Nature deprivation is a real thing, and I’m witnessing the impacts of both being exposed to the wild and willingly foregoing exposure in both of my kids
A boy becomes a man and it takes the outdoors to make it happen
Praying for rain on the Western Slope of Colorado
The thin, cool air and the end of high mountain wildflower season were calling my name.
How grayling are propagated across the Centennial State
Arctic grayling provide a unique angling opportunity in Colorado.
Small Stream Colorado
Talk about going home again … Todd Moen of Catch Magazine just dropped his latest short film, and it hit me like a surge of nostalgia. I grew up in Colorado and went to college in Gunnison, where much of “Small Stream Colorado” was filmed. The countless little creeks that drain into the Taylor, East … Read more
Want more Gunnison River? Pass the CORE Act
Winter in Leadville … get used to it
Years ago, while working in the upper Arkansas River Valley as a small-town newspaper reporter and editor, I shared layout space with a number of other local newspapers. Our papers were owned by a small chain based in Salida, and every week, editors from Buena Vista, Fairplay and Leadville would descend upon the offices in … Read more
For the love of the Animas
By Ty Churchwell No one in Durango nor Silverton, Colo., will ever forget Aug. 5, 2015 — the day of the Gold King mine spill that sent 3 million gallons of ugly, toxic mine water down the Animas River in southwest part of the state. To say the accident was highly visible is an understatement. In today’s digital world, photos of the orange … Read more
The Beetle, the Hare’s Ear, the old man and the cutthroats
Years and years ago, while attending college in western Colorado, I drove up the shoulders of the Sawatch Range between Salida and Gunnison as far as my old VW Beetle would make it on a road it had no business traversing. After reaching a stretch of two-track I could no longer navigate, I pulled the … Read more
Working to keep the Rio Grande cutthroat trout off the Endangered Species List
Extensive efforts in southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico to restore habitat for the Rio Grande cutthroat trout (RGCT) have been underway since at least 2003. State agencies, tribes, federal agencies and Trout Unlimited have cooperated to bring this species back to more of its historic range, applying expert knowledge and considerable experience to restore this important native species, which is also the state … Read more