetle was discovered in Mesa County in 2022.  The beetle is devastating to crops grown on the Western Slope, particularly the prized fruit crops that are sold all over the country. Through collaborative efforts with public and private groups, and strategic partnerships with state agricultural entities, Mesa County has made significant progress in protecting landscapes and agriculture from the Japanese beetle. This year, the fight against the beetle gained moment...
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Western Colorado ranchers bracing for impact of the next release of wolves
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Western Colorado ranchers bracing for impact of the next release of wolves

By Lindy Browning | Contributor, Rocky Mountain Voice Sen. Perry Will told his constituents in a social media post “Brace yourselves, Garfield County,” after Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced that they will begin phase two of their wolf reintroduction program, adding insult to injury to western Colorado ranchers who have already seen the devastating impact on livestock on their northern neighbors. CPW will be trapping and importing the next 10 to 15 grey wolves from Canada and placing them somewhere in Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle County. Rio Blanco County was on the list of potential release sites, but has since been removed from that list due to the limited number of state-owned locations that would meet the criteria in the plan, in addition to the proximity to livestock...
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Colorado wildlife officials meet with Western Slope commissioners over wolf reintroduction
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coloradopolitics.com, State

Colorado wildlife officials meet with Western Slope commissioners over wolf reintroduction

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which faces sharp criticism over its plans to release more wolves on the Western Slope in the coming months, met with county commissioners last week from the counties where the next reintroductions are slated to take place. Those counties are Pitkin (Aspen), Rio Blanco, Eagle and Garfield, according to the agency. The idea of more wolves on the Western Slope didn't sit well with county commissioners — except for Pitkin County. And Pitkin County doesn't have state lands, so dropping wolves into that county would require a private landowner to grant Colorado Parks and Wildlife permission to do so. READ THE FULL STORY AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Petition requests hiatus in $5M wolf release program
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State, thefencepost.com

Petition requests hiatus in $5M wolf release program

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post Middle Park Stockgrowers Association president Tim Ritschard is on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission agenda on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 11:10 a.m. with a request for citizen petition for rulemaking. The petition is signed by 26 of the state’s agriculture organizations, including Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Farm Bureau, Club 20, and Colorado Wool Growers Association as well as several local livestock and stockgrowers associations. The petition seeks to delay any further introductions of gray wolves into the state until Colorado’s wolf management program can adequately address the conflicts between wolves and livestock producers. CPW has announced its intention to introduce wolves this coming winter in the same northwest Colorado...
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