Mountain Biking: Rubber side down- Time for a TurnaroundWell, my friends, things are finally looking up, and good timing, too, since I’m sure you’re all sick of me bitching. Recent bike build, including wheels… fun! In what feels like a fairly short time, I’ve come from sitting around … Continue reading → […]
- This Raised My PulseHey, baby… wanna ride? I may be injured, but I’m not dead yet. I can still have racy thoughts. Here’s more info. In other news, UBI was an awesome success! I had a blast. I highly recommend it. Overhaul day…. … Continue reading → […]
- Time for a Turnaround
- Edgy Veggie
The end of the road for the Lynx
Adan Morquecho, a sophomore at Monarch High School, rides the Lynx bus home Tuesday | Mark Leffingwel
RTD passengers traveling between Broomfield and Louisville may be out of luck soon as RTD plans to cut the Lynx bus route.
The route, which first starting running in the summer of 2008, was funded primarily through a two-year Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant.
City officials hoped that the Lynx would be successful so RTD would agree to take over the service once the federal grant ran out. Unfortunately, the route averages only five riders per hour and has not been nearly successful enough to make the cut.
However, RTD did decide to pick up the Jump XL bus route, which extends the popular Jump route into Erie.
In a last ditch effort to save the Lynx, county officials are trying to decide whether to scale-down the Lynx route to only include more popular stops. But, if they can’t cut the route down enough to make it financially viable, the county will likely be spending its limited transportation money elsewhere. Read more
Wolverines, plovers and prairie dogs — oh my!
The federal government is re-evaluating a whole pack of animals and plants that were once rejected for protection under the Endangered Species Act by officials in the Bush administration.
A wolverine | DailyCamera.com
In Colorado that means wolverines (one of which was spotted in Colorado this summer for the first time in 90 years), mountain plovers, white-tailed prairie dogs and two kinds of sage grouse are being re-evaluated. And the feds are also looking into a half-dozen other Colorado species for the first time, including two animals (American pikas and black-tailed prairie dogs), three plants (Parachute penstemons, DeBeque Pachelias and Pagosa skyrockets) and an insect (Susan’s purse-making caddisfly).
From wolverines to black-tailed prairie dogs, dozens of species here and across the nation are being re-evaluated for possible threatened or endangered status.
The Obama administration is taking a fresh look, in many cases under court order, at Bush administration rejections of special status. A move to prevent extinction of more plants and animals could limit housing construction and energy development. Read more
8-foot-high wildlife fence tries to separate cars from beasts
A herd of elk wanders through Estes Park on Monday to the delight of tourists | Walt Hester, Estes Park Trail Gazette
The Colorado Department of Transportation will begin installing an 8-foot-high wildlife fence along Colo. 82 between Glenwood Springs and Carbondale to keep elk and other animals from wandering onto the road, according to the Aspen Times.
That section of highway — part of the connection between Aspen to I-70 — has earned the dubious distinction of having one of the worst rates of vehicle-animal collisions in the entire state. There were 39 such accidents in 2005, the last year data was taken.
The project will also include six wildlife escape ramps — earthen berms that allow animals a way to jump down off the road without letting them hop back up.
The wildlife fence may reduce animal-vehicle collisions, but it doesn’t solve the larger problem of habitat fragmentation, some environmentalists say. In Colorado, swaths of valuable forest and wilderness lands have been sliced up by busy roads, keeping animals from safely using all the available resources.
Keep reading after the jump to find out about proposed wildlife bridges on I-70 and what Boulder County is doing to help elk cross the road (and make it to the other side). Read more
