Since this involves federal land, an Environmental Impact Statement is required (paid for by Christo), The Bureau of Land Management is the lead agency. About two weeks ago, the BLM released a draft environmental statement; the Pueblo Chieftain ran a pretty good summary, and all thousand-plus pages are available on-line, with a comment deadline of Aug. 30 before the final EIS is prepared.

So where does a guy who lives near there fall on the art vs. river debate? He says he’s “agnostic.”

A goat chews on weeds on the dam face of the Boulder Reservoir on Wednesday. | Photo: Greg Lindstrom / The Camera

Goatscaping is one of my favorite blog topics.

So you know I’m going to let you know about Boulder bringing in 300 goats to eat weeds at Boulder Reservoir, which means not using chemicals. Every time I read about this topic, I learn something new. Here’s this week’s tidbit:

“Goats are browsers versus grazers,” said Matt Claussen, manager of urban resources for the Boulder Parks and Recreation Department.

“They actually prefer forbs to most grasses and will therefore eat weedy species, such as knapweed before moving on to many of the native plants,” he said. “The goat herder will move the goats along as they graze, so as not to harm beneficial native species and focus on the target species.”

A runner passes a group of goats eating knapweed at Boulder Reservoir. | Photo: Greg Lindstrom / The Camera

So that’s why they’re a natural choice for weeding.

If you’re wondering about the animal rights issues here — and I know some of you are — PETA has addressed the question and, as PETA is wont to do, has raised another question. Here’s something I’ve quoted from TechCrunch before:

Says Amy Cook, an Assistant Manager of Marketing for PETA:

PETA has no problem with letting goats do what goats want to do (e.g., look cute and eat weeds), but we do have concerns about how the goats may be transported, whether they are provided with access to shelter during storms and shade as well as water during hot weather, where they are housed when they aren’t “working,” what kind of veterinary care they receive, and what becomes of old and/or excess goats. PETA has found over and over that whenever animals are used by a business to make money, corners are cut and animals often suffer as a result. And that really gets our goat, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Via: Term Life Insurance

Whole Foods comes in at No. 13 with 712 employees, WhiteWave Foods at No. 16 with 507 employees and Gaiam at No. 41 with 231 employees.

For reference, IBM is at the top with about 2,800 employees and public sector employers remain huge in Boulder, of course, with the University of Colorado far outsizing everybody else at nearly 7,000 employees, followed by the Boulder Valley School District and St. Vrain Valley School District at about 2,700 apiece.

In an effort to promote awareness of watershed protection, wildlife conservation and the rules of the trails, the Boulder Ranger District of the Araphoe-Roosevelt National Forest held an art contest for local fifth-grade students.  The winning art will be incorporated into educational trail signs.

The project was inspired by efforts to repair miles of a sensitive stream-side area that had been polluted by undesignated trails causing damage to plants, wildlife and introducing pollutants into the Boulder Creek watershed.

Winning artwork by:

Shane Kaiser–Emerald Elementary | art teacher Jenny Weich

Cutter Fugett–Crestview Elementary | art teacher Wendy Rochman

Jordan Holderby–Crestview Elementary | art teacher Wendy Rochman

Erin Watt–Whittier Inernational elementary | art teacher Jennifer Shepherd

Morgan long–Nederland Elementary | art teacher Jessica Bernstein

Noah Cadigan-Deutsch–Whittier International Elementary | art teacher Jennifer Shepherd

Runner-up artwork by:

Octaviano Romero–Whittier Elementary | art teacher Jennifer Shepherd

Cassidy Eiss–Crestview Elementary | art teacher Wendy Rochman

Samantha Meadows–Nederland Elementary | art teacher Jessica Bernstein

Zipporah Paiss–Crestview Elementary | art teacher Wendy Rochman

Mikayla Freidrich–Whittier Elementary | art teacher Jennifer Shepherd

Claire Butler–Whittier Elementary | art teacher Jennifer Shepherd

Thanks to all the participants for encouraging respect for the trails.

Increasingly, short winters have meant that yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris) near the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory now emerge 20 days earlier from their seven- to eight-month hibernation than they did in the late ’70s. This, in turn, has meant more time to get fat over the summer, less fat loss over the winter and, over the past decade, a huge spike in their survival and reproductive success.

“We believe that gradual change in climate crosses a threshold, and causes abrupt changes in population,” said biologist Arpat Ozgul from the Imperial College of London, lead author of a study on the marmots being published July 21 in Nature.

This led me (and my traveling partner) to think back to a trip we recently took down to Taos, N.M., during which we encountered an interesting front-page piece in the Valley Courier newspaper of southern Colorado. I can’t find it online, so I’ll just post the two photos I happened to take of the story…

From the pages of the Valley Courier...

And the closing sentences…

Twice! In 15 years!

So should we be worried about  a huge explosion of marmots in cars? Well, Wired says probably not.  Read the rest of their piece.

The requirements mandate that landlords in the University Hill and Goss/Grove neighborhoods, known for high concentrations of student rental properties, sign up for additional trash pickup during designated times in the spring and fall. Additional trash pickup, already required from May 4-10 this year, will be required from July 31 through Aug. 30.

Seriously, these are college students. They had Craigslist before they had braces. Figure it out, kids! Or consider investing in summer storage!

DENVER (AP) — Federal land managers say artist Christo’s plan to drape fabric over several miles of the Arkansas River in Colorado would have a significant impact on recreation and traffic, with an estimated 350,000 people expected to flock to the area to view it.

This artist's drawing provided by Christo shows an image of a proposed art project by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude that would suspend 5.9 miles of silvery, translucent fabric above parts of the Arkansas River in southern Colorado. (AP Photo/Christo and Jeanne-Claude)

The Bureau of Land Management released its draft environmental study Friday on Christo’s “Over the River” project, adding that the “unprecedented” effort could have a moderate to significant impact on bighorn sheep and historical sites.

Steve Coffin, a Denver-based spokesman for the project, said any impact would be temporary.

Christo wants to use a system of anchors, frames and cables to suspend 5.9 miles of fabric across eight spots along a 42-mile stretch of the river. The BLM studied seven versions of the project, including a scaled-down effort.

Coffin said the alternatives were not developed in consultation with Christo and that the artist would push for the full project. He said Christo has already comprised and scaled down what originally was seen as a 10.4-mile project.

“A shorter version of Over the River is not Over the River,” Coffin said. “What has gotten lost here is the artistic vision, and that’s really what this is all about.”

This drawing provided by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude shows the under side of a section of the Arkansas River in southern Colorado that would be draped with material in the "Over the River Project" that Christo and Jeanne-Claude have been planning since 1992. The Bureau of Land Management released its draft environmental study on Friday, July 16, 2010 saying the Christo's "Over the River" project could have moderate to significant impact on bighorn sheep and historical sites. (AP Photo/Christo and Jeanne-Claude)

The draft study says construction, viewing and removal over nearly three years would affect more than 3,500 acres.

After a 30-day comment period and a series of public meetings, the BLM will decide which alternative — including not doing the project at all — it prefers. That decision isn’t expected until February.

Christo did not immediately return an e-mail request for comment. Christo and late wife Jeanne-Claude conceived the project in 1992 and began the permitting process in 1997.

It calls for suspending fabric roughly horizontally, eight to 25 feet above the water between the scenic town of Salida and Canon city. It is designed to be viewed from U.S. 50 and from those rafting the river.

Jeanne-Claude died in November. The husband-and-wife team have created several large-scale outdoor pieces, including the New York City extravaganza, “The Gates,” 7,503 fabric panels installed in Central Park in 2005. The duo also created “Valley Curtain,” which featured 142,000 square feet of orange nylon across Colorado 325 near Rifle.

FILE - In this Sept. 19, 2008 file photograph, drawings of the "Over the River" project are pictured in the background as Christo and Jeanne-Claude arrive for a news conference at a gallery displaying their work in Denver. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File)

Christo’s website touting the project said the panels won’t block wildlife access to the river, that there would be construction buffers around sheep areas, and the viewing has been timed around breeding and seasons.

However, the study said the project is “unique and unprecedented, and impacts (on bighorn sheep) cannot be predicted with a high degree of precision.” Authors of the study said the project’s scale, scope and duration show a need for more efforts to explore ways to minimize the impact on the sheep and develop an effective monitoring plan.

The study also estimated more boat trips down the river during viewing, increased traffic from those visiting the area, lane closures during consturction, and cable anchors on four historic properties.

Other issues requring more study include insurance, emergency services access, and potential for pollution should the artwork collapse.

Michael Oro, right, a student at the University of Colorado, boards the RTD 204 bus to get home after class on Wednesday | Camera

RTD, which operates buses and trains all around the Denver area, including Boulder, is facing a conundrum that John Tayer, Boulder’s rep on the RTD board, calls the “transit paradox.”

RTD is funded almost entirely by sales taxes. When the economy tanks — and people begin to look to buses as a way to save money on transportation — RTD’s budget tanks, too.

“Just as people most need transit, we’re having to cut back on service,” Tayer told the Camera yesterday.

So what to do? RTD is going to be $18 million in the hole next year, and the board is considering raising rates and cutting service. They haven’t made a decision yet, but they’re considering raising rates on local buses (like the HOP, SKIP, JUMP, BOUND, etc.) to $2.25 from $2.

Boulder is worried that it will discourage people from using the bus. Would it make a difference to you?

Read more about the “transit paradox” at DailyCamera.com.

An employee works on equipment at Abound Solar's Longmont production facility. Courtesy photo | Abound Solar

President Barack Obama has recently announced a federal loan guarantee to Abound Solar, a Loveland-based company that has a manufacturing facility in Longmont.

The company, which employs 360 people in Colorado and manufactures thin film solar panels, will nearly double its employee base in the state, Abound Solar spokesman Mark Chen said.

He said it’s not yet clear exactly how the new jobs will break down between Abound Solar’s Longmont production facility, its headquarters in Loveland and its research lab in Fort Collins.

But he said Longmont would most likely be the biggest beneficiary since the bulk of production is done in the city. The company will be able to add two production lines to the one it already has in Longmont as a result of the loan guarantee, Chen said.

The White House said the project marks the first time this new manufacturing technology for Cadmium-Telluride panels will be deployed commercially anywhere in the world.

It will produce photovoltaic panels using an innovative process in which thin films of Cadmium-Telluride are deposited onto the glass panels, according to the White House. The technology reduces overall product costs.

Abound Solar is a member of PV Cycle, an organization dedicated to creating “truly sustainable energy solutions that take into consideration the environmental impacts of all stages of the product life cycle, from raw material sourcing through end-of-life collection and recycling.”

Learn more about the Abound Solar expansion in Longmont and the federal loan guarantee at the Camera.

-Hannah Gentry