By Quentin Young | editor
“The problem is so big, there is not enough time and energy to do it … The scale of it is so vast that you have to step back and say, ‘OK, what are we trying to do here?’”
— Andy Rossi, the Upper Yampa water district’s general manager
The Yamcolo Reservoir, a water storage project owned by the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District, is pictured on Aug. 17, 2026. (Photo by Chase Woodruff/Colorado Newsline)
By Chase Woodruff
Colorado water managers are increasingly having to wage a long-term battle against a warmer, drier climate: protecting watersheds from severe wildfire impacts. More than 13 million acres of mountain watersheds across western and central Colorado are now covered by a Wildfire Ready Action Plan, or WRAP, developed as part of a watershed protection program that was launched in the aftermath of 2020’s record-shattering outbreak of wildfires. Five years on, the program has conducted a sweeping analysis of statewide post-fire risks and guided more than a dozen water managers through the WRAP planning process. But as climate change continues to intensify wildfire hazards in Colorado, all this new data also serves to illustrate the sheer scope of the problem.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, a Democrat, announced a $1 million settlement with a Colorado property manager for unlawful charges to tenants Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024 at the Colorado Bar Association office in Denver. (Lindsey Toomer/Colorado Newsline)
By Sara Wilson
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser on Wednesday sued the private company that runs the Aurora immigration detention center over its noncompliance with a state public health order. Since June, The GEO Group has refused access and information requests related to a confirmed tuberculosis case in the detention center it operates for U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The company ignored a June public health order from Adams County and missed a Monday compliance deadline for a second public health order issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Rafters are seen in the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. (Photo by Jerry Sintz/BLM)
COMMENTARY
By Gary Wockner
When we picture climate solutions in Colorado, we usually imagine solar panels, electric vehicles, or high-density housing. Rarely does legal philosophy make the list. But the Rights of Nature movement — which recognizes ecosystems like rivers, forests and mountains as legal persons with inherent rights — is emerging as a potentially powerful tool in the climate fight. The movement doesn’t just protect biodiversity for its own sake; it restructures the legal and economic systems that drive the extraction, damming and deforestation fueling the climate crisis.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Commentary: The bill that threw low-income Colorado students under the bus | By Ian Zuckerman
Refugee admissions on track to hit record low | By Shalina Chatlani
Parents are being held responsible for their kids’ crimes under new laws | By Amanda Watford
Trump administration appeals dismissal of Colorado voter data case | By Lindsey Toomer
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