Dave Marston

La Plata County Director of Emergency Management Shawna Legarza works on the Burns Cayon wildfire near Norwood in 2002. (Photo provided by Shawna Legarza)

Opinion: This fire-hardened, former Hotshot is prepping Durango for catastrophe

April 8, 2025 at 9:33 a.m.

As spring begins with a climate growing drier and warmer, it’s no secret that forests are primed for wildfire. To get Durango residents prepared, Legarza holds an “evacuation scenario.” There’s...

An empty shelf of free range eggs is seen at a Safeway, Monday, Jan. 27, 2025, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Opinion: Here’s how Trump’s policies put us in economic danger

February 18, 2025 at 4:55 a.m.

Now we’re primed for an inflationary spiral.

Kalyn Green, resident of Durango, stands on the edge of the river August 6, 2015 along Animas River. "I come down to the river every morning before work." said Green. "The river in a sense of calm for me." Over a million gallons of mine wastewater has made it's way into the Animas River closing the river and put the city of Durango on alert. Denver Post file

Opinion: The day the Animas River ran orange with pollution may have been the start of something beautiful

November 4, 2024 at 10:56 a.m.

It was the summer of 2015 when the Animas River in southern Colorado turned such a garish orange-gold that it made national news.

Sage Lafleur, 19, is seen hiking behind a Colorado Trail sign near Buffalo Creek Campground near Bailey, Colorado on July 16, 2024. (Photo by Zachary Spindler-Krage/The Denver Post)

Opinion: The proud tradition — tents, backcountry and good food — of maintaining the Colorado Trail

September 17, 2024 at 2:34 p.m.

The Colorado Trail, an iconic 567-mile high-elevation trail that crosses the Rockies, owes its existence largely to Gudy Gaskill, a charismatic, six-foot-tall woman who could make tough things seem easy.

A house is fully involved in fire on December 30, 2021 in Superior, Colorado. The Marshall Fire destroyed 1,000 homes in a suburban area, driving up insurance prices across the Front Range. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Opinion: It’s a perfect firestorm for home insurance

June 11, 2024 at 2:11 p.m.

Evergreen’s attraction is that residents live amidst towering conifer trees. But red zones on fire maps are being expanded all over Colorado after several recent large forest fires and the...

BIG WATER, UTAH - MARCH 27: Tire tracks are seen in the lakebed of Lake Powell that used to be underwater at Lone Rock Beach on March 27, 2022 in Big Water, Utah. As severe drought grips parts of the Western United States, water levels at Lake Powell dropped to their lowest level since the lake was created by the damming the Colorado River in 1963. Lake Powell is currently at 25 percent of capacity, a historic low, and has also lost at least 7 percent of its total capacity. The Colorado River Basin connects Lake Powell and Lake Mead and supplies water to 40 million people in seven western states. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Opinion: Lake Powell sediment could soon plug the San Juan River

March 7, 2024 at 2:49 p.m.

The San Juan River carries a hefty 55% of the sediment entering Lake Powell, and that mud is piling up.

SunShare community solar garden photographed in Platteville, Colorado on Friday, August 12, 2022. (Photo by Hyoung Chang/The Denver Post)

Opinion: Colorado’s “Einstein of Energy Efficiency” says we’re on track for a renewable future

January 25, 2024 at 10:01 a.m.

The experts tell us an energy gap looms. Fossil fuels are phasing out, and solar and wind power can’t produce enough electricity to meet the demand in coming decades.

The 700 goats ate most everything that was green in this space. Louisville uses the help of cattle to manage open space areas. The "part two" of open grazing uses the help of 700 goats to open graze in the area, to help eat weeds, invasive species and get rid of potential kindle.(Cliff Grassmick/Staff Photographer)

Opinion: Wildfire danger? Bring in the goats!

October 4, 2023 at 6:03 a.m.

Goats can be one of the answers to the growing problem of tinder-dry, highly flammable forests. In Durango, former firefighter Jonathan Bartley runs a business called DuranGoats.

The coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington, N.M., in 2009. The Public Service Company of New Mexico closed the coal plant in 2022. (Susan Montoya Bryan, AP File)

Opinion: Could Farmington’s legacy as a coal-powered and coal-polluted town transition to clean energy?

May 23, 2023 at 2:35 p.m.

Given Farmington’s near-constant sunshine, solar-powered electricity might seem the obvious replacement. However, the people with clout in town yearn for the good old days of fossil fuels.

4.10.98 Durango-A weathered pine rests on the dam at Vallecito Reservoir near Durango.

Opinion: When this epic snowpack starts to melt, Colorado dams will feel the pressure

April 11, 2023 at 4:25 p.m.

Six major dams have failed in Colorado since 1950, with the biggest disaster occurring in Larimer County, in 1981. When its Lawn Lake Dam failed, three people died and property...

All Stories