Bright sunshine, clear skies, cold temps and low winds delivered a great day of ski racing Feb. 24 for the Lake County Middle School Panthers.

Alpine racers closed out their racing season with a slalom event at their home mountain of Ski Cooper on Black Powder.

Hunters hoping to draw a big-game license in Colorado in 2021 are urged to review the changes in license requirements and fees prior to the March 1 opening of the application period (March 1 – April 6 at 8 p.m. MT). For a good overview of what’s in store, watch CPW’s “What’s New” video for the 2021 big-game seasons.

A Colorado Springs man who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor poaching charges in three counties likely will never legally hunt again in Colorado or 47 other states after a Colorado Parks and Wildlife hearing examiner permanently suspended his hunting privileges.

In December, Chuck and Lindy Chicowitz sold the whitewater rafting outfitter they started on the Upper Arkansas River in 1983. Noah’s Ark will now have two longtime employees at the helm.

As temperatures dipped rapidly Saturday evening, Chaffee County Search & Rescue-North and a Chaffee County Sheriff’s deputy were called to Browns Canyon National Monument to escort a group of hikers back to the trailhead.

Are you curious about our local wildlife? Join the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association (GARNA) for a virtual lecture, “A Wildlife Wander”, presented by Ryan Kempfer and Chris Kassar of Elk Raven Photography.

As of Feb. 2

The third-ranked Demon wrestlers began the season with just a handful of grapplers at a quadrangular meet in Florence Saturday.

To protect wintering big-game animals and sage grouse species, collection of shed antlers on all public lands west of I-25 is prohibited from Jan. 1 through April 30.

Hunters interested in getting into the spring turkey season draw will need to apply with Colorado Parks and Wildlife by 8 p.m., Feb. 2.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will host a free ice fishing clinic from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 13 at Hayden Meadows Reservoir, south of Leadville, on Lake County Road 10 off U.S. 24.

The event is free but limited to 20 participants.

The Buena Vista school district reported eight confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 in its schools Monday morning.

Conservation biologists at Colorado Parks and Wildlife are charged with keeping a close eye on sensitive wildlife – animals that sometimes are classified as “species of greatest conservation need” by the agency. One of those species is the southern white-tailed ptarmigan.

While many fish diseases have declined in recent years due to good management practices, cases of bacterial kidney disease seem to be increasing in the western U.S.

Products are available from GARNA’s 6th Annual Photo Product Fundraiser including notecard sets, a 2021 calendar and canvas and metal prints.

Closed gates are no fun. There, I wrote it, the truth.

The town of Buena Vista Parks and Recreation Department released new guidelines Thursday, canceling all ongoing indoor sports programming scheduled through December, following Colorado Public Health’s decision to move the county to orange on the COVID-19 severity dial.

Chaffee County Search & Rescue–North rescued three exhausted hikers on Mount Belford Sunday evening.

Search and Rescue was paged out to the fourteener at about 5 p.m., Nov. 29. According to an update on CCSAR-N’s Facebook page, the hikers were without headlamps for nighttime hiking or adequate winter gear.

On Nov. 3, Coloradans voted to pass Proposition #114 - The Restoration of Gray Wolves, a measure directing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to develop a plan to reintroduce gray wolves west of the Continental Divide. With this decision, the planning process for reintroduction will begin.

Chaffee County Search & Rescue–North is seeking to recruit new volunteers as the busy summer season closes.

Homeowners in the Chalk Creek drainage created more than 160 piles of slash in preparation for the Chaffee Chips neighborhood fire mitigation event taking place this weekend.

The 2020 cross country season was an unprecedented one for Buena Vista High School – not only because of the looming omnipresence of COVID-19, not only because the Lady Demons finished the season undefeated, but because, for the first time in school history, the girls took home the Class 2A state championship.

Chaffee County Sheriff John Spezze issued stage 2 fire restrictions for unincorporated Chaffee County effective Monday morning.

The Bureau of Land Management has enacted Stage 2 Fire Restrictions for lands throughout Southern Colorado, including those in Chaffee County.

The announcement came on a windswept fall afternoon one day after the Cameron Peak Fire north of Rocky Mountain National Park grew to become the largest wildfire in state history, breaking a record that had been set just 48 days prior when the Pine Gulch Fire north of Grand Junction grew larger than the 2002 Hayman Fire.

Members of the Central Colorado Unmanned Aerial Systems Club and the Buena Vista Recreation Department broke ground Oct. 8 for the Buena Vista Drone Flying Park, which, when complete, will offer multiple ways for drone pilots to hone their flying skills.

Buena Vista’s Chandler Smethers finished in a tie for 56th place out of 84 golfers in the state golf tournament last week.

The BVHS cross country teams are headed to the state championship meet Saturday in Colorado Springs.