Noticias

• Beehive Fire Burns Over 300 Acres
• West End Roundup with the San Miguel Basin Forum
• Music Comes to the Mesa

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Beehive Fire Burns Over 300 Acres

The Beehive Fire is burning 320 acres of pinyon and juniper forest on Bureau of Land Management land on Carpenter Ridge near Paradox.

“The Beehive Fire started on June 8th. It was started by some lightning that came through,” said Dana Gardunio, public information officer for the Beehive Fire.

“There was a little cell that came through on Monday with a bunch of lightning. We had quite a few starts happen in the general area. This one, because of fuel type and topography and the windy conditions that the area has been experiencing, just had those three things come into alignment and started the Beehive Fire,” Gardunio said.

Gardunio said the BLM is not currently concerned about any threat to life or property from the fire. The agency has 105 personnel working on the fire, including several air resources supporting ground crews.

“Things are going well. They’re making progress. One of the first things they needed to get established was improving some access to get to the fire. It’s in pretty rugged terrain and a remote section so they had to figure out a safe way and more efficient to get some of the ground crews into the area where the fire is. They’ve been working on securing the edges of the fire on the left and right flanks of the fire, and had really good progress on that yesterday. They’ve been utilizing air resources, such as helicopters with buckets, to help slow some of the progress at the head of the fire and the direction the fire is moving, to hopefully help make that a safer place where firefighters can engage the fire,” Gardunio said.

The fire is currently 0% contained, but Gardunio said that figure does not provide a complete picture of firefighting efforts.

“Really what that is, is the percentage of the fire’s perimeter that’s got a pretty defensible barrier around it. A lot of times that will be fire line that’s been constructed, sometimes it may be other landscape features such as rivers, roads. I guess I would encourage the public is that is one measure of progress, but it’s not the only measure of progress in how we’re being successful in fire suppression efforts,” Gardunio said.

Gardunio added that while there are currently no closures in the area, she is asking people to be mindful.

“We would just advise, and ask people, to stay out of that area as much as possible. It just gives the firefighters as much space as they need to operate. The same goes for flying drones or any aircraft, there is a temporary flight restriction in place over the fire and other fires in the area so we don’t interview with the operations that are happening,” Gardunio said.

Another fire, the Paradox Trail Fire, is burning northeast of the Beehive Fire in Mesa County. That fire has burned just more than 50 acres.

The Bureau of Land Management and the West End of San Miguel County are under Stage 1 fire restrictions.

That means no campfires except those in designated metal fire grates in developed campgrounds. Smoking is prohibited except within enclosed vehicles or buildings, or in areas completely barren of vegetation.

Explosive materials, including exploding targets, are prohibited, as is welding or using torches with an open flame unless conducted in an area cleared of vegetation.

It is also prohibited to operate internal combustion engines without a properly installed and functioning spark arrestor.

Leaving fires unattended or not fully extinguished, as well as lighting fireworks, is always prohibited on federally managed lands.

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West End Roundup with the San Miguel Basin Forum

Today on the West End Roundup with the San Miguel Basin Forum KOTO’s news team chats with editor Regan Tuttle. In today’s headlines: In Home Help in the West End, Norwood Local Climbs Everest, and A Nucla Time Capsule.

The West End has a new business for in home help and support. Tuttle shares more.

Tuttle: Many people in the West End know Christina Bird has worked in health care. She’s actually an Licensed Practical Nurse. She grew up in the West End, but she relocated. She’s been back for about 16 years, and in that time, she was commuting to Grand Junction to work in a long-term care facility.

She’s reached this point in her life where she’s decided she’s not going to commute anymore. She’s going to work more locally, she’s going to work in the West End, and she’s going to serve Paradox, Nucla, Naturita. She’s going to serve Bedrock, Redvale.

What she’s going to do is offer a business that is home care. It’s not necessarily her nursing.

The business is called Stay at Home Sweet Home LLC. What she’s doing is assisting the elderly or the disabled in remaining in the home by helping them with meal planning and prep, taking them to the grocery store or the pharmacy. She can help people organize their medications. She can assist with laundry and light housekeeping.

She really has this desire to keep people comfortable, keep them safe, secure. She doesn’t want to come into a home and do everything for someone. She wants to participate and do these activities with the person so that they feel independent. She just wants to come in and help a person be really comfy in their own home and live their lives.

Norwood’s own Wyatt Hughes summited Mount Everest in May. Tuttle has more on the adventure.

Tuttle: We got a tip a few weeks ago that Wyatt Hughes, son of Howard Hughes of Norwood, had summited Mount Everest.

As it turns out, he was descending, and we got to speak with him by WhatsApp. He told us he summited May 28 at 12:30 p.m.

People know that he’s from a prominent ranching family. He’s a 2016 graduate of Norwood High School, and he had an interesting story to tell. He actually didn’t grow up doing so many sports. He told us he was kind of a gamer, but as a kid, he’d read Krakauer, so he knew the book Into Thin Air. He’d watched the film, and it really made an impression on him.

He’d always been active. He’s been living on the Front Range for some time in his adult life, and he’d been active. But COVID really prohibited him from going to the gym. He really enjoyed working out. What he could do was get out on trails. He said he became very obsessed with hiking everything that he could.

Then he had done so many trails in the Boulder area. He thought, “Well, what else can I do?” He started looking at Longs Peak. So he climbed his first 14er not really knowing what he was getting into, and he did it in November. But he said he learned a lot. And then he got the inspiration, and he thought, “Well, I’m going to do this.” And he started summiting.

He started summiting other 14ers, and then he began finding mentors that he could climb with. So since 2022, the last four years, he’s put in 5,000 hours of peaks and summiting. He’s been to Alaska. He’s done every Fourteener in Colorado — and by the way, Snuffles is his very favorite.

So he just went up Everest. He had a great experience. He spent five days, four nights up there. He had to attempt the summit twice, and he did get it.

He really credits the Sherpas. He’s so grateful to the Sherpas that support these people who want to climb these peaks, these big mountains.

He’s got other plans. He already told the Forum he’s ready to do K2 in Pakistan. He’s got his eyes on a few more peaks in Alaska.

He was so humble at the same time and had so much gratitude. He really credited his parents. Those on Wright’s know his father, who he said is really the reason why he is the man that he is today. Many know that he lost his mom, and he just said he had the best parents anybody could ever ask for. He really said he attributes his success to the way that he was raised in a ranching family.

History is coming to life as Nucla plans to dig up, and rebury a time capsule from 1976. Tuttle explains.

Tuttle: In 1976, a group of people, actually a committee, decided they were going to create and bury a time capsule.

It was made up of different people in the West End region. They amassed a bunch of items. We have things like histories and essays of the time, photographs, a bunch of newspaper clippings. There are other interesting things. There are some government ballots from the election, historical documents. There’s stuff from the school in Nucla, 4-H books, pictures. People also put in things like birth control pills and information on drinking and driving. Then there are other things that relate to hunting and fishing. There are these lists of all the businesses that used to exist in the West End — Nucla, Naturita. There’s a pack of cigarettes from the old days. And there are other interesting pieces of information like the names of everybody buried at Pinyon Cemetery.

The time capsule information was presented to the Forum last week by John Reed, who’s very active in the community and a member of the VFW. He’s very passionate and excited about it, and he was enthusiastic because it’s lining up with this 150/250 celebration, Colorado and the U.S. birthdays.

The time capsule instructions say that this thing is supposed to be dug up this year, looked at, and then reburied.

It’s existing right now in the Nucla Cemetery. Reed thinks that when they exhume it it’s going to be a full-blown coffin. There have been all of these protective measures in place with waterproofing, acid-free papers, and waterproof taping.

It’ll be interesting to see what people thought was important for us to lay eyes on in 2026 and then save again for another 50 years.

A little something extra this week, the Forum has some updates. Tuttle shares what’s new.

Tuttle: New, we just felt like it was important to keep our readership apprised of different changes and things happening.

We wanted everybody to know that Montrose Press changed our print date. We’ve always printed Tuesday afternoons and been available on Wednesday. Montrose Press is actually owned by Grand Junction Media now, and they said that they’ve had staffing cutbacks and they have to change the print date. So now we’re printing on a Wednesday afternoon/evening, and we’re not available until Thursdays.

We just want people to know our online stuff should still be up on Wednesday, but we can’t have hard copies ready now until Thursday. We still have what’s now a weekly segment with KOTO and the West End Roundup. We’re still print and online and have social media.

Also, we are starting a newsletter, which is a goal that we’ve had the last few years. Anybody that’s been a user on our free website — everything on sanmiguelbasinforum.com is free. We have no paywall. We believe that the Forum news should be available and accessible as easily as possible to everybody, free of charge. Anybody who’s a user is going to be getting our free newsletter.

Then we also have two young women from the Ridgway area who have come forward and asked to be interns for the next year. So we really want our readership to look for the girls’ work in the upcoming year.

We’re just super excited that people keep supporting us because the San Miguel Basin Forum is 77 years old as of last week.

The San Miguel Basin Forum is a locally owned and operated newspaper out of Nucla, Colorado. Visit sanmiguelbasinforum.com for weekly news, events, and local happenings in the West End.

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Music Comes to the Mesa

Get ready to howl.

“We are going to be boogying to a band called Wolf Jett. They’ve got southern roots but they’re based in Boulder Creek, California, so they also have some of that California twang going on,” said Daiva Chesonis, founder and producer of Music on the Mesa and programs and events manager for Norwood Park and Recreation.

“It’s kind of like road trip music. You wanna just have it blaring and blasting through the desert. But then we’re going to kick up the dust, or the grass dust, over at the grassy lot in Norwood,” Chesonis said.

This weekend, Wolf Jett will kick off the Music on the Mesa summer concert series.

“We call them picnic concerts. The gates are at 4:30, the show is around 7. That’s when I hit the mic to introduce the band. In that time, you have, for picnicking, there’s vendors – food vendors. Just kind of hang out. There are yard games, a kid’s zone, all kinds of stuff. And then we just lay into the sunset with music and a cool vibe,” Chesonis said.

With food, friends, music and dancing, Chesonis said it promises to be a memorable summer evening. She has just one request for attendees.

“They’re called Wolf Jett, so we want everyone to practice their howl. We want to howl them onto the stage, so be practicing that,” she said.

Music on the Mesa featuring Wolf Jett will take place Saturday, June 13, at the San Miguel County Fairgrounds in Norwood. Gates open at 4:30 p.m., and music begins at 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the community.

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Norwood Revitalizes Pump Track

The Town of Norwood is revitalizing its pump track at Town Park and is seeking volunteers to help with the project.

The Jon Sapp Pump Track is a technical circuit designed to provide riders with an interesting, fun and challenging experience.

Work on the pump track will take place Saturday, June 13, and Saturday, June 20, from 8 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will help move dirt and shape technical elements of the track under the direction of Colby Brown.

For more information, contact [email protected] or call (970) 327-0148.

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CDOT Warns of Increased Teen Traffic Fatalities

Teen traffic fatalities in Colorado have increased 91% over the past decade, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

In 2025, a record 86 drivers and passengers between the ages of 15 and 20 died in motor vehicle crashes statewide.

CDOT reports a spike in crash-related injuries and fatalities between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a period known as the “100 Deadliest Days of Summer.” During that period in 2024, more than 200 people died on Colorado roadways. Of those fatalities, 16% involved people between the ages of 15 and 20.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for teens ages 15 to 18.

CDOT is reminding drivers of all ages to obey speed limits, stay focused behind the wheel, wear seat belts and never drive under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

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Ballots Mailed for June Primary

Ballots for Colorado’s June 30 primary election are being mailed to voters this week.

Voters who belong to a political party will receive only their party’s ballot. Unaffiliated voters will receive ballots for both the Democratic and Republican primaries but may submit only one.

Ballots returned by mail should be postmarked at least one week before Election Day. After that, voters are encouraged to use an official drop box.

In San Miguel County, 24-hour drop boxes are available at the Glockson Building in Norwood and the Miramonte Building in Telluride.

In-person voting will begin Monday, June 22, at the Fruen Building in Telluride, next to Second Chance. On Election Day, in-person voting will be available at both the Fruen Building and Norwood Town Hall.

All ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on June 30.

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Economic Inequality Top Issue for Colorado Women, Nonbinary Residents

Economic inequality is a top issue for Colorado women and nonbinary people, according to a recently released statewide poll.

As Hannah Weaver reports for Rocky Mountain Community Radio, the poll helped guide questions at a recent gubernatorial candidate forum.

The Women’s Foundation of Colorado conducted the inaugural poll this spring.

Eighty-four percent of respondents say the cost of living is rising faster than their incomes.

The poll finds women are putting off health care, cutting back on retirement savings and taking on debt as a result.

“One woman told us, in order to retire, I would have to sell my home, so instead, at age 70, I’m still working,” noted Louise Myrland, vice president of programs for the Women’s Foundation.

The foundation hopes the findings will inform policy and give gubernatorial candidates a sense of what matters to women.

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CD3 Candidates Weigh In on Energy, Public Lands and Water

Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is the state’s largest and includes millions of acres of public lands and waters, along with extensive natural resources and a long history of energy production.

Rocky Mountain Community Radio’s Caroline Llanes reports on where candidates for CD3 stand on energy, public lands and water.

Story begins at 20:35.