A study unraveling the genetics of Colorado’s state fish, the greenback cutthroat trout, has found that pure greenbacks exist only on a 4-mile stretch of a creek southwest of Colorado Springs.
This overhaul of what is defined as a greenback cutthroat may come as a blow to anglers who fished such high-country sweet spots as Rocky Mountain National Park and thought they caught the real thing.
CASTLE ROCK — Deep wells are being drilled to tap 1.5 million acre-feet of water under the Greenland open space in Douglas County, a potentially game-changing project at a time when south-metro communities are scrambling to reduce their dependence on underground aquifers.
MONTEZUMA — Colorado mining authorities have dug through a mountainside and reopened the dark granite shaft of an abandoned mine that turned deadly — trying to find options for dealing with one of the West’s worst environmental problems.
The Pennsylvania Mine, perched above timberline, discharges an acidic orange stream moving 181 pounds per day of toxic metals into Peru Creek and the Snake River, which flow into Denver Water’s Dillon Reservoir.
The poisoning of the watershed has gone on for more than 60 years.
A judge has reversed Douglas County’s approval of the $4.3 billion Sterling Ranch development of 12,050 new homes.
The reason: failure to line up enough water.
County commissioners are livid, vowing an appeal
FAIRPLAY — The federal Bureau of Land Management is preparing to open South Park — metro Denver’s main water source — to oil and gas drilling.
But Aurora Water, local authorities and conservationists are pushing back, demanding careful planning before any land is leased.
Driven by drought, Gov. John Hickenlooper is urging President Barack Obama and federal engineers to speed decisions on proposed water projects designed to sustain urban growth.
The hundreds of thousands of gallons of red slurry that air tankers are dropping on Colorado forests to shield mountain houses from wildfires has a downside: It is toxic. Laced with ammonia and nitrates, it has the potential to kill fish and taint water supplies.
Federal authorities say they’re implementing new rules prohibiting application of fire-retardant chemicals within 600 feet of waterways. Air tanker pilots and crew commanders now are required to carry maps that identify sensitive terrain — such as areas where greenback cutthroat trout and Pawnee montane skipper butterflies are monitored as sentinel species.
A decade-long move toward prescribed fires and forest-thinning has not reduced the risk of catastrophic wildfires along the Front Range, federal and state authorities say.
And firefighting commanders increasingly favor letting more forests burn — if people aren’t threatened — instead of mounting all-out assaults. They say it’s smarter to let some fires burn naturally because this can help prevent huge fires that ruin forest seed stocks and watersheds.
An underground plume of toxic petrochemicals spreading from Suncor Energy’s oil refinery in Commerce City is complicating a $211 million upgrade at the adjacent Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant — work that must be completed on schedule to meet water-quality requirements.
COMMERCE CITY — State-ordered remedies have not stopped toxic pollution from Suncor Energy’s oil refinery north of Denver — with new data showing benzene levels in Sand Creek and the South Platte River more than doubling last month.
Neither state regulators nor Suncor has calculated how much cancer-causing benzene and other contaminants have entered the waterways from an underground plume spreading from the refinery under the adjacent Metro Wastewater Treatment Plant.
A journalist and lawyer, Bruce Finley has investigated local, national and international issues with on-site reporting in more than 40 countries. In his position as a staff writer for the Denver Post, he is focusing on environment-related news including water challenges, the oil and gas boom and wildfire.
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