The Durango Herald, July 15, on Colorado winning bid for Outdoor Retailer show:
Colorado has gained the Outdoor Retailer trade show that Salt Lake City let get away.
That’s a big win for Colorado, a big nod to outdoor recreation’s ever-increasing economic clout and a big affirmation of the love for public lands.
As Utah officials lobbied to reduce the size of Bears Ears National Monument, which former President Barack Obama designated late last year, the outdoor industry warned that Salt Lake’s relationship with the trade show was in danger as a result. Nobody blinked, and the result was a big loss for Utah.
Several cities jumped into the competition to be the next host of the twice-yearly expo, which is projected to bring as much as $110 million to the host each year. The new contract is for five years.
In the end, the director of the shows said, “the ethos of Colorado just aligned really well with our industry and its vision and values.”
There’s no doubt that Denver professionals put considerable energy, effort and funding into their warp-speed proposal, and they deserve credit for winning the contract. The show wasn’t likely to move out of the West. Still, the fact that Coloradans appreciate their public land resources and work hard to keep them made a tremendous difference.
Colorado’s governor and congressional delegation have expressed firm support for the state’s national forests, parks and monuments and their state counterparts recognize that public lands drive a lot of spending by outdoor recreationists, many of whom come to the state specifically for its wildland opportunities.
Their numbers, plus the high percentage of locals who hike, bike, ski, fish, hunt, climb, ride horses or drive off-road, boat, photograph, sightsee and otherwise enjoy the state’s open spaces, add up to a huge economic force as they spend money on travel, lodging, food, gear and peak experiences.
Although Colorado companies do not manufacture as much outdoor equipment as some other states, that industry is growing as well.
Outdoor recreation is sustainable, while resource extraction is finite. Utah has gambled that its gains will outweigh the loss of the Outdoor Retailer contract, but Colorado has its priorities straight.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2u9GeqJ
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The Reporter-Herald, July 11, on wildlife and people coexisting:
A baby bird falls from its nest. An elk calf appears to be abandoned by its mother.
Life isn’t always easy for any living creature.
That can be difficult for humans to accept. We want to fix problems.
Yet far too often humans, even with the best of intentions, can make wildlife problems worse.
Putting out food for birds can attract bears.
Putting out food for squirrels can attract both hungry squirrels and the wrath of neighbors.
That herd of deer you enjoy seeing can attract mountain lions looking for a meal.
We call some animals wildlife because they’re just that - wild.
“Most dangerous and potentially harmful encounters occur because people fail to leave the animals alone. Wildlife should not be harassed, captured, domesticated or fed,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife cautions in the Living with Wildlife section of its website.
Already this year, multiple problems with bears and moose have been reported in Northern Colorado.
A bear attacked a camper near Ward over the weekend, and CPW officials tracked it down and killed it.
A moose that wandered into Arvada this spring was relocated to Larimer County, only to reappear in Broomfield. CPW then moved the animal to South Park.
Rescuers attempted to help an elk calf found on the side of a road in Estes Park with a broken leg, but the calf had to be euthanized.
In Longmont, plans to build an office and high-bay warehouse hit a snag because prairie dogs live on the site, so developers proposed to relocate the prairie dogs to Rocky Flats Wildlife Refuge. Those plans drew an outcry because some fear they could burrow down into areas still contaminated at the former nuclear weapons facility. Officials at the refuge said they would be placed far from contaminated areas.
Colorado’s human population is growing, estimated at more than 5.5 million now, and so is its wildlife population, so these problems won’t stop.
Colorado’s moose population is more than 3,000 and growing at 18 percent a year, so encounters could become more common.
CPW estimates the state’s bear population at 17,000 and the mountain lion population at 4,500.
Colorado is said to have nearly 278,000 elk, more than any other state.
Give wild animals some space if you encounter them. Slow down on the roads, where the Colorado Department of Transportation says an average of 3,300 wildlife-vehicle collisions happen each year in the state.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2u9t8JP
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The Times-Call, July 19, on notario fraud:
Those concerned that efforts to combat notario fraud are helping illegal immigrants and therefore acting counter to the rule of law should be reminded: Posing as someone who can provide legal advice for immigrants is illegal, as is a non-lawyer not making it clear to potential customers that he or she does not give legal advice.
Even well-meaning people can harm immigrants with bad legal advice. And some bad actors - attorneys and non-attorneys - have preyed upon immigrants who appear to have little recourse when they’ve been taken advantage of. When the person who was supposed to help takes an immigrant’s money and provides no services, where can that immigrant turn, especially when they risk deportation?
Thus, Colorado law addresses those who target immigrants intentionally, as well as anyone - such as a notary - who might unintentionally represent himself as a legal expert, such as by using the term “notario” in advertising. That’s because in some Spanish-speaking countries, “notario” is the word for “attorney.” Immigrants who confuse the two can make life-changing mistakes.
Immigrants may contact a district attorney’s office directly if they have been victimized or if they have suspicions about a business. And the district attorney’s office may investigate.
Boulder District Attorney Stan Garnett has taken the lead in educating the community about the law, and that effort now is going statewide - with the help of Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman and Acting U.S. Attorney Bob Troyer. The goal is to inform immigrant communities of state requirements for people who may provide legal aid, and as well as make them aware of state services that are available at no cost, because some unscrupulous people attempt to sell those services.
This effort is critical, and needed.
Often, those immigrants who are taken advantage of are trying to do the right thing, acquiring the proper documents and following the correct channels for staying in this country legally. Those who abuse the trust of these immigrants not only are breaking the letter of the law, they might further be pushing immigrants underground, less likely to trust those who actually can help them and less likely to pursue the proper, legal means of remaining in the country.
Anyone touting the rule of law when it comes to immigration needs to be reminded that the law needs to work for everyone. Supporting this effort does not mean you are supporting illegal immigration. It means that authorities should deal with lawbreakers, no matter who their victims are.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2u90zMF
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The Pueblo Chieftian, July 17, on Gov. John Hickenlooper’s climate goals:
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper has issued a set of “goals” - not enforceable mandates, to be sure - for reducing greenhouse gas emissions last week, seemingly as a rebuke to President Donald Trump pulling out of the Paris climate change accord.
In a separate move, Hickenlooper said Colorado would join the U.S. Climate Alliance, which wants to comply with the Paris climate accord even though the president has announced the United States withdrawal from it.
Good thing the governor’s “goals” were couched as an executive order and not the law of Colorado. Fact is that in a state where Black Hills Energy and Xcel already must increase their use of renewable energy to 30 percent by 2020, imposing yet another costly mandate would have a terrible impact on electricity bills and the Colorado economy.
“These are market forces. This is not government imposing a regime,” Hickenlooper said. Even so, he basked in the inevitable praise from some of his fellow Democrats and climate change environmental activists. The accolades seemed misplaced for a symbolic executive order lacking the force of law.
“This is not Washington, D.C.,” noted Colorado Senate President Kevin Grantham, R-Canon City, “and here in Colorado we do not govern by executive order.”
The governor’s goals include reducing greenhouse gas emissions statewide by more than 26 percent by 2025, compared with 2005 levels. On top of that, he wants to reduce electricity power plant carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2025 and then by 35 percent by 2030, both compared with 2012 levels.
The governor would be ill-advised to try and impose climate change goals unilaterally without legislative approval. We hope he resists the temptation.
Editorial: https://bit.ly/2u9k7AB
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