Guest Opinion
Colorado Anglers Riled By Christo’s Art Proposal
The industrial-scale art project proposed by the artist Christo Javacheff and his Over the River Corporation (OTR) will significantly impact the Arkansas River corridor from Salida, Colo., downstream to Canon City.
The artist proposes to suspend 5.9 miles of fabric panels over several segments of a 45-mile reach of the river, eight to 20 feet off the surface in areas of prized public fishing access.
In order to anchor the cables that will support the fabric, OTR must drill 9,100 anchor holes within and adjacent to the riparian zone. These holes must be drilled by large industrial machines that require hazardous and toxic fluids to operate and maintain.
New West Feature
Wildfires Trouble New Mexico, Idaho and Montana
New Mexico, Idaho and Montana have had their wildfire troubles this season, while Utah, Wyoming and Colorado have been relatively fortunate.
In Montana, almost 100,000 acres have been burned this summer in 19 areas. A meeting will be held tonight concerning one of the latest incidents, the West Riverside fire, which has consumed 3,400 acres and is about 20 percent contained.
New West Feature
Montana Deer Hunting Hit Hard by Disease
White-tailed deer hunters in eastern Montana will have to scramble for licenses this season.
The number of “B” licenses for antlerless white-tailed deer in the region has been reduced for the 2011 hunting seasons from 5,000 to 2,000, because of a tough winter on the animals, followed by a disease outbreak.
New West Feature
Grizzly Shooting Charges Elicit Outrage in Idaho
Criminal charges levied earlier this week on Jeremy Hill, who shot and killed a grizzly bear cub in his yard last May near Porthill, Idaho, just below the border with Canada, have sparked statements in his defense by Idaho’s local, state, and federal politicians.
Hill pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday to the misdemeanor charge of killing an animal protected by the Endangered Species Act. A sow and two cubs wandered into his yard, and he said he was defending his six children.
New West Feature
Montana and Colorado Get Big Grants to Protect Fish and Ferrets
Among more than $53 million in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grants announced last evening to help protect habitat for threatened and endangered species, Montana was a big winner for native fish, while Colorado was awarded substantial funding to reintroduce the extremely rare black-footed ferret to a safe place.
Montana’s Stimson Forestlands Conservation Project in Missoula County will receive $4 million to fund a conservation easement of more than 9,300 forested acres. The land, adjacent to another easement of 18,700 acres, continues a landscape-scale conservation effort of several years in northwestern Montana aimed at protecting bull trout, Columbia redband trout, mountain whitefish, pygmy whitefish, and westslope cutthroat.
New West Feature
Despite Best Efforts, Poaching Still Plagues the Rockies
More than 5,000 reports have been received of poaching in Colorado since 1981, resulting in more than 900 convictions, for which about $800,000 in fines were levied, and $150,000 paid to citizens for reports of suspected poaching, a recent summary asserts.
Studies show that poachers kill almost as many animals as legitimate hunters do during legal seasons in various states, says the report, from Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW). It points out that poachers steal not only revenues generated by legitimate hunting, but kill threatened, endangered and non-game species.
