News

• Telluride Sends Questions to the Ballot
• The Wild Dark with Craig Childs
• Lawmakers Convene for a Special Session

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Telluride Sends Questions to the Ballot

The Town of Telluride is sending two ballot measures to voters this November.

“This is now election season. We are referring various ballot measures to the vote of the electorate. One of the things that has been directed is a possible excise tax on the purchase price paid for ski lift tickets,” said Telluride Town Attorney Kevin Geiger, presenting before Town Council last week.

The proposed tax would be a 5% tax on ski lift tickets, with an exemption for season passes.

“To fund gondola expenses, capital improvements, and paying for gondola operations and maintenance expenses,” Geiger said.

The proposed tax comes after negotiations between the San Miguel Authority for Regional Transportation and Telski regarding a financial contribution for the gondola stalled.

“There was an MOU signed by ownership of the ski resort during a previous election stating that they would be putting a fee on their lift tickets in order to fund operations and maintenance and capital improvements for the gondola,” said Councilmember Meehan Fee. An MOU is a memorandum of understanding.

“That MOU failed to become a contractual agreement, and therefore we’re asking the voters to support that initial decision and hold the ski resort accountable to the agreement they had previous made,” Fee said.

Town Council is supportive of the tax and unanimously voted to send the question to the electorate.

A second ballot measure asks voters to increase the debt Telluride is able to borrow for the purpose of affordable housing.

“This is not a tax or fee increase. It updates how we can borrow using money already approved by the voters,” said Telluride Town Manager Zoe Dohnal.

Currently, the town is authorized to borrow $18 million for housing purposes. That’s based on approval from the voters in 2018 and 2019. It also collects taxes to support affordable housing. If this year’s measure is approved approved, the town could increase that to just over $64 million.

Kim Crawford, with Butler Snow – Telluride’s bond counsel – reiterated that if it passed, the measure would not increase taxes or fees, but rather increase the amount of money Telluride is able to borrow.

“It would increase debt. The debt would be increased by approximately $64 million, but the town is not required to borrow the full amount,” Crawford said.

She added that Town Council would still need to approve borrowing that money.

“Any time the town decides to do a borrowing – if there’s a good project they want to invest in – you will hear from all of us again. We’ll come back to you. We’ll have to get an ordinance that authorizes the issuance of bonds. So, it’s not something that just happens automatically,” she said.

Dohnal noted the funds would support the town’s goals of keeping workers and families in town, protecting community character, and environmental efforts.

“It helps support our construction, or even more importantly the subsidy of our affordable housing projects – how much we can subsidize that ultimately gets passed on to the renters or buyers, acquisition of land for housing, performing of any related studies, funding programs such as downpayment assistance, and also making sure that we can have housing projects for our local residents, reducing commuting by keeping people close to work, supporting a balanced year-round economy, and helping preserve our community character,” Dohnal said.

Council voted 5-1 to send the question to voters. Councilmember Dan Enright was the lone no vote. Councilmember Jessie Rae Arguelles was not in attendance at the meeting.

The two ballot measures – along with a potential citizens initiative and statewide questions – will appear on the November election ballot.

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The Wild Dark with Craig Childs

Author Craig Childs went searching for darkness in his latest book The Wild Dark. Traveling from the bright lights of Las Vegas to complete dark–in the middle of Nevada Child explores the growing scarcity of dark skies. KOTO News spoke with Childs about his book, and his upcoming Authors Uncovered Talk at the Wilkinson Public library.

Signups are still open for Child’s night of speaking, performance, and discussion of the night sky at the Wilkinson Public Library on Thursday August 21st. Visit telluridelibrary.org to learn more. 

Story begins at 4:30.

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Lawmakers Convene for a Special Session

Colorado lawmakers are reconvening for a special legislative session this week with the goal of closing an $800 million gap, lost due to President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”. In a summer installment of Capitol Conversation, Colorado Capitol News Alliance statehouse reporter Lucas Brady Woods shares what to expect.

Story begins at 10:42.

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Stoner Mesa Fire Grows with 10% Containment

The Stoner Mesa Fire has grown to just over 9,400 acres and is at 10% containment.

Firefighters continue to focus on the southwestern edge of the fire in Stoner Canyon, where heavy fuels and challenging terrain provide areas for the fire to spread. Crews are continuing to strengthen fire lines and are assisted by retardant and water drops.

Low pressure, cooler temperatures and thunderstorms this weekend bring a change in conditions and an opportunity for firefighters.

The Highway 145 and Dolores County Road 38 corridor, including the towns of Dunton, Rico and Stoner, remain under a “ready” evacuation status.

More information and up-to-date conditions can be found at the Stoner Mesa Fire Information Facebook page or at inciweb.wildfire.gov.

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GMUG to Continue Valley Floor Restoration

The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests will complete restoration work on the Valley Floor this fall and winter.

The GMUG, in collaboration with Trout Unlimited, will conduct restoration work on the San Miguel River and surrounding areas to stabilize eroding riverbanks, realign the San Miguel River, and revegetate barren areas.

The work follows mine tailings removal action. Between 2020 and 2022, the Environmental Protection Agency removed approximately 50,000 cubic yards of toxic mine tailings contaminated with lead and arsenic.

The GMUG is scheduled to begin work this month and complete it by the end of the year.

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Study Links Industrial Forests to More Severe Wildfires

A new study from the University of Utah links industrial forests, where trees are grown for lumber, to higher-severity wildfires — especially under more extreme fire weather conditions.

Researchers say the link stems from how timber companies tend to plant trees: in regularly spaced rows with little diversity. These “plantation” or “even-aged” forests tend to provide more continuous fuel for wildfires.

“This issue with these plantation-type structures is going to become even worse under climate change,” said Jacob Levine, one of the lead researchers on the study. “But it also means that we can enact management practices, in particular, thinning of forests, that will continue to be effective even in the more extreme and warm climates of the future.”

The Trump administration has indicated it would like to ramp up logging operations throughout much of the Western United States. Levine said any new policies around logging should find a balance between harvesting lumber sustainably and mitigating the risks of severe fires.

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Wolf Reintroduction Funding at Risk with Budget Cuts

Wolf reintroduction efforts could be in the crosshairs as state lawmakers look for savings to balance the budget.

Megan Verlee has more for the Colorado Capitol News Alliance.

Story begins at 20:15.

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Lee Fire Becomes One of Colorado’s Largest Amid Unusual Behavior

The Lee Fire has burned more than 137,000 acres in northwest Colorado, making it the second-largest wildfire currently burning in the country and the fifth-largest in state history.

The fire began Aug. 2 due to a lightning strike. Since then, it has behaved in extreme and anomalous ways, posing unique challenges to firefighters on the ground.

As Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports, climate change could be making fires like this one the new normal.

Story begins at 21:03.