A surge in recreational camping around Buena Vista and Salida is wreaking havoc on natural areas and spurring Chaffee County authorities to consider closing dozens of dispersed campsites. In the county that’s 82% public land and home to a fifth of the state’s fourteeners, wildlife populations are plunging as habitats disappear,  poorly tended campfires are raising wildfire fears and trash and human waste are overwhelming public lands workers.

Reporter David Gilbert talks with Olivia Prentzel about some of the solutions land managers are looking to adopt in order to preserve the land, but still provide opportunities for campers.

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The Colorado School of Public Health set up weekly COVID testing at an Aurora middle school and asked students to wear masks with COVID test strips to study what they are exhaling. Reporter Jennifer Brown shares her reporting today with Olivia Prentzel and explains what scientists hope these students can help them learn.

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As 100-mile-per hour winds carried embers across thousands of acres, the Marshall fire not only became the most destructive wildfire in state’s history, but also the costliest, in terms of insurance claims. But what if you rented your home and didn’t have renters’ insurance? Equity reporter Tatiana Flowers talks with Olivia Prentzel about a single mother of two who said she didn’t have renters’ insurance before ash filled her home – leaving her to figure out how to pay thousands of dollars in repairs out of pocket.

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Sales of clean electric vehicles and plug-in electric hybrids are ramping up fast statewide and experts say the state is on track to get 940,000 EVs on the road by 2030. Meanwhile, gas-hogging SUVs continue to grow in popularity. How will the state keep up its momentum to get more Coloradans buying clean cars? Health and environmental reporter Michael Booth talks with fellow reporter Olivia Prentzel about the current EV sales and the road ahead.

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COVID vaccines don’t work for some people, and for them, the pandemic remains terrifying. A study from National Jewish Health helped identify the types of patients who are at risk of not developing antibodies after a coronavirus shot. Colorado Sun Reporter Tatiana Flowers interviews Sun Health Reporter John Ingold, who has the story.

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Plenty of workers could make Crowley County their home – The southern Colorado county has state and private prisons, schools and a growing cannabis cultivation industry. But there aren’t enough places for them to live. And as the supply of houses and apartments has declined in the rural county east of Pueblo, few developers are interested in building there. Now, federal stimulus money will help to add 127 homes there. Colorado Sun Reporter Tatiana Flowers is interviewing fellow Sun Reporter Thy Vo, who has the story.

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Questions about the effectiveness of Boulder County’s alert system are arising after new data was released to the Colorado Sun this week. As few as 1 in 5 people who were sent warnings to flee the fast-moving Marshall fire confirmed they actually received them. And as few as 1 in 10 people in the path of the blaze actually received personal alerts through the county’s emergency notification system, according to the data. Officials said they sent Boulder County sheriff’s deputies and firefighters door to door urging evacuations on Dec. 30, the day of the historic fire. Authorities are now saying, by spring, they hope to have a new alert system in place. Colorado Sun Equity Reporter Tatiana Flowers is here interviewing fellow Sun reporters Shannon Najmabadi and Olivia Prentzel, who told this story. 

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Children’s Hospital Colorado, where the emergency department is filled on a daily basis with suicidal kids and leaders declared a mental health state of emergency last spring, and has hired its first-ever mental health chief. Dr. K. Ron-Li Liaw (Lee-Ow), a child psychiatrist with a background in trauma and resiliency, will lead the hospital system as it pivots its focus to mental health. Liaw plans to spend the next few months creating a plan to tackle the crisis, from early intervention by pediatricians and school-based counselors, to additional hospital beds for kids in crisis. Liaw wants every child to get regular mental health checkups and has plans for Children’s Hospital Colorado to partner with school districts. She talked to The Colorado Sun about the state of kids’ mental health, the potential for Colorado to catch up to eastern states that have invested more in treatment options, and her five-year goals.

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After the Marshall fire destroyed more than 1,000 homes in Boulder County on Dec. 30, the number of students without stable housing in one school district swelled from about 300 to more than 1,100. Ensuring that kids could get the help they need became a priority for the Boulder County School District. School has become one constant these children can count on. 

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A ranch in North Park near the Wyoming border has become a flashpoint in the debate over how to handle wolves in Colorado. Though a voter-approved deadline to reintroduce wolves is still nearly two years away, a pack of wolves that migrated into the state have been killing cattle on the Gittleson ranch. Locals say they need the legal ability to shoot wolves that go after livestock, a practice banned under state law. Reporters Jen Brown and David Gilbert discuss what they uncovered about the thorny topic.

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