Noticias

• Council Attendance Policy Moves Toward Voters
• Big Beautiful Bill Isn’t Good for Colorado
• Goats Graze on the Valley Floor

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Council Attendance Policy Moves Toward Voters

A ballot measure creating an attendance policy for Telluride Town Councilmembers and the mayor will likely be heading to voters this November.

“I move to approve, on first reading, an ordinance of the Town Council of the Town of Telluride, Colorado submitted proposed Home Rule Charter amendments to a vote of the registered electors at the November 4, 2025, regular municipal election, concerning a Town Council and Mayoral attendance standard,” said Councilmember Meehan Fee during last week’s Town Council meeting.

Currently, there are five reasons a seat on Town Council may become vacant: a recall, the death of an officeholder, incapacitation, resignation, or loss of residency in the town.

There are no rules for how many meetings a councilmember or mayor must attend to remain in their seat. But council wants to see that change.

“This is a job that people are applying for and they are hired by the community, and if they’re unable to execute the job, then they can’t do the job,” Councilmember Geneva Shaunette said during a work session on the matter earlier this year.

At the meeting last week, Town Attorney Kevin Geiger explained the ordinance as it stands.

“The trigger you were looking for was three consecutive absences from regular meetings, or failure to attend at least 75% of the regular meetings in any 12-month period of time,” he said.

He added that the councilmember or mayor could remain in their seat with the support of the rest of the council.

“I did insert the provision, that I think you wanted to see, that an extraordinary majority of council – the remaining 5 of 6 – can excuse the absences of the councilmember or mayor. So that’s in there as well,” Geiger said.

At the meeting, council also stipulated that to qualify as attending a meeting, a councilmember must be present for at least half of the meeting.

“There might be a situation – we’ve talked a lot about doctor’s appointments – you might be able to be here for most of the day, but you need an hour. That shouldn’t count,” said Councilmember Ashley Von Spreecken.

Town Council unanimously approved the ordinance on first reading. If it passes on second reading, Telluride’s attendance policy for elected officials will be up to the voters to decide in the Nov. 4 election.

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Big Beautiful Bill Isn’t Good for Colorado

Just before the Fourth of July deadline, Congressional Republicans secured enough votes to pass President Donald Trump’s spending bill, titled the “Big Beautiful Bill.”

The bill continues $4.5 trillion in tax breaks from the president’s 2017 agenda, increases military spending, cuts Medicare benefits for millions and eliminates clean energy tax credits established during the Biden administration.

Colorado Democrats and local officials say the bill will directly affect the state. On a Colorado Democrats-organized press call before the vote, Gov. Jared Polis criticized the legislation.

“And our country will be significantly deeper in debt in 10 years if this bill were to pass,” Polis said. “And that’s why I encourage our Republicans from Colorado as well from other parts of the country to defeat it.”

Colorado’s Republican representatives — U.S. Reps. Gabe Evans, Jeff Hurd, Jeff Crank and Lauren Boebert — all voted for the bill.

With the elimination of clean energy tax credits, KC Becker, CEO of the Colorado Solar and Storage Association, said the move would reduce investment in Republican-represented areas of Colorado.

“This isn’t something that Congress needs to do. What we have is working,” Becker said. “Weld County, in Congressman Evans’ district, has more solar development than any county in Colorado, and more solar development than almost any county in the country.”

Becker said Colorado had been a leader in clean energy development, thanks in part to federal tax credits.

“With the legislation that is about to pass, people who are building America’s energy future are going to lose their jobs, and companies and families who rely on low energy bills are going to see those bills go up,” she said. “Farmers and ranchers who hope to lease their lands to wind and solar developers are going to lose out on some of that income. Counties are going to lose out on important income that’s coming to their communities — all at a time when demand for energy because of AI and data centers is surging.”

Becker pointed to a recent 20-megawatt solar project announced by San Miguel Power Association and Tri-State Energy in the West End as an example of local investment in clean energy.

“If Donald Trump wants to get rid of support for clean energy, he could take a more reasonable, planned and deliberate phaseout. That would be the right policy,” Becker said. “But unfortunately, Congress doesn’t seem to want to take that common-sense approach. Instead, by cutting these energy tax credits, they are going to end so much of the thriving industry, the jobs and the new electrons that are being put on the grid. And ultimately, they are going to hurt local communities — and our low-cost energy right now.”

San Miguel County commissioners sent a letter to Hurd opposing the bill, writing that it would “disincentivize clean energy infrastructure — essentially cutting off this growing industry at the knees, wasting so much investment already made by American entrepreneurs, communities, and utility companies, including San Miguel County’s rural electric co-op.”

The letter added that the advancement of uranium mining “will pose a significant threat to human health, the environment, and our precious water resources.”

While the letter emphasized the county’s environmental priorities, San Miguel County has also passed restrictive solar infrastructure land use codes and approved seven uranium exploration permits since 2022.

“We implore you, Jeff, to ask yourself if these are truly your district’s priorities,” the commissioners wrote. “We can tell you with certainty, they are not San Miguel County’s.”

The House bill passed by just four votes. Polis, on the Democrats’ press call, said those votes “could have been our four Republican representatives from Colorado.”

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Goats Graze on the Valley Floor

Goats are coming to the Valley Floor.

“On the June 2 meeting, the Telluride Open Space Commission recommended the Council consider — as a pilot program — a conditional agricultural use for the use of goats for weed mitigation and range management,” said Telluride Project Manager Lance McDonald during a Town Council meeting last week.

The goats will be placed on two parcels of land on the Valley Floor, on either side of Boomerang Road. One area is approximately 1 acre, the other roughly 3 acres.

“We have a significant thistle infestation in these areas. We also have yellow toadflax. The idea is to see if the goats will be able to reduce the aggressiveness of the weeds in those areas,” McDonald said. “The goats do not kill the weeds, but they digest the seeds prior to the seeds being useful for growing plants in the future. They also churn the soil and make it more suitable for having native grasses come in and outcompete the weeds. There’s also the fertilizing that happens when the goats do their business.”

The areas designated for the goats are in Zone 1 — not wetlands and less environmentally sensitive. From start to finish, the project should take about 10 days.

The goats will not roam free. Instead, they’ll be kept in enclosed pastures and moved from one to another as they graze. To protect them from predators, guard dogs will also be on-site.

That aspect has raised some concerns, as dogs are generally not allowed on the Valley Floor. But McDonald emphasized the pilot program will not change that policy.

“This is not opening the door for dog activities on the Valley Floor,” he said.

Jonathan Bartley, co-owner and manager of DuranGoats, added that the guard dogs will remain within the pastures.

He said DuranGoats uses a “pastoral” model that draws on traditional predator-prey relationships, ensuring the dogs won’t negatively affect elk or other wildlife on the Valley Floor.

“So it’s a very natural form of grazing where you have a herd move into an area and graze the area,” Bartley said. “The idea is the predators would come in, make them move to another area, they graze that next area, and they keep moving around. Even having the presence of a dog is part of that natural process. If you compare a dog to a predator, it would make the elk move a little further away, and then they’ll come back to repopulate that area just as soon as a dog is gone.”

As part of the weed management project, the goats will serve as work animals. Though they may be adorable, the town advises the public not to touch or disturb them. Signs will be posted to inform recreators about the work, cautioning them about both electric fencing and the guard dogs.

Town Council, including Councilmember Ashley Von Spreecken, supports the pilot program.

“My family actually has a pretty significant history of sheep ranching in the area, so I appreciate the efforts to reintroduce this on the Valley Floor,” she said. “I think the advantages of having grazing animals — as far as biodiversity and management of invasive species — is really beneficial, and there’s also all sorts of studies that show it benefits soil health and all sorts of things. So I think this is a great move in the right direction.”

Town Council unanimously approved the goats and guard dogs on the Valley Floor as part of a one-year pilot program. The weed mitigation could begin as early as this week.

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Telski Keeps Merchant Pass Price Flat, Takes Over Program Management

The Telluride Ski Resort has announced its merchant pass price will remain at $1,375 for the 2025-26 ski season.

Telski also announced it will take over management of the merchant pass program, which was previously run by the Colorado Flights Alliance.

In a news release, Telski officials said the decision came after concerns over the program’s management. The goal, they said, is to “improve fidelity” and “provide exceptional service to the local business community.”

Telski’s new community relations manager, Laura Thomas, will be the point of contact for merchant passes.

The Telluride Ski Resort is scheduled to open for the winter season on Nov. 27.

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Breathwork Class Offers Calm Amid Summer Rush

Searching for some solace during this busy July season? Look to your breath.

Join Jordan Carr at the Wilkinson Public Library on Wednesday, July 9, from 9 to 10 a.m. for an introduction to breathwork.

Carr will explore the basics of breathing techniques in ancient Pranayama, along with more modern styles of breathing like Wim Hof, Holotropic and Conscious Connected breathing.

“I serve as a steward of the breath, sharing these simple yet transformative techniques,” Carr said.

In this beginner-friendly class, he’ll guide participants through breathwork practices designed to enhance wellness of mind, body and spirit.

Sign up at telluridelibrary.org.

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Study Shows Prescribed Burns Reduce Wildfire Severity

Prescribed burns are increasingly used as a tool to mitigate severe wildfires in the West.

However, there’s not much data about how effective they are.

As Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports, a new study from Stanford University shows that prescribed burns do, in fact, reduce the severity of wildfires.

Story begins at 12:15.

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Gen Z Climate Anxiety Drives Aspen Workshop

Eighty-five percent of Gen Zers are worried about climate change, representing majorities in all 50 U.S. states

That finding, from a 2024 Lancet study, framed a Sunday Aspen Ideas workshop about navigating the emotions of climate change.

For Rocky Mountain Community Radio, Aspen Public Radio’s Michael Fanelli has more.

Story begins at 13:34.