Drones hone in on mating sage grouse
KREMMLING – Drones have purposes other than picking off enemy soldiers. On Colorado’s Western Slope, they’re being used to peek on the sexual proclivities of sage grouse.
The Sky-Hi News explains that small, unmanned aircraft loaned from the U.S. military are being used to study everything from contour surface mines in West Virginia to soil erosion in South Dakota. The drones weigh just 4.5 pounds and have a wingspan of 55 inches, or about the size of a bald eagle.
In Colorado, the devices allow state wildlife biologists to track sage grouse, a species declining in population. The birds commonly mate during spring in areas called leks. Mud and lingering snow thwart travel in more remote areas, where the leks would likely be found.
Drones were also used to track the migration of sandhill cranes through Colorado’s San Luis Valley.
Salt Lake’s ozone wafts to Park City
PARK CITY, Utah – Park City is unique among destination resorts in its proximity to a major metropolitan area. It’s just 35 minutes from the airport in Salt Lake City, despite the fact they’re on opposite sides of the Wasatch Range.
But that proximity also poses a problem. Park City and surrounding Summit County are sometimes awash in the pollution from the Salt Lake Valley.
The Park Record reports that ozone levels at one location in Summit County exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s specified limits 10 days in 2012. Salt Lake City itself exceeded the limit for seven days.
Aspen plans forum about immigration
ASPEN – A forum about immigration is planned in Aspen, a place that depends heavily on laborers from outside the United States.
“The key is, how is the country going to positively address the fact that an estimated 8 to 10 million illegal people are employed now,” said Warren Klug, a member of the Board of Directors of the Aspen Chamber Resort Association.
Klug estimates that half of the 55 people employed this winter at the Aspen Square Condominium Hotel, where he is the general manager, were born outside the United States. The hotel follows the law in checking the documentation of its foreign workers, but the law is not perfect, he said.
The forum is sponsored by the Resort Association and the Aspen Institute and hopes to have speakers from Congress and the White House.
Something called the Colorado Compact, which was put together by Sen. Mike Bennet, D-Colo., has drawn broad support from both the Aspen
and Vail skiing companies, as well as agriculture interests.
Ski towns strategize on banning bags
BRECKENRIDGE – After months of preparation, Breckenridge’s Town Council this week was scheduled to again take up a proposal to levy a 10 cent fee on all plastic and paper bags issued at stores in Breckenridge.
Ski towns strategize on banning bags
BRECKENRIDGE – After months of preparation, Breckenridge’s Town Council this week was scheduled to again take up a proposal to levy a 10 cent fee on all plastic and paper bags issued at stores in Breckenridge.
Similar to Aspen, Telluride and several other resort communities, Breckenridge had first talked about a full ban of plastic bags. But a task force came up with different ideas. Big grocery stores won’t be singled out. Only restaurants will be exempted.
Too, the bags are not banned, only taxed. The money – technically a fee – is to be split between retailers and the town government. The town’s logo would be used, in part, to create reusable bags with the Breckenridge logo. Currently, merchants in Breckenridge distribute more than 3 million plastic bags each year, notes the Summit Daily News.
In Whistler, elected officials remain intent on reducing distribution of plastic bags. “The problem (on a global scale) is getting catastrophic,” said Jayson Faulkner, a councilor in Whistler.
The councilors there have given grocers and drug stores until June to find a way to reduce plastic bags. “We’re going to do something,” said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden. “Let’s give private industry an opportunity to make some recommendations to us. Hopefully they’re good enough for us and we can move forward.”
The Alliance of Grocery and Drug Stores in Whistler submitted a letter that fretted about degrading the shopping experience and pushed back at some assumptions. “The available science indicates that paper and cloth have a greater negative impact than degradable plastic, and the reusable bags retailers have been using for years are risky at best,” said the letter.
But the council is just as firm. “The statistics really are staggering, and we have to do something,” said the mayor.
The embarrassing riches of J. Hole
JACKSON, Wyo. – Sifting though data about enplanements and such, number-cruncher Jonathan Schechter at the Jackson Hole News&Guide finds that Jackson and Teton County are uncommonly blessed for those who just want to get away.
The valley’s airport, located in Grand Teton National Park, recorded 279,000 enplanements in 2011, the most recent year for which numbers are available. This compares with airports serving Missoula, Mont; Medford, Ore.; and Augusta, Ga. – all with three to 20 times as many full-time residents.
But what about the other resort areas? Nantucket, Mass., has bigger numbers, but Schechter points out that sky-high housing prices during summer cause many employees to shuttle daily from the mainland, inflating numbers.
The only other mountain resort that comes close is Aspen. While Jackson has 8.9 enplanements per resident, Aspen has 7, and the airport serving Steamboat Springs has 4.5. Down the list are Durango at 3.4, Eagle (Vail), at 2.6, and Hailey (Sun Valley) at 1.8.
“For me, the big takeaway from this exercise is that we in Jackson Hole enjoy a profoundly phenomenal level of air service – another of the embarrassment of riches of living here,” writes Schechter.
Watering restrictions in Colorado
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS – While it has been snowing in Colorado, the snowpack remains below average. And the water situation looks none too good for summer.
With that in mind, most municipalities are already tightening the screws. In Steamboat Springs, no outdoor watering will be allowed between 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., and watering will be allowed just three days a week, reports Steamboat Today.
Along the Front Range of Colorado, some cities are limiting outdoor watering to two days per week.
As was the case last year, temperatures are predicted to be hotter than normal, which translates into a longer irrigation season.
Vail to make recycling mandatory
VAIL – Recycling will soon become mandatory in Vail, although the exact regulations have yet to be adopted. Public officials tell the Vail Daily that they want to start getting the word out, as it takes time to implement such programs.
“We need people to know that some time in the next 6 to 12 months we’re going to start in with mandatory recycling,” said Mayor Andy Daily. “And everything I’ve heard from people is that it’s about time.”
Law enforcement disagree on gun laws
VAIL – Dwight Henninger, the chief of police in Vail, supports expanded gun control laws. Eagle County Sheriff Joe Hoy does not. “Unenforceable,” he says of the trio of new gun laws adopted by legislators in Colorado.
It’s a division common in Colorado. Sheriffs have been loudly dismissive of the gun laws, some of them asserting they will not enforce the laws. Police chiefs have generally come out in support.
Why the difference? Urban populations more generally support limits on guns. Rural areas don’t. Police chiefs are found in towns and cities, and generally appointed. Sheriffs are elected.
Henninger said that part of his position is informed by personal experience. He was shot 30 years ago when still a young officer in Garden Grove, Calif. Had there been better background checks – as is provided for by one of Colorado’s new laws – he believes the man who shot him might not have been able to get a gun.
Henninger is among several police chiefs from around the United States who appears in the latest television ad from Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
Electrical use in Aspen declining
ASPEN – To encourage people to use less electricity, Aspen adopted a tiered rate structure, charging incrementally higher rates for the users of greater volumes. As well, there have been programs to help commercial and residential customers reduce consumption.
The strategies seem to have worked. Electric use has declined 3.3 percent per year since 2008.
This presents a problem, as this means less revenue for utility operation, reports the Aspen Daily News. “But it’s a good problem to have,” said Mayor Mick Ireland.
– Allen Best
In this week's issue...
- January 25, 2024
- Bagging it
State plastic bag ban is in full effect, but enforcement varies
- January 26, 2024
- Paper chase
The Sneer is back – and no we’re not talking about Billy Idol’s comeback tour.
- January 11, 2024
- High and dry
New state climate report projects continued warming, declining streamflows