1921 Pueblo Flood
The worst flood in the history of Pueblo, and one of the worst in Colorado history, struck on June 3–5, 1921. Between 150 and 250 people died in the deluge along the Arkansas River. The flood caused more than $25 million in damage, leading the entire…
1976 Winter Olympics
416 Fire
Ignited by embers from a coal-fueled passenger train on June 1, 2018, the 416 Fire burned 54,130 acres of the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. By the time it was fully contained on July 31, it had become the sixth-largest wildfire in…
Agricultural Extension Service
Animas River
Arkansas River
Arthur Lakes
Aspen Trees
Avalanche
Beatrice Willard
Dr. Beatrice Willard (1925–2003) was an internationally recognized tundra ecologist who made significant contributions to environmental policy in Colorado and the nation. Her research in the Colorado mountains established her as a well-known ecologist,…
Beaver
Bighorn Sheep
Bison Reintroduction
Black Bear
Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Two thousand feet deep, forty-eight miles long, and two million years old, western Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison is one of the most stunning geologic features in the American West. The fourteen miles along the Gunnison River have been protected…
Black Forest Fire
Boulder Flood of 1894
The 1894 Boulder flood was a natural disaster that reshaped the landscape of Boulder County, wiping out some communities and forcing others to come together to rebuild. Like other extreme weather events, the 1894 deluge played an integral role in the…
Bridger Fire
Browns Canyon National Monument
Bureau of Reclamation in Colorado
The United States Reclamation Service, later renamed the Bureau of Reclamation, was created in 1902 to advance settlement of the West through construction of large dams, reservoirs, canals, and other projects. Since then, the service has played an…
California Gulch Superfund Site
Established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1983, the California Gulch Superfund Site encompasses about eighteen square miles in central Lake County, including the city of Leadville. One of the nation’s first Superfund sites, it was…
Cameron Peak Fire
Cannabis (marijuana)
Chronic Wasting Disease
Clear Creek Canyon
Colorado Climate
Colorado’s combination of high elevation, midlatitude, and continental interior geography results in a cool, dry, and invigorating climate. The average annual temperature for the state is 43.5 degrees Fahrenheit (F), which is 13.7 degrees below the…
Colorado Fisheries
Colorado, home to the headwaters of the Colorado River, the Arkansas River, the Rio Grande, and the South Platte River, offers a diverse palette of fisheries to the angler and nature enthusiast. The most iconic of these fishing opportunities are those…
Colorado Foundation for Water Education
In Colorado, water is a valuable and limited resource, and competition is only becoming more of a challenge. That’s why the Colorado Foundation for Water Education (CFWE), a non-advocacy nonprofit organization, works statewide to promote increased…
Colorado Geology
Colorado Mountain Club
Colorado National Monument
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Colorado River
Colorado River Water Conservation District
The Colorado River Water Conservation District, generally known as “The River District,” is a public agency dedicated to protecting and developing Colorado’s share of the Colorado River.
Origins and Establishment
The River District…
Colorado Water Institute
The Colorado Water Institute (CWI), an affiliate of Colorado State University (CSU) since 1965, exists for the express purpose of focusing the expertise of higher education on evolving water concerns and problems in the Centennial State.
…
Colorado–Big Thompson Project
Colorado’s Great Plains
Colorado’s New Energy Economy
The term New Energy Economy refers to the transition of a state’s energy economy from one based purely on fossil fuels to one that includes a higher percentage of renewable energy sources. State-level energy policies have been the primary force moving…
Conifers
Cottonwood Trees
COVID-19 in Colorado
Delph E. Carpenter
Denver Botanic Gardens
Established in 1951, Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG) has grown from a small group of horticulturally minded citizens into a major civic organization. With a prominent conservatory and core city gardens complemented by a 750-acre suburban campus at Chatfield…
Denver Mountain Parks
Early Firefighting in Denver, 1858–81
When Denver was founded in 1858, the city’s wood-frame buildings and the windy, arid nature of the surrounding plains made fire a constant concern. Despite the threat that fire posed to the budding city, early efforts to form an official fire department…
Early Irrigation in Denver
East Troublesome Fire
Echo Park Dam Controversy
Education at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science
The Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS), previously the Colorado Museum of Natural History, was established in 1900. Although the museum has made many contributions to archaeology and anthropology, it has also played a crucial role in educating…
Edwin Carter
Elk Culling
Culling is a wildlife management practice involving the lethal reduction of a species. It has historically been used as a means to control ungulate (hoofed animal) populations in Colorado and throughout the United States. As recently as 2009, it has been…
Ellis Meredith
Enos Mills
Estella Bergere Leopold
Dr. Estella Leopold is a world-renowned paleobotanist who helped spearhead the 1969 fight to save Florissant Fossil Beds in Florissant, Colorado. She was the recipient of several awards during her career, including Conservationist of the Year (1969) from…
Fishers Peak State Park
Flooding in Colorado
Glaciers
Gold King Mine Spill
Around 10:30 am on August 5, 2015, an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) crew ruptured a plug of rock and soil at the Gold King Mine north of Silverton, releasing an estimated 3 million gallons of contaminated wastewater. This water ran into Cement…
Grand Valley Irrigation
Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve
Gunnison River
Hayman Fire
Begun on June 8, 2002, after a US Forest Service employee started a fire at a campsite, the Hayman Fire is the fourth-largest wildfire in Colorado history. Across a wide swath of foothills between South Park and Colorado Springs, the fire burned nearly…
High Country News
High Park Fire
Ignited by lightning in early June 2012, the High Park Fire became one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in Colorado history, burning 87,415 acres along the Cache la Poudre River in the mountains west of Fort Collins. By the time it was fully…
Horsetooth Reservoir
Irrigation in Colorado
The tension between aridity and irrigated agriculture has been a defining characteristic of Colorado for much of its modern history. On average, the state receives less than fifteen inches of annual precipitation, making it the seventh driest state in…
Jesse Nusbaum
Land and Resource Management in Colorado
Land Use and Bird Life in Colorado
In the early to mid-1800s, when Europeans and Euro-Americans began arriving in what is now Colorado, they encountered a landscape that was significantly different from what we see today. The changes that have occurred to the landscape since then have had…
Last Chance Fire
Lewis B. France
Lewis B. France (1833–1907) was a nationally renowned nature writer in the late 1800s and early 1900s, best known for his works on fly-fishing. France represented an emerging trend in the American West—the melding of natural resource utilization, tourism…
Longs Peak
Magic Mountain Archaeological Site
Mary Cronin
Mary Cronin (1893–1982) was an active member of the Colorado Mountain Club (CMC) and the first woman to summit each of Colorado’s Fourteeners. Today, Cronin is best known for her accomplishments in the backcountry, and the CMC she helped develop…
Missionary Ridge Fire
Moose
Morefield Mound
Morefield Mound sits in the middle of the wide valley at the bottom of Morefield Canyon in Mesa Verde National Park. It served as a water supply for ancient Native Americans a thousand years ago, making it one of the earliest known domestic water-supply…
Mountain Lion
Mountain Pine Beetle
Mule Deer
Pikes Peak
Pine Gulch Fire
Rocky Mountain Elk
Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountains
Roger Wolcott Toll
Sage grouse
Sage grouse are a group of chicken-sized birds with a unique breeding behavior and dependence on sagebrush shrubs (genus Artemisia) for food and shelter throughout their life cycle. In the last century, human population expansion throughout western North…
Sagebrush
San Juan Mountains
San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council
The San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) helps to safeguard over 3.1 million acres of public lands and natural resources in the six counties comprising the San Luis Valley, noted for their unchanged landscapes, biological richness, early settlement…
September 2013 Floods
Snow
South Canyon Fire
South Platte Flood of 1965
The South Platte River flood of June 16, 1965 was one of the worst natural disasters in Denver’s history. It was part of a statewide flooding event that claimed a total of twenty-four lives across the Arkansas and South Platte River basins. The flooding…
South Platte River
Spring Creek Fire
Spring Creek Flood of 1997
State Animal
State Bird
State Fish
State Flower
Sunflowers
Telluride Flood of 1914
On July 27, 1914, Telluride experienced several days of severe flooding following a cloudburst in the mountains above town. Remarkably, the destructive deluge killed only one person, and Telluride made a swift recovery, demonstrating the resilience of…
The Bee Family Farm
The City Beautiful Movement in Denver
The Dust Bowl
Trappers Lake and Flat Tops Wilderness
Tuberculosis in Colorado
Uranium Mining
Uranium mining in Colorado dates to the late nineteenth century, when uranium resources were discovered in the southwestern part of the state. The region’s Uravan Mineral Belt is rich in carnotite, the ore that produces uranium and vanadium. Both…
US Forest Service in Colorado
Waldo Canyon Fire
Water in Colorado
Water Law
Water Resources Archive
Wayne Aspinall
At the memorial service for long-time congressman Wayne Aspinall in 1983, Colorado Governor Richard Lamm said, “you can’t take a drink of water in Colorado without remembering Wayne Aspinall.”
Wayne Norviel Aspinall (1896–1983) was born in Ohio and…
West Fork Complex Fires
Wetlands and Riparian Areas
Wildfire in Colorado
William Jackson Palmer’s Environmental Legacy
General William Jackson Palmer (1836–1909) had a lasting impact on the environment of southern Colorado. Palmer’s initial impact on the Colorado environment resulted from his network of railroads through his Denver & Rio Grande Railroad Company. This…
Wolves in Colorado
Yampa River
“Great American Desert”
Early nineteenth century Army explorers Zebulon Pike and Stephen H. Long conceptualized the Great Plains east of the Rocky Mountains as the “Great American Desert.” Long’s report called it “unfit for cultivation,” while Pike compared it to “the sandy…