Post Premium: Our best stories for the week of Sept. 16-22

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If the sight of thousands marching on Denver’s Capitol on Friday to spur action on climate change told us anything, it’s that more and more people are looking for tangible ways to make a difference when it comes to fighting for the future of our planet.

In today’s Denver Post, environmental reporter Bruce Finley takes a look at the work of volunteers in western Colorado who are doing their part by moving one large rock at a time. These crews are building — by hand — so-called “one-rock dams,” small structures designed to slow the erosion that’s accelerating under the state’s climate shift toward hotter temperatures, less snow and hard rain that depletes soil.

It’s small-scale work, yet it’s making a difference. U.S. Forest Service biologist Matt Vasquez says: “Incrementally, these add up to slowing down water, stopping the erosion, healing these meadows.”

— Matt Sebastian, Denver Post enterprise editor

Moving rocks by hand, Colorado volunteers strengthen eroding landscapes to help withstand climate change

Volunteers, Jacob Scott and Sara Hatch, ... — Nina Riggio, Special to the Denver Post
Volunteers Jacob Scott and Sara Hatch move a big rock to help armor the sides of a stream bed on Sept. 14, 2019, on Black Sage Pass. Volunteers move rocks in different ways, like a game of Tetris, in order to slow down and spread out the flow of water.

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Five of The Denver Post’s best stories this week

Developers seeking water for booming Front Range look to the San Luis Valley, where farmers already face well shut-offs

HOOPER, CO - April 30: Farm ... — Farmland and silos cover much of the San Luis Valley, pictured near Hooper on March 30, 2017. (Photo by Joe Amon/The Denver Post, file)

An intensifying water battle in the San Luis Valley reflects the rising tensions and inequities across the arid western United States, where water and control over water looms as a primary factor of power, Bruce Finley reports. Thirsty Castle Rock, Parker, Castle Pines and other south metro Denver suburbs, where household incomes top $110,000 and development has depleted the groundwater, can marshal assets that dwarf those of farmers in the San Luis Valley, where families’ average income is less than $35,000.

�鷡��շ��:��West wrestles with Colorado River “grand bargain” as changing climate depletes water governed by 1922 compact

Climate strike in Colorado: Students march in Denver, across state in fight to sustain planet��ap future

Protesters are heading to the Colorado ... — Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post
Protesters head to the Colorado Capitol for a Global Climate Strike rally from Union Station on Friday morning, Sept. 20, 2019. Dozens of youth-led rallies took place across Colorado, and more throughout the country and around the world, beginning Friday and stretching into next week.

Colorado students walked out of their classrooms as part of a global movement to bring attention to the need for action on climate change, Elizabeth Hernandez and James Burky report. They were joined by supportive adults, environmental organizations, parents, families and the scorching September sun that reminded them why they were there.

��岹��’s Global Climate Strike inspired dozens of youth-led movements to spring up across the state from Salida to Colorado Springs to Breckenridge. The Colorado protests joined others across the country and the globe intended to raise awareness about sustaining the future of the planet.

PHOTOS: Student-led Global Climate Strike marches through Denver

“We have failed you”: CSU’s new president announces plan to address racism on campus in wake of blackface controversy

This photo showing four Colorado State University freshmen posing in blackface circulated on Twitter, Facebook and other social media, fueling outrage on the Fort Collins campus.

Colorado State University has had a turbulent start to the fall semester, the opening of Joyce McConnell’s first academic year at the helm of the Fort Collins campus. It began when this photo spread over social media like wildfire, Elizabeth Hernandez reports.

After back-to-back homicide and shooting on same Denver block, neighbors reckon with 24 hours of violence

Elise Schmelzer, The Denver Post
Neighbors, community organizers and police hold hands for a prayer Sept. 18, 2019 on Lackland Place in Denver. The group gathered to discuss a shooting and a homicide that occurred in a 24-hour period on their block in Montbello.

Neighbors, community organizers and police gathered Wednesday night on Lackland Place to discuss the recent violence and vent their frustrations. Some residents were angry at the police — for not patrolling the street often, not coming fast enough when called, or not coming at all. Other longtime residents said they were looking to move. They didn’t feel safe there anymore, Elise Schmelzer reports.

Chile season is about to peak. So why isn’t Colorado hot for our native pepper?

RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post
Pueblo Chiles are roasted at Milberger Farm on Sept. 12 in Pueblo.

Dozens of farmers around Pueblo are harvesting late-season red peppers, roasting them at roadside stands and filling the air with pungent smoke before packing chiles up in knotted bags for travelers, freezing them for later or shipping to grocery stores and restaurants, Josie Sexton reports.

But just 100 miles north, in Denver, you’ll find only scattered traces of all the Colorado chile excitement.

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