It’s the time of year when homeowners are ready to start fixing up their yards, and Colorado residents who want to pour less pollution into the air have new opportunities to receive discounts on electric and battery-powered equipment. Colorado residents this year can receive a 30% discount on electric lawnmowers, leaf blowers, weed trimmers and other equipment through a state rebate program that runs through 2026 at participating retailers. And beginning Saturday, residents in 13 zip codes in Adams and Denver counties can receive a separate $300 voucher for an electric lawnmower when they trad ..read more

Twenty-nine of the more than 2,000 water treatment facilities in Colorado do not meet strict new federal limits on the amount of dangerous “forever chemicals” in their drinking water supplies and it will cost millions to clean those toxins out of the water. The public water systems that do not meet new standards of 4 parts per trillion for the chemicals, which generally are referred to as PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, include the cities of Brighton, Thornton and Keenesburg, as well as water districts in Boulder, Douglas and Jefferson counties, according to a status re ..read more

One of the world’s most intriguing dinosaur trackways, located in Ouray, is now part of the public domain. This week, the U.S. Forest Service bought three mining claims in the San Juan Mountains, totaling about 27 acres, where a sauropod trackway was excavated in recent years. The agency paid $135,000 for the land, known as the West Gold Hill Dinosaur Tracksite, using money from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Sauropods were herbivorous dinosaurs with long-necks like Brontosaurus, for example. Or Little For from “Land Before Time.” Pictured here is an exhibit at the American ..read more

The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized strict limits on certain so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water that will require utilities to reduce them to the lowest level they can be reliably measured. Officials say this will reduce exposure for 100 million people and help prevent thousands of illnesses, including cancers. The rule is the first national drinking water limit on toxic PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, which are widespread and long-lasting in the environment. Health advocates praised the Environmental Protection Agency for not backing away from ..read more

Colorado’s first Buc-ee’s is nothing short of a phenomenon. On March 18, the Texas-born travel center opened one of its largest locations in the nation in Johnstown with a 74,000-square-foot convenience store, 116 gas pumps, and enough beaver nuggets to feed the entire Rocky Mountain region. Hundreds of fans attended its grand opening, some coming from other states just to bask in the red and yellow “aura,” as one fan put it, of mascot Buc-ee beaver. Even in the weeks after, cars full of visitors backed up from the gas station to the highway exit ramp, which sits in a mostly rural section of C ..read more

A wolf killed a calf over the weekend in Jackson County, the second time in less than a week that the death of livestock in Colorado has been attributed to a wolf, wildlife officials confirmed Monday. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Sunday morning responded to a report of possible depredation of a calf after the animal was found dead with a partially consumed hindquarter. In a news release Monday, CPW said that type of injury is consistent with wolf depredation and partial wolf tracks were found in the area. The agency said it knows of four wolves in the area where the calf was found ..read more

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites. Each week, we offer our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems). The first time I ever used trekking poles, they felt cumbersome, clunky and, at times, downright annoying. It was February 2017 and my then-boyfriend (now husband) had convinced me to trade a day riding on the slopes in Telluride for a snowshoeing adventure. I had never snowshoed before and recall feeling like a newborn deer, shakily trying to ..read more

More Colorado River water is used to grow a single crop than for drinking water, business needs and industrial uses combined across the seven-state river basin that’s home to more than 40 million people, a new analysis has found. Water used to grow alfalfa — which is used to feed cattle — makes up more than a quarter of all human usage of the Colorado River, according to the analysis published last week in the academic journal Communications Earth & Environment. The analysts’ work is the most comprehensive accounting of where precious Colorado River water goes as it flows downstream a ..read more

For the first time in more than 40 years, a congressional district in Colorado is without a voice in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1983, a seat sat vacant because Jack Swigert, a former astronaut on the Apollo 13 who was elected the previous November, died of cancer one week before taking office. This time around, it’s because Republican Ken Buck stepped down from Congress late last month — more than nine months before the end of his fifth term representing the 4th Congressional District. Congressional candidate Jack Swigert casts his vote on Nov. 2, 1982. He won the election but died ..read more

More than a decade of advocacy by a broad coalition of Colorado conservationists, ranchers, local governments and recreationists paid off Wednesday when federal officials banned new oil and gas development on 347 square miles of public land for the next 20 years. U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland withdrew a broad swath of Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service land from eligibility for future oil, gas and mineral development. The land makes up the Thompson Divide in central Colorado, and Wednesday’s decision does not affect permits or leases that have already been approved. The decisio ..read more