Colorado
It may take decades to close all the abandoned gold rush mines.
Mere feet from a prospect pit where miners dug for gold in the second half of the 19th century, bikers whizzed by on the Maryland Mountain trail system west of Denver.
“This one is 15-to-16-feet deep with vertical walls. You wouldn’t have an easy time getting out of it,” said Jeremy Reineke, a project manager with the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety. “You can see how close it is to the trail if a biker decided to take off and miss a corner or decide to go off trail, you could get on this really fast.”
Reineke oversees the closure of mines and prospect pits like this one near Central City, Colorado. The town was situated on what was once considered the richest square mile on Earth because of the gold mining that was a boon to the region’s economy. At that time, the digging involved shovels, picks and mules. And after that hard labor, sometimes there wasn’t enough ore to move forward.
Reineke said there are “thousands and thousands” of unmapped prospect pits.
Soon, the prospect pit near the bike trail will be covered by a metal grate so trailgoers don’t fall in.
It’s critical public safety work, especially as hiking and bike paths are created in former mining areas, said Jeff Graves, director of the state’s Inactive Mine Reclamation Program.
“There have been instances of fatalities in Colorado associated with folks in abandoned mines,” Graves said. “A child fell into a mine shaft just outside of Central City. And so that prioritized a lot of the work here within Gilpin County.”
That was in 1989.
But in a state where mining was fundamental to its early economy, the quiet work of closing up these mines will likely go on for decades.
Around 13,500 mine features have been closed so far, including shafts, adits, stopes, pits, highwalls and hazardous facilities, according to Graves. The state has the capacity to safeguard about 300 each year.
“Maybe we’re halfway through the total, hopefully,” he said. “But likely, we still have at least that many more within the state that need some type of physical safety, closure constructed on them.”
The program addresses hazards that predate Colorado statehood. “Without the mining, Gilpin County would not exist. Probably Colorado as we know it would not exist,” said David Forsyth, director of the Gilpin Historical Society.
He said it’s hard to overstate the importance of mining to the area.
“It was really [miner] John Gregory’s discovery of lode gold up here in May of 1859 that kind of made Colorado’s gold rush permanent,” Forsyth said.
He said news of that discovery drew thousands of miners within weeks.
“The country was still really recovering from the Panic of 1857,” Forsyth said. “And so, a lot of people were still really hurting financially. And easy gold, ‘Hey, I can go out to Gregory Diggings in Colorado and get rich.’”
Few actually made it rich — but the mining did provide jobs.
Forsyth said miners earned around $2 to $3 per day, and houses, stores, schools and theaters were built as the mines operated. But by the early 20th century, mining activity had slowed significantly and halted during World War I and World War II.
“It was not a wartime necessity, and it never really came back after that,” Forsyth said. “A lot of people who had mines up here just parked their equipment inside, shut the door, said, ‘We’ll be back when the war is over.’ And then they weren’t.”
Until folks from the Inactive Mine Reclamation Program came around many decades later — in some cases welding mines closed with old equipment still inside.
“It’s reminiscent of what the miners are doing to some extent, trying to find that original gold,” Graves said. “We’re trying to find what they were looking for and what they caused, what they left in their wake.”
The lack of regulation at the time allowed these mines to be abandoned — and not just in Colorado.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates there are some 140,000 known abandoned hard-rock mining features on federal lands, and hundreds of thousands more may be unaccounted for.
Graves said Colorado’s program benefits from both state and federal funds. Additional money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will help by freeing up state funds previously used for coal mines.
Even so, Graves said, efforts to close abandoned hard-rock mines are “certainly underfunded.”
“When you look at the magnitude of the problem, even in Colorado it would take us decades to address [it] at the current funding rates,” he said.
It looks like state governments, as well as the feds, will be paying to clean up after the 19th century gold diggers well into the 21st century.
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The Colorado State Patrol is investigating a crash east of Boulder that injured a pedestrian on Saturday afternoon.
According to CSP, a Mercury Mountaineer SUV broke down in the center lane of westbound Highway 36 near milepost 41 around 3:45 p.m. Pedestrians on both shoulders began walking toward the vehicle. That’s when CSP says a Honda CR-V traveling west on the highway attempted to avoid the Mountaineer and lost control. The CR-V swerved into the inside shoulder and struck a male pedestrian.
Authorities say the man was taken to an area hospital for treatment, but the severity of his injuries is not yet known.
CSP temporarily closed Highway 36 westbound and diverted traffic to McCaslin Boulevard while they worked to investigate the scene. The Colorado Department of Transportation announced that the roadway reopened around 7 p.m.
Investigators asked anyone who witnessed the crash and has not yet spoken to them to contact (303) 239-4501 and reference case number 1D262443.
Colorado
What’s really killing a lot of cattle in Colorado? Hint: wolves aren’t the culprit (Opinion)
The livestock industry has been running a smear campaign against wolves for years.
It intensified when the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association joined forces with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association’s electioneering arm, and the Colorado Woolgrowers’ Association to oppose Proposition 114 — a 2020 citizens’ ballot initiative requiring Colorado to reintroduce wolves to the western part of the state.
Fearmongering was a big part of the campaign to prevent the restoration of wolves to their native Colorado habitats: The hunting groups peddled the narrative that wolves would kill all the elk. The ranching interests claimed that wolves would drive cattle and sheep operations out of business.
Notably, neither outcome has materialized since the 1995 wolf reintroductions in Yellowstone and Idaho, and indeed elk populations and cattle and sheep ranches there remain abundant three decades after wolves returned. In 2020, the Stop the Wolf Coalition lost the election, 51% to 49%. But the hysteria over livestock losses from wolves was only beginning.
So it makes sense to put these fears, and the livestock industry messaging that amplifies them, into perspective.
Weather events can kill a lot of cattle. In 2007, a single blizzard caused an estimated 15,000 cattle deaths in Colorado, according to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. In 2024, a single lightning strike knocked 100 cattle off their feet, killing 32 of them as well as a rancher, who was engaged in branding the calves. That’s more than Colorado wolves have killed in an entire year. The weather slaughters far more livestock than predators in the state.
Then there is cattle rustling. In late 2025, 23 cattle disappeared in a single incident on the High Plains of northeastern Colorado, and law enforcement characterized the incident as unlikely to be random chance and likely meant they had been stolen. In 2024, 187 cattle went missing on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Western Colorado. Fifteen of them eventually turned up, demonstrating that missing cattle are sometimes simply lost by inattentive ranchers. The Colorado brand inspector estimated in mid-December of that year that about 500 cattle were expected to be reported missing for the year in the state.
Mystery deaths and sickness also plague Colorado’s cattle herd. In May of 2025, 15 cattle in south-central Colorado keeled over from brain swelling and seizures in a single day. Was it eating poisonous plants? An abandoned oil well on the property? Water contamination? While some sort of toxin was suspected, there have been no definitive answers. A 2010 USDA report calculated that 38.9% of all cattle lost in 2007 died from sickness, injury, or poisoning. Only 0.1% of the losses were attributable to predators of any kind.
In Colorado, the number of cattle killed in slaughterhouses in 2025 was 2,269,600, according to the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter Report. The number of calves slaughtered in the state was “[w]ithheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations,” but would presumably add to that total.
The most important predator of cattle in Colorado, by a vast margin, was humans. Specifically, the livestock industry has raised such a hue and cry over a comparatively tiny number of wolf-caused mortalities. We have met the enemy (of cattle, at least), and he is us.
It’s hard to tell how many cattle and sheep have been killed by wolves, because Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Confirmed Depredation Reports lump together livestock that are killed with livestock that are injured, but recover.
There were 13 cattle killed or injured by wolves in the two years prior to the wolf reintroduction, or an average of 6.5 cattle per year. In the slightly more than three years since reintroduction, there have been 44 cattle killed or injured by wolves, 37 sheep and one llama. That’s an average of 15 cattle and 12 sheep confirmed killed or injured per year.
The fraction of Colorado’s livestock losses attributable to wolves is minuscule, and some of the state’s news outlets are starting to get it. The general public, and lawmakers in particular, need to be aware of the tiny proportion of Colorado’s 2.6 million cattle that are falling prey to wolves, and we can all rest easy in the knowledge that when a livestock loss is reported, and wolves are suspected, there is a full investigation.
And when a wolf kill is confirmed, the rancher in question gets a payment from the state that not only covers his losses, but might also cover up to seven times the value of the animal(s). That’s an excessive level of generosity, which creates a perverse incentive to blame wolves.
But when ranchers are getting paid – in fact, paid far more than the fair-market value they deserve – when beef is what’s for dinner for one of Colorado’s new population of wolves, who really cares whether the diner is wildlife or human?
Erik Molvar is a wildlife biologist and the executive director of Western Watersheds Project, a nonprofit conservation group working to reduce the harmful effects of livestock grazing on public lands to protect and restore wildlife and watersheds throughout the American West.
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There are lots of cities and towns in the Denver area that are hosting professional fireworks shows on the Fourth of July this year.
Here are the shows taking place on July 4 in the Denver metro area:
Arvada
The City of Arvada’s annual fireworks display is scheduled to take place at Stenger Soccer Complex.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Stenger Soccer Complex
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Aurora
The “4th of July Spectacular” takes place at the Aurora Municipal Center, located at 15151 E. Alameda Parkway.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Aurora Municipal Center
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Brighton
Brighton’s Fourth of July festival takes place in Carmichael Park at 650 East Southern Street. Fireworks will be set off after the band Thumpin’ performs.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: After concert
Location: Carmichael Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Broomfield
Broomfield’s Great American Picnic takes place at Broomfield County Commons Park, which is located at 13200 Sheridan Boulevard.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15
Location: Broomfield County Commons Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Castle Rock
The Town of Castle Rock is planning to launch their Independence Day fireworks display from Miller’s Landing. The town is hosting a Independence Day Celebration at Festival Park, and the fireworks can be viewed from there, or several other locations in town.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Former Acme Brick facility
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Commerce City
Fireworks will be set off outside Dick’s Sporting Goods Park as part of Commerce City’s 4thFEST celebration. They will be launched after the third of three rugby matches in the stadium.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: At the conclusion of the World Rugby Nations Cup
Location: Outside DICK’s Sporting Goods Park
Admission: 4thFEST is free, paid tickets required to see the rugby games
Link: More Info
Denver – Colorado Rockies games
Fans attending the July 4 Colorado Rockies home game at Coors Field will be treated to fireworks at the conclusion of the baseball game. There will also be fireworks for the game the night before — July 3.
Date: July 3 & 4 (against the San Francisco Giants)
Time: The fireworks are usually launched 20 to 30 minutes after the final out.
Location: Coors Field
Admission: Tickets required
Link: More Info
Englewood
In addition to all of its residents, the city of Englewood invites residents of Littleton, Sheridan, Arapahoe County and the South Suburban Parks & Recreation to their Independence Day Celebration.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: Cornerstone Park and Belleview Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Lone Tree
Lone Tree’s city fireworks display will be launched from Prairie Sky Park, and they’ll be viewable from many different locations in the city.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Prairie Sky Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Longmont
You can watch a fireworks show in Longmont at 9:30 p.m. There will also be a drone show right before then.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Fireworks can be viewed “from many vantage points across the city.”
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Louisville
The city of Louisville launches their annual fireworks show from Coal Creek Golf Course.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Coal Creek Golf Course
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Northglenn
Fireworks are part of the July 4th Festival in Northglenn at E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:15 p.m.
Location: E.B. Rains Jr. Memorial Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Parker
Fireworks on July Fourth will be visible from many parts of the town of Parker.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Fireworks launch northeast of Salisbury Park, although town officials encourage watching the fireworks from other areas, too
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
Thornton
Thornton’s fireworks display is called “Red, White & BOOM!” Fantabulous Fireworks.
Date: Saturday, July 4
Time: 9:30 p.m.
Location: Carpenter Park Fields
Admission: Free
Link:
More Info
Westminster
Date: Saturday, July 4
Location: Westminster City Park
Admission: Free
Link: More Info
There are other fireworks displays taking place in the Denver area on days other than July 4, including Lafayette (June 27), Glendale (June 2), Erie (July 3) and Littleton (July 3).
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