A new Chaffee Rec Adopters program that enables public lands stewardship begins this month.

Volunteers are needed to use a newly developed mobile app to inventory dispersed campsites at twice monthly meet-up and training events. Adopters also can inventory sites on their own and take actions in areas important to them, once they receive a short training.

 The Chaffee Recreation Council is providing a draft of the Chaffee Recreation Plan for community feedback. The plan’s goals are to protect natural resources, maintain exceptional outdoor experiences and sustain the economic benefits of recreation tourism.

Chaffee County will apply DuraBlend on multiple county roads for dust mitigation starting Monday.

The Friends of Browns Canyon is seeking volunteers for a work project to build buck and rail fence at the north end of Browns Canyon National Monument.

The Buena Vista Public Library hosted representatives from the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative and Chaffee County Search & Rescue–North for a talk with a crowd of about twenty hiking enthusiasts at McPhelemy park on Friday.

A couple years ago I was visiting a loved one at a nursing home when I heard a quiet voice whispering “help me.”

The Chaffee Recreation Council offers opportunity for the public to review elements of the Chaffee Rec Plan starting today on the Envision Chaffee County website.

Both Chaffee, Gunnison sides of the pass to be opened

The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association will accept entries from May 22-July 1 for its seventh annual photo contest for Upper Arkansas River Valley nature photos, celebrating the group’s 25 years of nature education and stewardship.

elevateHER, the Chaffee County nonprofit that connects young women with the great outdoors, empowering them and building foundational skills for careers in the outdoor industry, will be hosting its first Climb-a-Thon fundraiser on Friday, May 28.

Join Greater Arkansas River Nature Association executive director Dominique Naccarato for a fun, experiential introduction to birding in the Upper Arkansas Valley from 8:30-10:30 a.m., Saturday, May 8, at Sands Lake in Salida.

A Colorado Parks and Wildlife pathologist found human remains inside the stomachs of a sow and her yearling bear that CPW wildlife officers suspect of killing and eating a 39-year-old woman Friday north of Durango.

Work on the trail to the summit of Mount Columbia, long considered one of the more miserable climbs in Colorado’s repertoire of fourteeners, is nearly complete after five seasons of work, but for the time being the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative will be moving on to other projects.

If you think this week’s regular season finale has a playoff feel to it, you’re not alone. No. 1-ranked Buena Vista (4-0) travels to No. 3 Estes Park (4-1) for a noon kickoff Saturday.

The weirdness of spring football and its necessitated cozy scheduling suddenly has a sense of electricity, the kind urgency brings – an urgency borne of playoff seedings on the line.

The Bureau of Land Management Royal Gorge Field Office opened a public input period Tuesday on the subject of dispersed camping in BLM-managed lands in Chaffee County.

Colorado Mountain College will host its fifth sustainability conference from 9 a.m. to noon, April 23. Presented by the Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability Studies program, “Envision Sustainability 2021,” will be accessible through Zoom across CMC’s district and beyond.

GARNA executive director Dominique Naccarato will host an hour-long Zoom lecture from 7-8 p.m., April 15 about birding, an exciting way you can interact with nature anytime and anywhere.

The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association and Arkansas River Watershed Collaborative lead forester Andy Lerch will lead an interpretive hike through areas just above Monarch Park, where ARWC and the US Forest Service have worked to mitigate fire danger.

Snow in the mountains, sun in the valley and spring break have combined to inspire legions of people to visit Buena Vista recently. And while business owners and their staff members rejoice as visitor dollars help make up for a difficult year, the surge in tourism also brings challenges for the town’s trail network.

One, near the Tunnels north of Buena Vista has been vandalized. Fourmile volunteer Alan Robinson discovered the damage to the sign, as well as damage to the newly built Bureau of Land Management restrooms at the CR375 parking area.

In 2020, the Friends of Fourmile organization of the Greater Arkansas River Nature Association received a grant from the Chaffee Common Ground Fund with an ambitious objective attached.

The Greater Arkansas River Nature Association is seeking the next generation of leadership for its board of directors.

The 2021 GARNA/CPW nestbox monitor volunteer training session will be held virtually from 5 to 6:30 pm., Tuesday, March 23.

Signs officially marking the path of the Stage and Rail Trail, a planned 70-mile cycling trail that closely follows the rail line of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad between Salida and Leadville, were recently erected along CR 371, a big step in a very gradual process to create a long-distance cycling trail in Chaffee and Lake counties.

The Bureau of Land Management’s Rocky Mountain District fire staff recently completed two large fuels reduction projects in Chaffee County.

While CKS Paddlefest “as it has happened in the past” will not be taking place this Memorial Day weekend, some of the land-based competitions that make up the riversports celebration are moving ahead.

Beginning in November and extending through May 1, the Cottonwood Pass area becomes one massive state park, beloved by snowmobilers, cross-country skiiers and fat-tire bikers alike.

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.

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.

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.

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.