Party crasher at our dance!

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Male grouse compete for female attention at the "dance"

It was a breezy, but beautiful morning in Northwest Colorado. The grouse were dancing in full display. The sun had just come-up and the light was perfect for photographers taking happy snaps of the happy grouse couples on the dance “floor” when out of the clear blue sky a bold and beautiful party crasher swooped in. A russet colored female Harrier Hawk coming in low, fighting the wind, inches from the top of the crested wheat grass stubble.  The music stopped the dancers too and a hush fell over the crowd. In she swooped, brazen as, well as brazen as a hawk on the hunt.  The tension built as the invited grouse guests hunkered down. Would we see blood-shed on this bright and beautiful morning? Would the dancing end as the frightened guests scattered?

Want to know what happens next? Check back to read the next part of the forbidden dance OR come join us and see the “dance” for yourself. 

CEC, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, The Wilderness Society and our partners invite you to the “Dance”. We are pleased to offer limited seating trips to see the iconic Greater Sage Grouse mating dance.  To learn more about the tours or to purchase your ticket, click here. 

Convene for Green was a blast!

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Keenan leading group

Me leading the charge

Last Tuesday, Colorado Environmental Coalition was involved with the first “Convene for Green Lobby Day” in a number of years—and it was a huge success! I was so tremendously impressed with the dedication and knowledge exhibited by the citizen lobbyists who participated. Colorado Environmental Coalition and our partners sent out a flurry of emails and phone calls to recruit participants and on March 13th a small army of environmentalists gathered for an early morning breakfast and a quick briefing covering the issues they would lobby and basic lobbying procedures. During the briefing, volunteers asked a number of astute and nuanced questions, which was truly impressive. Once the briefing concluded, it was off to the capitol to bend the ears of Colorado’s legislators!

I had the privilege of leading a group of voters from Lakewood and Arvada in their efforts to lobby an electronic waste recycling bill and to express their opposition to legislative attempts to wrest authority on oil and gas development from local governments. After a few Golden Dome stalking tips on how best to track down their legislators, my volunteers hit the ground running. It was great to see all of them step up to the plate and make their voices heard. They secured commitments on e-waste, and after some back and forth with a couple elected officials regarding local control, were successful on the oil and gas issue as well.

After spending most of the legislative session in committee hearing rooms populated with paid lobbyists and attorneys representing industry groups and other special interests, it was great to see citizens speaking directly with their representatives about the importance of environmental issues. I was so impressed with how many people took time out of their busy lives to ensure their elected officials know that Coloradans care about the environment and conservation.

Weighing in on the governor’s ads

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Over the last few days you might have heard or seen an ad that Gov. Hicklooper did with the oil and gas industry.  In the ads he says, “we have not had one instance of groundwater contamination associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing.”  Since 2008 we’ve had dozens and dozens of spills of toxic chemicals from oil and gas activity. Studies done by the State of Colorado show numerous instances of accidental discharges, corroded tanks and pipelines, and leaking containment pits have put toxic fluids in our groundwater, including carcinogenic hydrocarbons such as benzene.  “It’s simply inaccurate to state that oil and gas drilling isn’t contaminating ground water in Colorado,” said Mike Freeman, CEC board member. ”The state’s own records show that spills and releases routinely affect ground water.  

CEC and many of our partners have worked hand in hand with the Hickenlooper administration to find compromise solutions that protect Colorado’s environment. Yesterday, CEC and our partners sent the following letter to Governor Hickenlooper. We hope he takes our message to heart and presents a more balanced voice on oil and gas issues in Colorado. Read more news coverage of the recent ad and our concerns here and here

February 27, 2012

 

Dear Gov. Hickenlooper,

 

Your administration played a critical role last year in creating one of the nation’s strongest fracking disclosure rules. It was your goal of keeping Colorado citizens informed about fracking and your leadership in overseeing negotiations that got us across the finish line, delivering a big win for citizens and communities that have demanded the right to know what fracking chemicals are going into the ground.

That’s why we were so surprised and disappointed to hear your recent radio ad on behalf of the Colorado Oil and Gas Association, an industry trade group. The ad rightly recognizes Colorado’s success in adopting protective rules in 2008 and 2011, but it creates a misleading picture about the overall safety of oil and gas development. Specifically, the ad claims that since 2008, “we have not had one instance of groundwater contamination associated with drilling and hydraulic fracturing.”
That assertion misleads the public by ignoring the high incidence of groundwater contamination from spills and releases of toxic chemicals at or near drilling sites. Since 2008, numerous instances of groundwater contamination have resulted from releases of chemicals such as petroleum liquids and produced water used and generated during drilling and hydraulic fracturing.  Accidental spills, corroded tanks and pipelines, and leaking containment pits have been implicated in numerous releases of toxic fluids, including carcinogenic hydrocarbons such as benzene. The Colorado oil and gas commission’s October 2011 “Spills and Releases” report and its 2011 report  to CDPHE, issued earlier this month, make clear that contamination of groundwater remains an ongoing issue with oil and gas development.  Similarly, a Denver Post analysis of state records for 2011 found 58 cases of groundwater pollution linked to spills and releases.  Another Denver Post analysis of accidental spills dating back to 2008 found an even larger number of groundwater incidents.

The COGA ad leaves Coloradans with an inaccurate picture of the consequences of oil and gas drilling operations. While citizens should know how much progress we have made in adopting health and safety protections, they should also feel confident that the state recognizes and is working to minimize the inevitable impacts of oil and gas development.  A good first step toward building that confidence is to withdraw the COGA ad and to direct the oil and gas commission to adopt new and stronger protections for Colorado’s water resources and communities, including increased mandatory setbacks of oil and gas wells from rivers and streams, and from homes.  No doubt we can all agree that it’s vital to give Colorado citizens both an accurate picture of oil and gas development and the confidence that we are all working aggressively to mitigate its impacts.

Respectfully,

 

Clean Water Action
Checks and Balances
Colorado Conservation Voters
Colorado Environmental Coalition
Earthjustice
Environment Colorado
High Country Citizens Alliance
National Wildlife Federation
RouttCountyFrack.Org
Sierra Club, Roaring Fork Chapter
San Juan Citizens Alliance
Western Colorado Congress
Wilderness Workshop

Defending our rivers (and the sculpin too)

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Colorado’s state fish is the Greenback Cutthroat Trout and it is stunning. Emerald green flashes on it’s back while a crimson rose spreads along it’s belly. Once pushed to extinction, we fought to protect this species and bring it back. It’s a beautiful fish, but it’s not my favorite. Not even close. If I could submit any fish native to Colorado for this high honor it would be the mottled sculpin. Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, speckled to blend in among the rocks, and with spines along it’s back- it looks almost prehistoric. I’ll be the first to admit that the sculpin is not likely to win any beauty pageants.

Mottled Sculpin

Greenback Cutthroats get the glory here in Colorado. Posters and plaques, a listing as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, the list goes on. Meanwhile the sculpin does the incredibly hard work of being lower on the food chain than a trout. Without the sculpin; trout go hungry too, and in the last two decades these small fish have suffered a tremendous decline in the Upper Colorado River. In some areas, they have vanished completely. It’s not just the sculpin either, a recent state study found that in the last two decades there has been a 38% decline in aquatic insects. It’s no wonder the sculpin has vanished since they rely on insects like stone flies and may flies for their own survival.

Sculpins and the insects they eat are suffering because for decades we have diverted water from the Upper Colorado to use on the Front Range of Colorado. Soon, we may divert more water as two water projects are being contemplated in the headwaters of the Colorado. Our namesake river is in trouble, if these new projects come online they’d reduce the flow of the river by nearly 80% of the native flows. 

Elise speaks out for the Colorado

When the insects and sculpin go, trout go too. A loss of our fisheries in Colorado really means a loss of tourism and jobs. Recreation and tourism are a billion dollar a year industry in Colorado many of our local communities rely on those dollars. So when a sculpin goes belly up, we risk our economies going belly up too.

It’s a grim picture and it’s why CEC and our partners are working to Defend the Colorado. Our river needs our help. This week we joined other river advocates to rally on the steps of the State Capitol.

CEC, our members and our partners have spent countless hours attending public meetings on these water projects, writing official comments and letters to our leaders and meeting with decision makers; all with the hopes of keeping our river healthy. We have made progress, just a week ago the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) called for further review of one of these projects.

Several folks spoke out this Wednesday, including Field and Stream Editor, Kirk Deeter. Kirk travels around the world to write about amazing rivers, but he lives here in Colorado because we have amazing rivers and mountains right in our backyard. In his comments, Kirk compared the Colorado River to another Colorado icon: Pikes Peak.

Imagine we woke up tomorrow and learned that Pike’s Peak were 90% comprised of high grade coal. We could build a power plant and burn that coal, providing free power to the cities of Denver and Colorado Springs for 20 years. All we’d have to do is shave off two-thirds of Pike’s Peak. Who’s going to step up and say, ‘Let’s start with a little bit off the top!’ Nobody.

Kirk’s visual is spot on. The Colorado River is an icon, we need to protect it just as we would Pike’s Peak, or the Gold dome of our Capitol. It’s not too late, we can still make sure our iconic river remains. Our river needs heroes. On Wednesday, we asked Governor Hickenlooper to be one of those heroes. It’s time for our state leadership to take their own studies to heart and make sure that we protect our river.

Dozens of activists rally to Defend the Colorado

We need you to be a hero for the Colorado river too, take a moment to sign this petition to save our river. Who knows, maybe one day the sculpin will get the glory it deserves.

Looking back and looking ahead at CEC’s Northwest Hiking Adventures

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For the past six months I have been working for CEC as their Conservation Advocate Fellow on the West Slope in the Northwest office located in Craig. Our office looks after Routt, Moffat, and Rio Blanco Counties and their conservation areas. One of the more exciting aspects of my position is to get folks from our region out into the areas we work to protect. This helps raise awareness of our public lands, Wilderness Study Areas, and other areas of special interest. The first week on the job I did a ride along with the Luke Schafer, West Slope – North Campaign Coordinator. He showed me some absolutely amazingly beautiful country in Moffat and Rio Blanco Counties. It got me excited to explore these new areas that were foreign to me.

Cross Mountain–In Dinosaur National Monument (CEC)

Our outings were first coined as a “Hiking Series” and it consisted of four locations. The first location was to hike Howelsen Hill and Emerald Mountain up to the quarry. The second was the south rim of Cross Mountain in Dinosaur National Monument. For the third hike, we selected Carpenter Ranch, specifically the Yampa River Preserve. The last hiking location was Duffy Mountain. Of the four hikes offered, two happened: Howelsen Hill/Emerald Mountain and Carpenter Ranch. On both hikes the participants were fantastic and everyone had a great experience. The Carpenter Ranch hike was especially fun as we bushwhacked through the brush to explore an old home, found bear prints in the dried mud, and saw a bald eagle soaring above us on the hike out. It was because of the success of this outing that we decided to rename the series from “Hiking Series” to “Adventure Series.”

Beautiful hillsides of Diamond Breaks (Mark Pearson)

The three outings I planned in the newly re-named “Adventure Series” started with Cross Mountain in hopes of getting some interest in exploring the area and observing the canyon from above. Followed by an outing into a Wilderness Study Area of Brown’s Park National Wildlife Refuge called Diamond Breaks, up through Choke Cherry Draw. This hike ends at an old homestead and has an interesting story on how the area got its name. Lastly, I planned an outing to head into Bull Canyon on the far western border of Colorado visiting another area of beautiful canyon country. Unfortunately, Bull Canyon was cancelled due to weather conditions and the trips to Diamond Breaks and Cross Mountain didn’t fill, so we did not go.

Due to the cancellations, the “Hiking/Adventure Series” was not as successful as we had hoped for 2011, but the groundwork has already been set for 2012. With the areas already chosen, and the descriptions and posters written up, weather permitting, we can start earlier this spring and hopefully get more folks involved in getting out and getting excited about where we live. If you are interested in joining CEC’s West Slope – Northwest 2012 Adventure Series, check the Get Involved page of our website at ourcolorado.org to see where we will be exploring this spring.

You gotta lose to win, and CEC won big!

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As some of you may have heard, CEC was a top $5,000 ‘High Five’ prizewinner in the second annual Colorado Gives Day in December. We’re pretty sure that our success had a lot to do with the challenge issued by our Executive Director, Elise Jones, and here, in her own words, is a recount of the day.

“Sometimes you have to lose to win. Or, more specifically, to sacrifice one’s personal dignity in order to rally the team to victory. Such was the case for me when CEC participated for the first time in Colorado Gives Day (CGD) this past December 6th.

Everyone should wear a tiara at least once in their life: Elise on the Capitol steps (Beka Wilson)

Sponsored by Community First Foundation and FirstBank, CGD is designed to increase charitable giving to the state’s many worthy nonprofits. CEC’s board and staff agreed to help out by soliciting donations from their friends and family members.

To maximize CGD donations to CEC, our development director Beka not so innocently asked me if I’d be willing to issue a challenge to staff and board, a bet if you will, to inspire them to double down on their fundraising efforts. “Sure,” I innocently replied. “I’m a team player.”

“Okay, then – how about you agree to wear a princess dress and recite poetry on the steps of the Capitol if we bring in at least 250 donations.” As my jaw dropped in horror, Beka hastened to calm me down. “Not to worry,” she said. “It will be a tough goal for us to reach.” So I reluctantly agreed.

Little did I know how just how inspiring seeing me traipse around in a princess outfit would be to staff, board members and donors. We blew by our goal, galvanizing nearly 450 supporters to give more than $37,000 for CEC’s important conservation work. In fact, CEC won one of the “High Five” $5,000 prizes for bringing in the most donors for a mid-sized organization! As you might have guessed, I was both delighted and completely chagrined.

Days later, there I was, decked out in white taffeta and satin, tiara on my head and wand in my hand, riding on the 16th Street shuttle up to the Capitol. I was surrounded by gleeful staff who were snapping photos of the shocked faces of my fellow shuttle occupants. As I gamely sashayed up the Capitol steps to orate the obligatory poem (not an easy thing to do with all of those billowing petticoats!), I naively thought the episode would soon be behind me. Alas, the Facebook post of my devoted staffs’ video was highlighted in the Denver Post’s GCD coverage as an example of how area nonprofits went the extra mile to encourage donations—see the article by going here.

My dignity recovered, however, as I pondered how my 15 minutes of humble pie helped leverage $37,000 for Colorado’s environment, which as hourly rates go, isn’t half bad.

The moral of this princess fairy tale is two-fold: never take yourself too seriously and personal sacrifice is always a net gain in support of a great cause like CEC!”

We’re still here!

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As some of our regular readers have noticed, our blog has been awfully quiet lately. In addition to fixing a web hosting issue late last year that was preventing us from updating it, our dear web-guru and blog mistress Anne Pogoriler (AKA Pogo) has left CEC to pursue some exciting new opportunities.

We are all thrilled and excited for Pogo’s new ventures but it means that we have not had anyone to nag encourage and harass remind staff to blog about all of the cool things we’re working on. In Pogo’s absence several of us here are helping to run the social media sphere of CEC so please bear with us as we get back on track with regular postings.

Renewed efforts to nag encourage and harass remind staff about updating our blog have gone out and we should have some new, fresh, awesome content for you all to enjoy. In the meantime, please let us know if there are issues you are interested in, programs you would like to learn more about, or anything else we might be able to cover with  ye old blog.  Thanks for your patience!

A Season of West Slope Hiking

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Beautiful fall day in Hunter Canyon.

Beautiful fall day in Hunter Canyon.

The true chill of winter has finally hit Western Colorado after a full fall in CEC’s West Slope field office. Since August 27th we’ve hosted a series of adventures into our big backyard, exploring many of our region’s Wilderness Study and Wilderness Proposal sites. The outings drew an array of savvy hikers, from ages 17 to 70, who got a chance to see the nooks and crannies of the Grand Valley and beyond.

The explorations were an intimate opportunity to learn more about the process of conservation on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land. The passage of the Federal Land Policy Management Act (FLPMA) in 1975 directed BLM to identify Wilderness Study Areas (WSA), which encouraged involved community members to supplement the BLM’s efforts by mapping additional special places and identifying Citizen Wilderness Proposals (CWP). From there, conservation organizations (such as CEC) have pushed for permanent protections for these lands by having them legislatively designated as Wilderness Areas or National Conservation Areas (NCA). Today there remains a network of Colorado Canyon Country Wilderness Proposal Areas (CCCWP) that are being tracked for the possibility of conservation designation. During the West Slope Fall Hiking Series we visited a number of them and finished with a trek through our favorite local NCA.

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Harvest Hoedown

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Waiting on Trial with a rollicking set. (Jolynne Woodcock)

The Grand Valley’s expansive desert geography offers refuge for a variety of endeavors. The resource-rich landscape is dotted with oil and gas leases in an ever growing and controversial exploration. In the same setting you’ll find dinosaur quarries, renowned mountain biking, excellent off-season hiking, and endless routes for off-road vehicle use. To the west the Colorado National Monument awes thousands of out-of-state visitors every year, and at the far east end of the valley sits the quaint town of Palisade. In Palisade you’ll find a bounty of agriculture, including proud peaches and vibrant vineyards. With this being the season of harvest, Colorado Environmental Coalition decided this would the perfect setting for our new and improved fall fundraiser, the Harvest Hoedown.

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A friend in need

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Getting ready to get airborne. (Anne Pogoriler)

There are only a few things I will get up before the crack of dawn for and they are as follows: fresh powder on the mountain, leaving for vacation, and a family member or friend in need. On November 1st I woke up at 5:45am in order view via air and ground what exactly is happening on BLM land on the Roan Plateau with ongoing oil shale research and development projects. Because I love nature so much I consider this an example of family member/friend in need.

I had never been on a small plane before so, I was a bit anxious about how I might handle it. Traveling from Grand Junction where we had stayed the night before, by 8 am we reach the Rifle Regional Air Field to meet Bruce Gordon, our air guide. Bruce is the President of EcoFlight, a tour company that offers flights to provide first hand overviews of our country to better understand and encourage protection of the remaining wildlands & roadless areas of America. Learning more about Bruce, my fears of my first flight on a small plane began to ebb a little.

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