DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Youth Outdoors said it has been donated 131 acres of land near its existing facilities in northeast Colorado.

The nonprofit youth organization said Tuesday that the plan is to put the land — which was donated by Chevron — into a conservation easement with the help of Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust.

The donated land is located east of US Highway 85 and Weld County Road 114 near the town of Nunn, according to CYO, which said the property will allow it to “further its mission of building adult and child relationships through outdoor recreation.”

CYO said placing the land in a conservation easement, meanwhile, will make sure that it remains both undeveloped and conserved “into perpetuity.”

“This new property will allow CYO’s mission and vision to reach many more Colorado families,” the organization said in a news release.

CYO said the land donation was part of Chevron’s “Comprehensive Wildlife Plan.”

A multi-million dollar aerospace company in Northern Colorado, which helps design rocket engines for the military, is expanding its operation in Weld County. Ursa Major, currently located in Berthoud, recently announced they were building a rocket testing pad in Weld County near Briggsdale.

“It is a fascinating process,” said Chris Engdahl, chief safety and risk officer for Ursa Major. “Ursa Major is, I think, the next great aerospace and defense company. And it is right here in Berthoud, Colorado.”

The current rocket testing location is just off Interstate 25. The campus looks like a set of normal office and warehouse structures in the middle of an otherwise empty field, neighbored by a couple of dozen homes from a community nearby. In the field is a stack of cement blocks that surrounds the test location for the rocket motors Ursa Major ultimately sells to companies and even the U.S. military.

“There is nowhere else like it, where we are co-located with build and testing, throughout the day, you can hear rocket engines going off in the background and motors being tested, it is really incredible,” said Bill Murray, cofounder and VP of products and engineering.

CBS News Colorado was taken on a tour of the current facility in Berthoud, but was not permitted to record video of the assembly or testing process. Ursa Major provided a sample video of what tests of their rocket engines look like.

“We have booked over $100 million in contracts this year and we are growing rapidly,” Murray said.

Murray said the company is growing so quickly that they are looking to hire more Coloradans from universities like Colorado State University and the University of Colorado as they prepare to expand their staff and property.

“We just expanded in Briggsdale, Colorado, with a new 400-acre test site to test large rocket motors,” Murray said.

“Think of all the missile systems the Army, the Navy, Marine Corps, the Air Force use. We are the provider for the engines of those technologies,” Engdahl said.

Not only are the rocket engines being developed in Northern Colorado used by the military, but they are also being used by the private sector.

“Our liquid rocket engines are being used on recurring hypersonic test flights,” Murray said.

“I think the whole state of Colorado is very keen on being a leader in aerospace defense,” Engdahl said.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – There will soon be a new resource for men battling addiction and homelessness in the Pikes Peak region. STEP Springs is set to open at its new Colorado Springs facility on Tuesday.

This program is a new branch of one already established in Denver, and many of the employees in the Springs said they have gone through it themselves.

Andre Podpolucha is acting as the director of operations for the facility, and he, himself, said he got help from the program in Denver.

“Prior to all this, I was living under a bridge in Englewood. I was homeless for about a year and a half. And I burnt every bridge that I had,” Podpolucha said, “so I had nowhere else to turn.”

When Podpolucha first arrived to STEP, he said he was worried he was going to have the same experience he did at 18 other programs he used to try and get clean, but he said he was pleasantly surprised.

“They’re treating me like I’m a human,” Podpolucha said.

Through the program, which has been in Denver for 42 years, many of the men leaving the facility find lasting sobriety and full-time, tax-paying jobs.

Podpolucha said some, like himself, are even able to rebuild relationships that were once lost.

“All the family that didn’t want to talk to me or didn’t want a relationship because of my actions,” Podpolucha said, “they all wanted a relationship with me.”

City officials recently said nearly 600 more people are homeless in Colorado Springs in 2025 compared to 2024.

Executive Director Meghan Shay told 11 News she hopes to help those numbers go down.

“For years, we’ve been hearing from the leaders of the community, various private foundations, the mayor and other elected officials, that there is a substantial need for a step program in Colorado Springs,” Shay said.

Men who are seeking recovery can apply and be admitted into the program the same day they walk in. For more information, click here.

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