GMUG reopens areas surrounding Gold Mountain and Elk fires
As the Gold Mountain and Elk fires reach almost full containment, GMUG has reduced certain closure areas.
Updated boundaries went into effect on Monday and remain in place through Dec. 1, unless conditions allow an earlier adjustment.
GMUG says the reductions reopen several popular destinations while still restricting access with significant fire activity and firefighter operations.
The closure area near the Gold Mountain Fire still includes National Forest lands near Dexter Creek, Horse Thief Trail and portions of the Uncompahgre Wilderness. Roads, trails and recreation sites in the Silver Jack, Cimarron and Cow Creek drainages remain closed.
The eastern closure area, near the Elk Fire, is located west of State Highway 149 and includes National Forest System lands around Big Blue Creek as well as portions of the Ridgestock Driveway and Uncompahgre Peak trail. Several high‑use destinations in this region are now open, including Nellie Creek Road and the Nellie Creek Trailhead, the Uncompahgre Peak Trail and Uncompahgre Peak itself, as well as Wetterhorn Peak, the Wetterhorn Peak Trail and Matterhorn Peak. These locations are accessible from the south and east and are outside the adjusted closure footprint.
Ouray Commissioners approve ballot question that would put a .5% sales tax to generate disaster relief funds
The Ouray Board of County Commissioners have approved a ballot question that would put in place a .5% sales tax to reimburse the county disaster fund. If it succeeds, the tax is projected to raise roughly $1,050,000 annually. After negotiations with the City of Ouray and Town of Ridgway, the revenue would be split 70% to the county, 15% to the city, and 15% to the town. The original 80-10-10 proposal was revised after Ridgway pointed to significant costs from prior flooding. The Ouray City Council split 3-2 in support, with two members opposing the mechanism and citing past 'mismanaged funds,' while noting the city is already at a 9.45% sales tax rate. Others emphasized the county disaster fund has been drawn down by recent disasters (the Gold Mountain fire and subsequent flooding) and was never adequately funded.
Colorado's inaugural Fat Marmot Week
This week is Colorado’s Fat Marmot Week. The Colorado Sun reports that the state has spent much of this summer talking about bears that aren’t getting enough to eat. But this week, the state gets to celebrate an animal that has made eating its entire personality.
This week, yellow-bellied marmots get their own version of the wildly popular Fat Bear Week, the annual online tournament in which people vote for their favorite Alaskan brown bears bulking up at Brooks Falls ahead of winter.
Fat Marmot Week is run by The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL), an independent nonprofit in Gothic, Colorado, with a field station that maintains one of the most extensive collections of long-term ecological data in the world. The group runs a long-term research project following marked individuals from birth to death. It started in 1962 and is the world's second longest-running study of individually marked mammals.
The marmots competing this week are named after the fur marks the researchers use to identify them. Each marmot receives a unique fur mark using a non-toxic fur dye which helps us track individuals and learn about their social behavior.
You can learn more about marmots, vote for your favorite, and donate to the project here.
Supreme Court sides with Trump in mail ballot restrictions
The Supreme Court is allowing President Trump to move forward with an effort to restrict mail voting. For the Colorado Capitol News Alliance, Kyle McKinnon reports on what the ruling could mean for Colorado ahead of midterms in November.
Montrose School Board asks Superintendent Dr. Carrie Stephenson to resign
Montrose County's school board voted last night to offer Superintendent Carrie Stephenson an agreement to resign, ending a standoff that has run since early June. The vote was unanimous, but... nothing has been signed yet. KVNF's Brody Wilson was outside the meeting.
