Colorado River deal seeks cooperation over litigation between competing water users

As first reported last week by Colorado Independent contributor Allen Best of Mountain Town News, a sweeping water accord called the “Colorado River Cooperative Agreement” was announced today in Grand County by political leaders from Grand, Summit and Eagle counties, along with officials from Denver Water, the Colorado River District, the ski industry and other major stakeholders.

Local politicians, conservationists praise Polis draft wilderness plan

Local politicians and statewide environmental groups today hailed a draft wilderness proposal being circulated by U.S. Rep. Jared Polis called the Eagle and Summit County Wilderness Preservation Act.

House Speaker hopeful Scanlan battles teacher-bill fallout and tea party wave

State Rep. Christine Scanlan, D-Dillon, a rising star on the Colorado political scene, says any talk of her becoming the next Speaker of the House is pointless if Democrats can’t hold onto their current 37-27 House majority in November.

McInnis money trail leads to 1990s mountain resort, real estate deals

During his first few years in Congress representing the sprawling 3rd Congressional District on Colorado’s Western Slope, Republican Scott McInnis was a strong voice for the state’s ski industry, advocating for the interests of the nation’s most popular destination resorts…

Passing the bud in the high country: Vail council bans pot dispensaries

Vail police last week successfully lobbied the town council to temporarily ban medical marijuana dispensaries, essentially passing the bud to the next council to be seated after the Nov. 3 election.

Police chief Dwight Henninger said 40 years of…

Hidden Gems, or locked away too tightly? Wilderness plan stirs debate

A coalition of environmental groups looking to drum up local support for a huge new wilderness bill that could protect up to 450,000 acres of national forest land in Colorado from oil and gas production, timber sales and mining have…

Roads required for battling beetle kill epidemic, but is it worth it?

One of the biggest loopholes conservationists want closed in Colorado’s revised roadless rule released by the state Monday is an exception for logging roads up to 1.5 miles into the national forest around communities threatened by wildfire in the wake…