Colorado
Colorado Sunday | Water’s bad boy
Happy Colorado Sunday, fam.
Sometime back in the middle ‘90s, I had followed entrepreneurial friends to Fort Collins to participate in a full-fledged war among three upstart business publications and was building sources by saying yes to anyone who wanted to share a word about the town, the economy, the community. Accountants. Retailers. Doctors. Realtors. Gary Wockner.
I don’t think Wockner made a business case for protecting the Poudre River that day, but I left our unplanned chat at a coffee shop with clear feelings about how important the ribbon of water running through town was and an invitation to appreciate it, too.
This was before Wockner dug in to fight the massive Glade Reservoir project and rebranded as a river warrior. Before he distributed posters of other defenders standing naked in the river, holding hand-lettered cards over their heads reading “Save the Poudre.”
I changed jobs many times, but wherever I’ve been, Gary Wockner has been a constant character on the environment beat, his defense of the Poudre fiercening over time. This week’s cover story by Jerd Smith gave me a bit more insight into the man who just won’t quit — and the way his work has influenced how we use and regard our rivers.
Meet the water warrior we love to hate
Water agitator Gary Wockner, founder of Save The Poudre and Save the Colorado, is having a bang-up 2025, winning a $100 million settlement from Northern Water in March, and persuading a federal judge in April to stop construction of the partially complete Gross Reservoir Dam project, at least temporarily. Now critical appeals in the case could ultimately lower the amount of water Denver Water, the dam’s owner, will be allowed to divert from the Upper Colorado River system in Grand County.
Wockner is a controversial figure in the water world. He has filed nine major lawsuits against Colorado water projects during his 25-year run as an activist. With this year’s wins, we decided to tell readers a bit more about the man who is loved by fierce river protectors, and who draws few, if any, kind words from the water establishment.
READ THIS WEEK’S COLORADO SUNDAY FEATURE
No need to wait for the Crested Butte Wildflower Festival July 11-20, the viewing season is already in full swing in the Gunnison Valley. Photojournalist Dean Krakel went on a few hikes and returned with some beautiful images and tips for where to find hillsides awash in brilliant pre-peak colors. Drifts of lupine and balsamroot are already blanketing the hillsides of the lower valleys, he said. Red columbine can be found in the shady recesses along the banks of streams and creeks along with wild iris and stands of golden banner. Paintbrush, blue flax and white and lavender phlox carpet the ground alongside many of the lower trails.
Thinking of climbing Longs Peak? Think again.
It was the fall of 2020, and I had survived COVID, so I went looking for the next most dangerous thing I could think of: Climb Longs Peak!
I had been haunted by that prospect since I moved to Colorado and took my car to the emissions testing facility in Fort Collins. I pulled into the bay and there it was, perfectly framed in the doorway: Longs freaking Peak!
It took me a full three years to summon the nerve, the skills, the gear, and oh yeah, the nerve, to tackle Longs. I made it up, and back, so now I’m an expert.
Here’s my step-by-step guide to climbing Longs Peak. Or not.
CHECK OUT PETER MOORE’S TIPS FOR TACKLING COLORADO’S 15TH TALLEST PEAK
“Sonata in Wax” plays haunting piano backdrop to protagonist’s struggles
EXCERPT: A protagonist captivated by a century-old recording drives this debut novel by Edward Hamlin, which explores dual narrative timelines and a theme that hinges on a lie of omission and the consequences of confession. Hamlin, an accomplished musician and composer himself, melded his passion for music with strains of family history to produce this Colorado Book Award finalist for Novel. Remember Chase and Sanborn coffee? Hamlin is the last living descendant from the Sanborn side, Boston social elites who figure into the portion of the story that’s historical fiction.
READ THE SUNLIT EXCERPT
THE SUNLIT INTERVIEW: Hamlin explains how much he enjoyed writing this particular excerpt, which conjures the “ecstatic experience of hearing breathtaking music just when you needed it.” He also tells how the complex plot required some management skills. Here’s a slice of this week’s Q&A:
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Hamlin: Managing the sequence of reveals was challenging, as they crossed a wide cast of characters and a hundred years of plot events. Keeping track of who knew what when literally required a spreadsheet. It was also a challenge to make decisions, both micro and macro, about how to treat the historical figures, especially when they were my own ancestors. It would have been so much easier if I could have just shared a meal with them.
READ THE INTERVIEW WITH EDWARD HAMLIN
LISTEN TO A DAILY SUN-UP PODCAST WITH THE AUTHOR
A curated list of what you may have missed from The Colorado Sun this week.
🌞 Is selling millions of acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western states the solution to the housing crisis in the region? Details are scant, Jason Blevins, reports, but that’s the concept outlined by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who described the properties to be sold as “barren land next to highways with existing billboards that have no recreational value.”
🌞 Young adults just entering the job market face fierce headwinds. Tamara Chung reports on a program aiming to arm new workers with a powerful tool to open doors: social capital.
🌞 Costs to build the controversial 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway have more than doubled since 2020 and backers are looking for $2.4 billion in tax-exempt bonds to cover part of the $3.4 billion tab, Jason Blevins reports. Environmental groups fear that the increased cost of construction will drive more drilling and send more oil tankers rolling on tracks across Colorado.
🌞 U.S. Health and Human Services boss Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used a Wall Street Journal opinion column to fire all 17 members of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, including a Denver doctor. John Ingold landed an interview with Dr. Edwin Asturias, an infectious disease specialist, who worries the mass dismissals will undermine the public trust in decisions that come out of the group in the future. Meanwhile, more cases of measles were reported in Colorado last week.
🌞 In other RFK Jr. news, remarks he made about people with autism have stirred up trouble within a nonprofit organization for people with autism that was started by his cousin Anthony Shriver. Jennifer Brown reports on the way Best Buddies board members in Colorado have responded to the refusal of the national organization to call out how damaging the remarks were.
🌞 There are a dozen new gun laws on the books — officially — in Colorado. Jesse Paul explains a bit about each of them.
🌞 Former U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo was on stage last week for a Back From Broken Event hosted by Vic Vela. Taylor Dolven was there when Caraveo compared her suicidal thoughts during her unsuccessful campaign to keep her seat to drowning, saying she pulled under those who came to rescue. She also advocated for better understanding of depression and anxiety and more awareness to recognize when someone is struggling. And she said she’s well and ready to take on a large group of challengers in the 8th Congressional District Democratic primary next year.
🌞 This week in gray wolf news, Colorado Parks and Wildlife was pretty mum when a Pitkin County rancher told Tracy Ross there is a den with pups uncomfortably close to his cattle. The day after her story published, the agency announced there are indeed pups in at least one of the four den sites biologists are watching, but would not say where.
🌞 While Coloradans continue to debate the wisdom of wolf reintroduction five years after a public authorization vote, bison that reintroduce themselves to the state by walking across the border from Utah just got the backing of Colorado law that makes it illegal to kill them without a hunting license, Michael Booth explains.
When we meet again next week, it will officially be summer and The Sun store has your back, restocked with gear to help keep you wrinkle-free and well hydrated all season long. Check it all out at store.coloradosun.com
— Dana & the whole staff of The Sun
Corrections & Clarifications
Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.
Colorado
Community pushes for answers after Northern Colorado YMCA location announces sudden closure
In Longmont, the local YMCA is closing down at the end of the month for financial reasons, even as residents say it stays busy.
Chris Coker, the CEO for Northern Colorado YMCA, says he can’t afford to keep Longmont’s doors open any longer as it has been losing money for years. However, some visitors shared that they are skeptical — as Coker has been accused of mishandling funds in a past audit. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Just days after the closure was announced this week, the Longmont YMCA was packed. On Wednesday, Linda and Steve Andrews were just arriving for a fitness class for people with Parkinson’s disease.
“Walking really well today, those classes help,” Linda Andrews said to her husband.
Randy Pollard said the class is one of very few of its kind in the area, adding, “I’ve been coming here for so long. This has been home, you know. So we’d really miss it if it closes.”
Another class member, Charlie Corsan, had just learned about the closure and possible end of his class, adding, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Across the parking lot, Danae Higdon was also struggling with the news after she said she taught Zumba at the facility for more than 30 years.
“We were, like, in shock to find out that Feb. 28 is our last day,” Higdon said.
The closure means she will be losing her community and only source of income.
“It’s been very hard because, you know, my class, my class is like family to me. We all get together here, we all laugh and we all share our problems and dance away all our pain, and very soon we’re not going to have this,” Higdon said.
Even though Higdon says the Longmont branch consistently reached membership and fundraising goals, CEO Coker says the Longmont branch has lost $500,000 over the last few years, leading to this month’s closure.
Coker said he’s gotten a lot of hate mail recently and understands that he “could have given more warning” but says he is financially forced to face the “reality of the situation.”
Coker says alongside declining donations and less federal funding, the Longmont YMCA only has 300 full paying members while the rest are on a discounted SilverSneakers insurance program.
When CBS Colorado asked Coker if there were enough visitors, even with a full parking lot during CBS Colorado’s visit, Coker said, “You can have a lot of people in there, but when they’re all paying $4 for a 50,000 square foot plus building, it doesn’t add up financially.”
Coker estimates the organization would need a $250,000 donation for the Longmont location in order to stay open.
In an effort to save the Longmont YMCA, Coker says he’s worked for months to sell it to the city of Longmont and has been working to negotiate a deal. However, the City of Longmont responded to the closure with a statement that they’re considering the project but “…no agreement has been reached, and the city has made no commitments.”
The city of Longmont does not have a clear timeline for when this project could be addressed next.
“Some of these (visitors) have been there for 40 years as members. It’s their family, it’s their friends, it’s their social life, and we’re ripping that away from them. It’s not okay, but it’s the reality of the situation we’re in,” Coker said.
Coker says the Longmont YMCA will look into if they can transfer any classes to other Northern Colorado YMCAs in the next few weeks. Northern Colorado YMCA says they will keep preschool and summer camps open.
Meanwhile, Higdon is holding out hope for a solution, sharing “We are very sad, but … I know we’re going to find a way to keep it going, to keep dancing.”
A lack of ice has canceled this season’s ice racing at Georgetown Lake in Colorado’s mountains. The ice racing season had already been delayed due to unusually warm temperatures and there were only two weekends left for Our Gang Ice Racing, including Feb. 21-22 and Feb. 28-March 1, before those were canceled.
The racing company posted on social media, “This isn’t the way we hoped things would go, and it’s incredibly disappointing for all of us. Ice racing isn’t just about competition — it’s about the friendships, the families, the memories made in the cold, and the community that gathers around it.
“While the ice may not have cooperated this year, the spirit of our racing family is as strong as ever. We’re already looking forward to better conditions and getting back on the ice together next season.”
The ice racing tradition on Georgetown Lake began nearly five decades ago. Typically, there is 17 inches of thick ice over the lake, which allows for dozens of vehicles to hit the frozen lake using four wheel drive combined with some superior driving abilities.
Our Gang Ice Racing is a nonprofit organization.
Colorado is second in the nation for hail insurance claims, and new data shows just how much hail is impacting insurance premiums for homeowners.
The Colorado Division of Insurance calculated average premiums for 11 counties across the state based on data from 20 insurers representing 80% of the market. It found wildfire accounts for between 1% and 25% of premiums while hail accounts for 26% and 54% of premiums, even in areas that don’t see a lot of hail.
The Division of Insurance says insurers are spreading hail risk across the state but only targeting high risk areas when pricing wildfire risk.
Last year, state lawmakers considered a bill that would have assessed a fee on all homeowners policies statewide to fund a grant program for hail-fortified roofs. Coloradans could apply for money to help offset the cost of the roofs. The bill failed.
Lawmakers are now working on a new bill to help bring hail fortified roofs to scale in Colorado, but it’s unclear how they will fund it.
Carole Walker, Executive Director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, says other states have used taxes from premiums but, in Colorado, those taxes go into the general fund, which is already strained, and fees or surcharges will only get passed on to policyholders.
“We all agree that a grant mitigation program for hail impact resistant roofs — get people to get those roofs on, help bring down premiums — but then how do we pay for those grants? That becomes the question that we can’t quite figure out.”
Gov. Jared Polis supported the bill that would have assessed a fee on policyholders but, he says, he’s open to other funding mechanisms too.
“It’s not an entire solution on its own — I’d love to see other pieces to it that can reduce homeowners insurance — but this piece of when somebody’s making the decision about what kind of roof they replace their roof with when it’s damaged? Over the next decade or two we’ve got to get to place — especially in the Front Range — where more people have hail resistant roofs and that will reduce rates for everybody,” Polis said.
According to Insurify, Colorado has the fourth most expensive homeowners’ insurance in the country with an average premium of $6,630. That’s an 11% increase over last year.
The Division of Insurance says hail fortified roofs could save Coloradans between $82 and $387 a year while wildfire mitigation would save between $3 and $25.
The governor’s office and the state’s Division of Insurance released the following data which shows the impact of current hail claims on insurance premiums in Colorado.
More than 5,000 ISIL detainees transferred from Syria, says Iraqi ministry
Second US aircraft carrier is being sent to the Middle East, AP source says, as Iran tensions high
Beloved sandcastle artist booted from California beach by luxury hotel after nearly 20 years
Early missteps, delayed search plane response emerge in Savannah Guthrie’s mother disappearance
Rep. Steve Cohen tells Pam Bondi that ‘worst of the worst’ are native-born Americans, not immigrants
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