Re: “Let’s bring data centers to state on our terms,” May 8 commentary

Since Bill Owens favors the building of data centers in Colorado, be sure to place one near his home. Any portion of the increase in my monthly bills assessed on the electric or water side may be charged to him as well.

Jobs? Ha! Not once they’re built. Also, instead of listening to crickets on warm summer nights and chirping birds in the morning, residents with properties nearby can hear the hum from the data center. Sounds lovely, doesn’t it?

I won’t take up more newsprint at this time to discuss the dangers of AI. Needless to say, there’s no room or resources for data centers in my Colorado.

— Mariann Storck, Wheat Ridge

Congress needs to pass a ‘moral budget’ that ‘promotes the general Welfare’

Re: “House advances $390B farm bill,” May 1 news story

As Congress develops a budget for the next fiscal year, I am very concerned about lawmakers’ priorities.

In a country as rich as ours, we should not have people needing assistance in buying food, many millions needing access to health insurance, and a housing assistance program that only reaches of those who are qualified.

At the same time, the “” passed by Congress last July provides for millions in tax cuts to billionaires.

This is not a moral budget. Congress needs to make reducing poverty a high priority. The preamble to the Constitution says that one of the purposes of our government is to “promote the general Welfare.” We must demand a more moral and responsible federal budget from our representatives in Congress.

Congress dismantled the nation’s most effective protection against hunger while providing tax cuts to wealthy Americans and corporations. Congress must repeal these devastating cuts to SNAP or delay them for all states, not just a few. We must urge Congress to repeal or delay the state cost-sharing policy from H.R. 1 in any farm-related bill this year. We can start by asking Sen. Michael Bennet and Sen. John Hickenlooper to delay cuts to SNAP benefits in the 2026 Farm Bill.

— Martha J. Karnopp, Aurora

Extending child care credit is good for business

Running a small business and raising children is all the more complicated when navigating a broken child care system. My productivity and budget have been hampered by strict cutoffs and lengthy waitlists. As a small business owner, I can’t grow my business and provide for my family without affordable care options.

That¶¶Òőap why I support to extend the Child Care Continuation Tax Credit for 10 years and generate $60 million annually for child care providers across the state. Without this tax credit, it would be even more difficult for child care providers to serve their communities.

Child care is an absolute necessity for working parents and a key player in Colorado’s small business landscape. I urge Colorado policymakers to extend the tax credits that make child care accessible and affordable for small business owners like myself.

— Samantha Allbritton, Centennial

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Re: “Vet found stability building home; now city wants land,” May 3 news story, and “Denver Water to drain Antero Reservoir,” April 21 news story

Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman can’t feel good that his city is about to ruin the life of Josh Kimbrough, who suffered brain injuries and trauma during his Army deployment. But he now needs to step up and change the narrative.

To help heal, Josh needs peace of mind, and he’s found it on the land he purchased in South Park, where he’s built a cabin for his family of four. But Aurora needs water, and has targeted his land for a large new reservoir. The city initially had another site, but believed this one is better because it will have one, not three, dams and be easier to operate.

Not good enough, Mr. Mayor. Better to incur a little more financial pain and spread it among all your water customers than stay the course and focus immeasurable physical pain and mental anguish on an injured veteran you would normally step up to protect.

Jeffrey Stroh, Denver

Aurora proposes flooding a large area of South Park for its planned Wild Horse Reservoir, while Denver Water drains Antero Reservoir because it does not have enough water in its system to keep it full during this drought.

Take a look at a map of South Park. The planned Wild Horse Reservoir is within spitting distance of Antero. The irony is delicious while also sad. I know Denver and Aurora have different water agencies, rights and responsibilities. Couldn’t something be negotiated so that yet another parcel of wonderful Colorado landscape is not inundated with water that might soon not be flowing if this drought continues?

I am not an expert on water law and the like, nor am I a fan of AI. But it couldn’t hurt Denver and Aurora to just ask their respective AIs: “Isn’t there an alternative to more dams and flooding in South Park?” Just ask for alternatives, please.

Martin Linnet, Golden

So let me get this straight. Aurora Water wants to spend $1 billion to create a new large, shallow reservoir — just a few miles as the crow flies — from Antero Reservoir, another large, shallow reservoir that is about to be drained, to avoid the massive evaporation that occurs with large, shallow reservoirs. This proposal seems laughable and lacking anything resembling science or research.

Wouldn’t it be more effective if Aurora eliminated all of the thirsty grasses and lawn areas that are merely ornamental? We need parks and similar shared recreation areas with grass, but I’ve seen plenty of subdivisions with lush grassy areas (like those between streets and sidewalks) that serve only an aesthetic purpose.

Randy Thompson, Salida

Did the Supreme Court decision gut the Voting Rights Act?

Re: “SCOTUS just neutered the Voting Rights Act,” May 3 commentary

Americans don’t like gerrymandering. Period. Irrespective of whether it’s a racial or political rationale.

Sunday’s opinion piece from Noah Feldman on the Supreme Court’s recent decision regarding Louisiana v. Callais, while predictably liberal, is surprisingly loud and histrionic given his usual pragmatism. While he probably didn’t write the headline, the decision hardly “neuters” the Voters Rights Act from 1965. Nor does it “gut” it, as Chuck Schumer babbled after the 2013 SCOTUS ruling on Shelby County v. Holder. Feldman claims the ruling serves to “eliminate Black Democratic members of Congress.” It does no such thing.

Since Shelby, both houses of Congress, mirroring the rest of society, have become far more racially mixed, with about versus only 45 in the 2011-13.

The VRA was neither neutered nor gutted. Nor were Black members “eliminated.” Rather, Black representation ballooned.

The recent decision merely reaffirms and restates that carving up districts based on race is illegal. Jim Crow died a too slow death, but most assuredly remains deceased today.

Employing the “the sky is falling” strategy when making an argument doesn’t make it more credible. It merely signals resignation.

Jon Pitt, Golden

I read with great interest Noah Feldman’s column in the Perspective section. He echoed every point I have been thinking about this with this new 6-3 conservative Supreme Court.

First, they started with overturning Roe vs. Wade after all three new justices agreed during their confirmation hearings that it was settled law. Then they gutted the Voting Rights Act, which was one of the cornerstones of our democracy.

We are returning to the Jim Crow era in this country as the rest of the democracies around the world continue moving forward, and we continue moving backward.

Shame on the Supreme Court. It is no wonder their approval ratings are at an all-time low.

It is a sad day for our country and one more step towards Christian Nationalism. Hungary sent the world a message, but apparently our country wasn’t listening.

David Shaw, Highlands Ranch

CHSAA needs to address youth sports loophole

Re: “CHSAA cracks down on high school recruiting,” May 3 editorial

I have coached youth football for 25 seasons and have witnessed multiple high school coaches directly ask middle school-aged players to “come play for them.” When I step in to protect my player, I’m often asked: “Why do you care?” My response is that it’s the student who usually pays the price for recruiting violations.

I agree that these two rule modifications are a good first step. But the middle school issue isn’t so cut and dry. When teams age out of youth football (8th grade), it’s the parents who start the conversation about which school their son should attend. They weigh factors like team success, playing time, the possibility of making varsity, the position they are likely to play, and whether the school will prepare them for college football.

As I understand the rules, an incoming freshman is not subject to “athletically motivated transfers.” High school coaches are aware of this and do what they can to try to influence students to attend their school. They do this through camps and by being involved in youth sports, either directly or by hiring youth coaches as assistants.

In the winter after his 8th-grade season, my nephew was invited to play for a “Colorado All-Star” team in a tournament where coaches from four different high schools were on staff. I witnessed two of them tell my nephew to come to their school, saying, “I have a spot for you.”

It used to be that high school coaches were prohibited from coaching youth sports. CHSAA should close this loophole by either reinstating the youth sports prohibition or acknowledging that they are OK with it.

Larry A Gombos, Littleton

Insurance companies could serve us better by cutting advertising

Every year, the top insurance companies spend billions on advertising and marketing. For example, , Progressive spent nearly $3.5B, State Farm $1.11B, Geico nearly $1.4B, and Allstate $1.87B. That¶¶Òőap nearly $7.8 billion, not counting Liberty Mutual, USAA, Farmers, American Family, Nationwide, Travelers and others?

With global warming, devastating fires are burning up our forests, farmlands, the plains, and even parts of cities. In December 2021, the devastated Boulder County, laying waste to more than 6,000 acres and incinerating more than 1,000 homes and seven commercial buildings at a projected cost of $1 billion, making it Colorado’s most destructive fire in terms of property loss.

If the insurance companies used just 1% to buy firefighting aircraft instead of making millionaire celebrities even richer, how many planes could be bought to protect our homes? How many homes could have been saved, thus saving the insurance company millions? More planes in the air, less destruction, and the insurance companies save money. They could then pass the savings on to you.

Imagine seeing a plane flying over to save you and your loved one’s property with the logo of the insurance company on the side. Would you switch to that company? I would!

Randy Moyle, Westminster

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The festival is the largest annual celebration of Asian and Asian American heritage in Colorado, according to the nonprofit group that runs it, as well as the largest Dragon Boat Festival in the U.S. Around 200,000 people attended in 2025.

But organizers were forced to move it back from its traditional late-July weekend to September last year due to safety and health issues raised by Denver Parks & Recreation, which manages the lake and surrounding park. Those concerns included dead fish, increasingly warm and shallow water, blue algae blooms, and a lack of filtration from untreated runoff pouring into the 177-acre lake.

A year earlier, the lake experienced a mass die-off of fish, with an estimated 5,000 going belly-up and washing ashore, according to the city. Algae growth encouraged by warm weather and low water levels drains the lake of oxygen, and its shallowness prevents cold, safe pockets for marine life to shelter during high-temperature days in the summer.

Sara Moore, executive director of the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival, told The Denver Post that she was notified earlier this year that parks officials “are doing everything within their power to ensure the health of the lake.”

This year, the festival will take place Aug. 29-30, at the park, which is located east of Sheridan Boulevard and north of 17th Avenue. Registration for racers is open now at . This year marks the festival’s 26th incarnation.

From a water quality standpoint, Sloan’s Lake is currently in good condition with no signs of blue-green algae blooms, according to Denver Parks & Recreation. Still, it’s closed to other events this summer, and won’t be open to event permits until the first weekend of September — or just after the Colorado Dragon Boat Festival.

“The primary challenge we’ve seen recently is reduced water inflow caused by ongoing drought, which has lowered water levels and could create future water quality concerns if conditions don’t improve,” said Stephanie Figueroa of Denver Parks & Recreation. “This week’s precipitation will provide some short-term relief.”

The parks department plans to work on phosphorus mitigation in advance of the festival to reduce the nutrients available to the oxygen-sucking algae, she added.

Without consistent spring and summer precipitation, however, the lake will return to its same sorry state in the coming weeks, said Kurt Weaver, executive director of the Sloan’s Lake Park Foundation. “The drought situation already has it at its lowest water level in a while. It’s going to lack the oxygen and nutrients it needs, and we’ll see more fish kills and more problems.”

He believes the lake needs to be drained and dredged to increase depth and water quality, as well as adding filtration to the water that flows into the lake from various cities and districts.

Those range from Lakewood and Wheat Ridge to unincorporated Jefferson County — all of which need to approve the rehab project due to their individual rights to the water, Weaver said. His organization is working with all of them, as well as the city of Denver, to negotiate terms of the upgrades.

The Colorado Dragon Boat Race last year featured 41 teams navigating the lake’s course in elaborate, colorful boats. The designs and culture of Dragon Boat races have roots stretching back thousands of years to China’s Duanwu Festival, “which remains a traditional holiday in mainland China and Taiwan,” organizers wrote online. “Today, it has spread all over the globe.”

As the third most-visited park in the city’s system (behind City Park and Washington Park), Denver Parks & Recreation does a great job of keeping Sloan’s Lake’s grass and other features tended, Weaver said. But with an average depth of 3.5 feet, along with steadily rising sediment, the lake itself is in terrible health. So much so that the dragon boats may start scraping the bottom of Sloan’s Lake in the next couple of years.

That would be a shame, Moore said, since the Dragon Boat Festival and its race typically joined by dozens of vendors, more than 50 cultural performances, food, drink activities, and more.

The organization also helms the Dragon Boat Film Festival alongside Denver Film, which hosts screenings at its Sie FilmCenter. The event on March 22.

“We’re building our coalition and the city is helping with planning, so we’re excited to get that going,” Weaver said. “We’ll also have two cleanups a month now through November, which will help improve the park.”

Volunteers can sign up for cleanup days at , Weaver said.

Low snow in the Colorado mountains during the exceptionally warm winter has led to below-average flows in the streams and rivers that supply metro Denver – around 18% of the norm this week in the Colorado River Basin and 2% of the norm in the South Platte River Basin, according to measurements.

“The precipitation amounts, especially across metro Denver, are not that impressive. It really didn’t do much at all to put a dent in the drought. We would need a prolonged period of well-above-average precipitation to have relief,” meteorologist Zach Hiris said. “We’ve got way too much ground to make up before we start thinking about relief or lifting those water restrictions.”

Even with the quarter-inch of rain that fell on metro Denver since Sunday, Denver Water reservoirs remained mostly less than 80% full. Denver Water officials have imposed two-day-a-week yard watering restrictions for the 1.5 million residents it supplies in Denver and surrounding suburbs in an effort to reduce use by 20% — necessary to avoid more severe restrictions this summer.

“We implemented drought restrictions because we needed to, and it is incredibly unlikely we will be able to lift them at any point this year,” Denver Water’s supply manager Nathan Elder said Friday. “We’re not on the edge of drought where a couple of storms can pull us out.

“The damage to our water resources has already been done,” he said. “Rain helps, of course, as the more it rains, the less people water, and rain helps keep our reservoirs from getting lower. Unfortunately, rain does not add significant amounts of water to reservoirs in the same way snowmelt runoff does.”

And , with its storage reservoirs 57% full, will continue to direct the city’s six “water monitor” officers to enforce their mandatory two-day-a-week restrictions. They’ve issued many warnings so far, Aurora Water spokeswoman Kirby Shedlowski said. “It¶¶Òőap in the hundreds.” Tickets for households that repeatedly violate the rule range from $125 up to $500.

“Our water comes from snowpack and the snowpack melting out of those mountains. The snowpack is so low this year that we just aren’t seeing the same water yields that we used to,” Shedlowski said. “We may be getting some rain down here. That helps with putting moisture into the soil. We would need to see a significant amount of rain to see any changes in water storage.”

Looking ahead, NWS forecasters predicted weekend temperatures warming to around 70 degrees, with possible afternoon rain Monday through Wednesday. “It’ll be a similar pattern to what we saw this week. The mountains will probably see a little bit of snow,” Hiris said.

Until mid-May, rain is likely to fall on Front Range cities, he said. “Beyond that, it looks as if we will get into warmer spring and summerlike patterns.”

The couple bought their 23-acre property in 2017 as a place away from the chaos of Denver life, and where Josh could heal from the brain injuries and trauma he suffered while serving in the U.S. Army. For years, they lived in an RV on the property in the central high valley, which is surrounded by mountains, as they built a home.

They learned how to use excavators and other heavy machinery. They dug out their basement, installed a septic tank and plumbing lines, and wired a solar-powered electrical system. They bought and transported a two-room log cabin from Montana. They installed a playground for their children, ages 7 and 1.

On March 25, they received their certificate of occupancy and officially moved into their cabin.

“It¶¶Òőap a sanctuary,” said Josh Kimbrough, 41. “It’s the first time in a very long time that I’ve been able to reduce my stress level enough to do some meaningful therapy work and become the person I want to be — versus the constantly triggered, high-anxiety person I’ve been.”

But what was meant to be a long-term home now feels uncertain. In February, Aurora Water announced its plans to on a swath of land that includes the Kimbroughs’ parcel.

The decision by the faraway city’s water utility has pitted two pursuits of stability against each other: Aurora Water’s hunt for reliable water supplies and the Kimbroughs’ search for peace.

“It has completely stripped me of all sense of stability and security for my family,” Josh Kimbrough said.

Aurora Water, for years, has sought to build a new reservoir so it can store more water for extreme drought years like this one.

The new body of water, to be named the Wild Horse Reservoir, would become the city’s largest at a capacity of 95,000 acre-feet. It would significantly  from 150,000 acre-feet to 245,000 acre-feet. An acre-foot of water is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre in a foot of water — more than 325,000 gallons — which is enough water for three Aurora households’ annual use.

The project is critically important for the growing city, said Sarah Young, an assistant general manager for the utility.

“If we don’t have the ability to store water for times of drought or emergencies, then we lose the ability to provide water to over 400,000 people,” Young said.

‘Not an easy decision,’ utility says

Aurora Water first planned to build the new reservoir at a different site that’s closer to Hartsel. It purchased the vast majority of the land needed to construct the reservoir there, but it stopped short of exercising eminent domain on the remaining necessary parcels.

However, showed that the current site, located farther south, made more engineering sense.

The southern location would require one dam instead of three, which would simplify operations and greatly reduce the risk of problems, said Zachary Henry, a communications strategist for Aurora Water working on the reservoir project. The southern site also would not require the creation of a new quarry for dam materials, minimizing environmental impacts.

But there’s one complication: People live on the 1,700 acres of land the utility needs for the reservoir.

“This was not an easy decision for us, even though all the engineering and costs led to this site,” Young said. “We really struggled with this decision because of the residents living down there.”

Several hundred people own land in the planned reservoir’s footprint, but only seven of those properties include a habitable residence — including the Kimbroughs’, Young said.

The city has already purchased several properties that were for sale in the area and is working with other landowners who would rather sell now than wait. Aurora water officials are talking with the remaining owners to determine the best way forward without resorting to eminent domain to seize the land.

“We have a lot of time,” said Lyle Whitney, a project manager with Aurora Water who has overseen communication with landowners. “We don’t want to rush; we want to make it right.”

The utility’s leaders want to offer landowners deals that are as good or better than their current situation, Whitney said.

Aurora Water officials acknowledged the uncertainty the reservoir plans created for landowners in the footprint. They have had multiple conversations with the Kimbrough family to find solutions.

“I understand his desire for stability and peace up there, and we’re trying to do right by them,” Henry said.

Loss of stability

But up in South Park, Kimbrough once again is struggling to sleep at night.

He lies in bed and runs the numbers: how much they might get for their land, what that money could buy elsewhere, whether they could afford the property tax there.

Kimbrough received an honorable medical discharge from the Army in 2006 after serving three years and deploying during the Iraq War to Baghdad, where he and held multiple forward operating bases. During his service, he suffered two traumatic brain injuries — one during a training exercise when his parachute malfunctioned, and the second when rocket-propelled grenades exploded just feet from a Humvee he was leaning halfway out of.

After his discharge, he returned home to the Denver area and enrolled at Metropolitan State University, where he met Sarah. But he struggled to find stability and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Four times, he was admitted to emergency mental health services.

South Park was his escape.

And now, learning that he and his family might have to move from the land they poured thousands of hours into has been crushing, he said. Kimbrough has spent much of his time working on the property, but now the remaining projects — landscaping, finishing the basement — seem pointless to pursue.

The couple planned very carefully so that they could afford to own a house and raise a family on their budget. They worry that fair market compensation for their modestly valued property in a remote valley would not be enough to buy a home elsewhere.

Even if Aurora were to acquire a larger or more expensive home for them, they worry they would not be able to afford the property tax on Kimbrough’s fixed disability income.

“I don’t think Aurora has the same ideas of what people value as what my family values,” he said. “We don’t value quantity and bigger houses — we value quality time and living within our means.

“We’re very happy out here in the middle of nowhere, without electric bills and water bills and huge property bills.”

The permitting for the reservoir is in early stages, and construction on the dam won’t begin until 2028 at the earliest, Young said. After the dam is complete, it will take several more years to fill the reservoir. The project is expected to cost more than $1 billion, she said.

The amount of time before the water flows is little comfort to the Kimbroughs. The family hired an eminent domain attorney to prepare — a large, unexpected expense. It’s one of the expenses they .

“It¶¶Òőap really hard, personally, to have gone to war for this country,” Kimbrough said, “and then have the Aurora government come and rip out every bit of stability from under my feet.”

The city first on April 1. During drought watches, the city asks residents to reduce lawn watering to two times per week and avoid watering plants during cooler, wet periods.

Residents cannot run sprinkler systems to water lawns from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., under a new rule, according to the news release.

Residents can also save water indoors by taking shorter showers and only running dishwashers or washing machines when they are full.

If dry conditions continue into next year, water conservation throughout this summer could help preserve the city’s water supply, according to the release.

Much of Colorado, including all of Boulder County, is , according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Around the Front Range, several communities have implemented water restrictions.

That’s why — low-water landscaping that uses native plants to conserve resources and restore natural ecosystems — is more important than ever.

Just don’t call it that anymore.

“People came to equate xeriscaping with places like Arizona and lots of rocks and heat islands,” said Bea Stratton, Denver Water’s landscape transformation program manager. “We wanted to shift that mentality.”

Denver Water may have coined the term xeriscaping in the 1980s, but employees stopped using it in 2024 in favor of ColoradoScaping. That state-specific branding makes room for plants that are mostly (but not 100%) drought-tolerant, and for yards that sport colorful flowers, shrubs and adapted to Colorado’s climate — as opposed to the decidedly scrubby, gravelly aesthetic associated with the term xeriscaping.

“You can still do pocket lawns with mixtures of native and low-water items,” said Abby Rupsa, principle designer and owner of , a Federal Heights landscaping company. “But you can do it a very beautiful way versus it being this harsh, barren landscape. And truth be told, we absolutely need that vegetative coverage in Colorado as opposed to just having hardscaping.”

How-to guides for ColoradoScaping have evolved with the terminology, Stratton said, in order to embrace recommendations, for example, that low-water vegetation should cover about half of your yard. That helps cut down on the heat islands that form when there’s no plant life, she said — and the need is greater than it once was.

Prolonged bouts of warm weather across the Colorado River basin are projected to reduce the amount of water delivered during the spring 2026 runoff to just a third of normal, according to federal forecasters. And half of the supply used by Denver Water’s 1.5 million customers comes from the Colorado River.

“Denver is essentially a high plains desert,” said Ian Schillinger-Brokaw, urban ecology project manager for Denver Parks & Recreation. He oversees the restoration of city-owned plots that were planted with thirsty Kentucky bluegrass into native ecosystems that require far less water and maintenance while enhancing natural beauty.

“For people moving here from the East Coast, it might be really comforting to see turf grass,” he said. “But from an ecological standpoint, it’s a missed opportunity to bring wildness and variety into the city.”

Nancy Leavitt, an environmental planner with Denver Water, to describe this type of water-wise landscaping. She combined “landscape” and the Greek word “xeros,” which means dry, to create the term, according to Denver Water. (It’s not “zero-scaping,” as some have called it.)

ColoradoScaping is meant to combat the image of a beige, gravel-cacti expanse. But whatever it’s called, some people still don’t even know it’s an option, Stratton said. Like Denver Parks & Recreation, Denver Water partners with diverse cities, residents and homebuilders. Its staff educates and provides resources to homeowners who could cut their water bills in half by swapping Kentucky bluegrass with prairie meadow grasses (see more ideas at ). That includes a one-time, for lawn replacement.

Last year alone, Denver Water transformed 1 million square feet of landscape, Stratton said. In one instance, Denver Water and Denver Parks & Recreation partnered in a 2023 program that began replanting a quartet of wide, grassy medians along Quebec Street, just south of Interstate 70 near Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, with .

That has led to water savings of more than 8.5 million gallons annually, and looks even prettier while benefiting local wildlife and insects, said Schillinger-Brokaw, who led the project. Similar projects are taking place in Cherry Creek and Montbello.

The vegetation includes bursts of purple and yellow that bloom May through September. Schillinger-Brokaw has been visiting the Quebec site for three years, but it was only this spring that he saw a kestrel (or small hawk) there for the first time.

“If you look at a lot of Denver’s public parks, there’s this monoculture with only two or three different species being represented in grass and trees,” he said. “We want to turn that into 20 species.”

The same can apply to your home yard and garden, he said, considering that the smaller scale will yield faster results. Plants often need two to three years to get fully established, so they’ll still require some water. That also means being careful if you’re designing everything around gravel, rocks or boulders, as those can absorb heat and create urban heat islands — or pockets of high temperatures where vegetation won’t grow.

What else to keep mind? The experts have some ideas.

You’ll save money

ColoradoScaping is about conservation, but also your wallet. that customers who ColoradoScape use 60% less water, which is particularly helpful when drought restrictions come into play, as they will again this summer in the metro area. Denver Water’s current definition of “efficient” is using 12 gallons of water per square foot of landscape, which itself can often be cut in half with drought-resistant plants.

They also estimate that ColoradoScaping can increase property values by 10% to 15% by adding resilience and subtracting maintenance. (Turf grass, for example, usually requires not just lots of water, but mowing, herbicides and fertilizers.) Getting started isn’t free, as there are always upfront costs. But it’s still cheaper than a Midwest or East Coast-style yard.

You’ll help nature

ColoradoScaping with native plants gives insects, birds and other animals cooler, layered environments as compared with short, exposed, single-species turf grass (go ahead, call it biodiversity).

“These plants aren’t meant to be hyper-controlled,” Rupsa said. ” If you’ve got hyssop (a flowering, herbaceous sub-shrub), it might need to lay over on rock if it gets too big. But that¶¶Òőap OK because it might shade something else that needs a little shelter or coverage.”

It’s Colorado-adapted

Get the best of the plains and high desert vegetation by mixing fetching varieties that play well together. Trade bluegrass for the much better-adapted Karl Foerster grasses. Mix yucca or lavender into your succulents, or sprinkle wildflowers and sunflowers into the mix for later-season blooms. If something dies, it won’t immediately stand out in your yard — as opposed to a brown hedgerow or crispy patch of grass.

Yards can be treated like a green roof, or a naturally planted rooftop that collects runoff and reduces heat reflection while cutting down on heating and cooling costs. It’s particularly helpful for slopes prone to erosion. Sedum groundcover and/or succulents can turn it into a green, mat-like surface that better retains water and soil, and that can better attract vital pollinators.

It’s highly flexible

As noted, new plantings can take a little time to get established, so they will need upfront care. But it’s still less resource-intensive than moist-climate plantings. You can do as much or as little as you want in terms of square footage, and at the smaller scale, results will appear faster, according to . You can keep your existing trees, but be careful not to damage the root zone around them when removing turf.

“It won’t look like the Amazon jungle right off the bat,” Schillinger-Brokaw said. “It’s OK to allow plants a year or two to grow in. Just like angsty teenagers, they can be temperamental.”

It’s not just for exposed residential yards. Denver Water offers tips and guides for narrow strips of land, extra-dry and shady areas and truly low-water environments that require heavy duty plantings.

Attitudes are changing

Many new home developments and HOAs that once required a certain percentage of a yard to include turf grass are now relaxing and looking at alternatives. Denver Water signed a memo of understanding with various municipalities and utilities throughout the Colorado River Basin to reduce its “non-functional turf grass” areas by 30%, or about 75 million square feet.

They also apply for grants to (currently working in Lafayette) but also field requests and fund an increasing number of projects in all corners of the city, both residential and commercial.

“It’s definitely become more common since the pandemic, which really revamped people’s ideas of how to develop their homes outside,” Rupsa said. “So if you’re going to change, you might as well do it the right way.”

But Colorado and Denver have a history of May snowstorms, and “it can happen,” NWS meteorologist Russell Danielson said on Monday.

“There’s a slight, very small possibility of a few flakes falling overnight tonight with no accumulation expected,” Danielson said. “And, then, there’s another very slight chance Thursday night – again, with no accumulation expected,” he said.

The cooler weather that reached the Colorado Front Range on Sunday morning is expected to bring significant snow at elevations above 6,000 feet. In metro Denver, temperatures peaked at around 53 degrees on Monday, and NWS forecast afternoon thunderstorms.

In the mountains, snow showers will create hazardous travel conditions — poor visibility and slippery roads, especially on passes at higher elevations, NWS forecasters said. They issued a for the north central mountains and anticipated mountain snow accumulations up to 8 inches by Tuesday morning.

Looking ahead, meteorologists predicted moisture in metro Denver over the next two weeks, shifting to warmer conditions through the end of July. That may bring relief after an exceptionally dry winter and early spring. Colorado mountain snowpack ranked as the lowest in recent history, and Denver temperatures in March – typically a month that brings heavy snow — broke records, topping 80 degrees.

“We have varying levels of severe to exceptional drought across the Denver area and the Front Range mountains,” Danielson said.

“Through about May 10, we expect multiple rounds of precipitation. That can, hopefully, lead to a little green-up,” he said.  “But, then, from the second half of May through the end of July, it will look particularly hot and dry. We’re still expecting an above-normal fire weather season.”

On Sunday, up to a quarter inch of rain fell on parts of north metro Denver.

The rain this week is shaping up as “the best over the past five months,” climatologist Allie Mazurek said at the on the campus in Fort Collins. But “our deficits are quite major, stacking up over months.” The statewide average mountain snowpack this week measured 15% of the average between 1991 and 2020, Mazurek said.

“Everywhere, we’re seeing below-average stream flow. And that’s expected to continue through summer,” she said.

“The only snow left is at high elevations above 10,000 feet. We’re in a bad place with our drought. We’ll take any moisture at this point,” she said. “But to turn our situation around, we would need a changed weather pattern over a long period of time, not just a couple of weeks.”

Re: “Growing Cherry Creek Schools scandal is a warning for other districts,” April 19 editorial

Regarding The Denver Post¶¶Òőap coverage on the Cherry Creek Schools scandal, the superintendent and his wife (who was head of HR for the district), I appreciate the information that was shared regarding the district¶¶Òőap spending with a consultant and questionable travel spending.

Two additional observations: I believe it is obvious the two administrators were spending district money unethically; I also think the school board should be held accountable. They approved the $3 million spend with the consultant.

Second, I’m a little surprised there are no questions being raised about a superintendent knocking down a $330,000 plus base salary and his wife collecting almost a quarter of a million in annual salary. If you compare those salaries to senior executives in Fortune 500 companies, those salaries would be commensurate with roles with huge responsibilities, both managerial and financial. That would dwarf Cherry Creek School’s annual budget and personnel headcount.

All this in an environment where politicians like Jeff Bridges (running for state treasurer who lives in the Cherry Creek school district) whine and snivel about his associates in the teachers’ union not having the funds to effectively teach our kids. They want to circumvent the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights to add “revenue” (the word politicians use in place of the word the rest of us use, “taxes”) to fund initiatives like hiring consultants and paying half a million dollars in salary to two nepotistic bureaucrats. That needs to be called out as well.

James Massey, Englewood

Elitism is on full display in The Denver Post editorial about an issue of expenditures in Cherry Creek Schools. Apparently, those of us who have lived and served in the “lesser” school districts must have boundless corruption and scandal if such a thing can happen in the great and mighty (and rich) Cherry Creek Schools.

John Gudvangen, Denver

Thanks to the editorial board for its call for greater scrutiny of education consulting contracts. Elected school board members sometimes forget their primary responsibility is to hire and evaluate the superintendent. That seems to have been the case at Cherry Creek Schools, and the board’s failure is a costly lesson for taxpayers.

Given the Post editorial board’s concern for state spending, I look forward to the board now turning its attention to a e that has recently come to light. In short, the mechanism used to provide partial state funding for homeschool and private-school students is now paying for those students to attend soccer camps, horseback riding classes, gymnastics and jiu-jitsu classes.

Private companies and individuals contract with districts and education co-ops to offer these programs, apparently with no quality standards and little transparency or accountability. The taxpayer-funded programs are not available to students enrolled in public schools.

Chalkbeat Colorado reports that one program authorizer, Education reEnvisioned Board of Cooperative Educational Services, this year will collect about $45 million from enrichment program students. ERBOCES, not surprisingly, has increased by tenfold its number of homeschool enrollees in just four years.

The education co-op has no elected board to call to account. But I’m sure the editorial board would agree that increased oversight of these costly “enrichment programs” is as sorely needed as oversight of the educational consultant contracts in public school districts.

Karen Francisco, Littleton

Bias isn’t the enemy, fixed thinking is

Re: “Leaning left in the Sunday letters to the editor,” April 19 letters to the editor

The writer bemoans the bias in the selection of letters to be published by the editor of the Perspective section before revealing his own bias, right of center.

The problem with our politics is not that each of us is biased. A lack of bias among a paper’s editorial staff would really be news. The problem in our politics is the fixed thinking and stubbornness that ossify our bias.

My father, a very wise man, was never a fan of Chinese food. Yet he always softened his stance by admitting that perhaps 1 billion people couldn’t all be wrong. Two hundred fifty years ago our political forebears softened their biases and brought forth something new and remarkable.

Now we fill a bathtub with the byproduct of fixed thinking, smugness and condescension so that we might drown our birthright. No laughing matter. Better we let our biases become somewhat plastic and consider that although we may dislike X, 10,000 or 10 million people can’t all be wrong.

Len Esparza, Fort Collins

My beloved father, for whom my dachshund Harry is named, listened to Rush Limbaugh the way I listen to classical music. Once, he asked me why most colleges and universities were more liberal than conservative. Without wanting to hurt his feelings, I simply replied, “I think it has something to do with being educated.”

The letter writer laments that The Denver Post is likewise left-leaning, but he finds entertainment in the op-ed pages. This is similar to the gales of laughter in my household when I watch Karoline Leavitt attempt to explain the unexplainable: namely, the words and behavior of her guru.

Craig Mashall Smith, Highlands Ranch

A water crisis is enveloping Colorado and the West

The number of recent articles in The Denver Post on the water crisis enveloping Colorado and the Southwest is alarming and consequential in many ways.  However, Colorado farmers and communities should not be sacrificed to enable the ridiculous growth sprawl of the lower basin states. Why should upper Colorado River basin states like Colorado have to suffer more damaging water restrictions just to allow the lower basin states like Arizona and Utah to continue their unchecked growth and residential sprawl development?

Consider this. Arizona’s rapid low-density residential development sprawl is driven by its rabid encouragement of ever more population growth. This sprawling, unchecked population growth just increases water demand. Arizona’s population has exploded, from 2.9 million in 1982 to over 7.6 million in 2025. The state’s population is projected to balloon further with even more residential sprawl and water demands, while harming its environment and natural lands. But land developers and speculators reap huge profits, the state and local governments gleefully do their bidding.

And Utah? Same story of unchecked population growth and sprawl development. St. George, Utah, is one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the United States. St. George has outpaced the nation in water-gobbling population growth since the 1970’s and has grown more than 40% since the 2010 census.

Colorado should not be made to endure more harm while lower basin states do little to stop the sprawling water-eating development mess they continue to make in their states.

Edward Talbot, Grand Junction

I appreciate the April 9th article, “What you need to know about Front Range drought restrictions.” We need to be talking more about water conservation and responsible water use. I can’t help but wonder why Colorado lawmakers aren’t putting necessary focus on large-scale data centers, which would further threaten our water security. They are huge consumers of water for both cooling and energy purposes. Additionally, some lawmakers are entertaining ridiculous tax incentives for companies. We do not have the water or the state funds to support this. Why are lawmakers luring these water guzzlers here when we have had record-low snowpack, and most Colorado communities clearly do not have water to spare? Colorado legislators need to vote no on HB26-1030 and save our water for us.

Kate Seppala, Boulder

As a homeowner, I’m fine with Denver’s watering restrictions, particularly if I can be convinced that large “special customers” are doing their part to conserve. Like the Rockies, Broncos, Rapids, public and private golf courses, and the city parks dept. Having your own well shouldn’t get you off the hook.

Jeffrey Stroh, Denver

Water is a finite resource. Time is short, our aging Mother Colorado River is simply wearing out. We need solutions that stretch our creativity and her resources. Innovative, imaginative solutions that meet growth in population, business and agricultural needs. The Colorado is our mother. We owe her care in her retirement. Time is short.

David L Stevenson, Denver

Colorado Connector rail service

Re: “Front Range rail is nostalgic but will 19th century technology answer 21st century challenges?” April 19 guest commentary

The recent commentary on the Colorado Connector rail service was supportive of moving ahead. It¶¶Òőap worth pointing out that this isn’t the first time a passenger rail service has been implemented in this general area. From 1904 to 1926, the Denver & Interurban Railroad ran electric trams along the so-called Kite Line route from Denver to Boulder, making intermediate stops in Westminster, Broomfield, Louisville, and Superior. This was a time when roads were primitive, and the need was to link cities with rural areas.

One hundred years on, and we are reintroducing that type of service, which makes some sense as a way of creating an alternative transportation backbone from Denver northward. But, for this to be useful (besides creating stations along the proposed route), we need to understand the interconnection of transportation systems with those stations, since development of the cities along the rail route today extends far away from the rail line. Sorting out the plan for how passengers get from a station to where they really want to go in a seamless and efficient way, whether it¶¶Òőap by driverless taxis, vans or local shuttle bus services, is an important missing piece of the puzzle.

David Feineman, Broomfield

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The 3-2 vote by , in favor of the State Sunlight/Long well pad proposed by Crestone Peak Resources, came after about five hours of testimony and deliberation. The decision ends what had become one of the more contentious battles over energy extraction in Colorado.

Board Chair Jeff Robbins acknowledged that the application from Crestone had evoked a strong reaction from homeowners living nearby. But in the end, the company complied with rigorous state oil and gas regulations enshrined in a law known as Senate Bill 181, which was passed by state lawmakers seven years ago.

“At the end of the day, State Sunlight/Long achieves the balance we were told to look for,” Robbins said.

The two commissioners who voted no were Trisha Oeth and John Messner. The approvals process for the Sunlight/Long well pad encompassed seven hearings before the commission, stretching over several months.

Nearby homeowners rose up in opposition, claiming that the project would pose health hazards to those living nearby — in particular, to school-age children. They also worried about the drilling’s potential environmental impacts on the Aurora Reservoir, which is a water source for the 400,000 residents of Colorado’s third-largest city.

“I cannot believe that the state came down on the side of the industry yet again,” Randy Willard, the president of opposition group , said in an interview minutes after the vote came down Tuesday afternoon. “The group as a whole is severely disappointed.”

The group had pushed back on the proposed project using the 2019 oil and gas reform law as a guide, Willard said.

The 2019 law prioritized public health, safety and the environment when regulators consider oil and gas development — a profound change from the industry-focused approach Colorado had taken for decades.

“We’ve done everything we feel is possible under 181, only to find the industry comes out on top yet again,” Willard said. “I don’t know what else we’re supposed to do.”

In December, the state commission voted 4-1 to put a stay on the project, ordering Crestone to return with a list of alternative sites from which it could drill.

Crestone, a subsidiary of Denver-based SM Energy Company, came back this month with a slimmed-down proposal, knocking down the number of wells at Sunlight/Long from 32 to 24.

The company insisted that after examining 11 other potential sites, most of which were farther away from homes, its preferred site near Aurora’s Southshore neighborhood and the reservoir remained the best place to locate its wells.

Civitas Resources was Crestone’s parent company until late January, .

Jamie Jost, an attorney for Crestone, spoke to the commission during an online hearing Tuesday that, at one point, was attended by nearly 1,000 people. She called the site the “most vetted, most analyzed” location for the pad.

The company said the site would have the least impact on wildlife and waterways across 26,500-acre Lowry Ranch, a stretch of rolling prairie owned by the Colorado State Land Board where Crestone has plans to drill just over 100 wells in total — down from 166 just a couple of years ago.

Dan Harrington, SM Energy’s asset development manager, told the commission that reducing the number of wells at Sunlight/Long would curtail the time needed for drilling and fracking.

“This will reduce operational duration by about 25%,” he testified.

And the scaled-back operation will emit fewer emissions, including of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, volatile organic compounds and methane, the company in favor of its preferred site.

Mike Foote, a former Democratic state lawmaker who represents the neighbor opposition group as its lawyer, testified that Crestone didn’t conduct an honest comparison of alternative sites.

“It found things wrong with everyone else’s suggested sites instead of coming up with something that worked,” he said.

But Nathan Bennett, SM Energy’s director of permitting and compliance, said Crestone looked at other potential locations with an open mind. The company, however, said the alternate sites had problems, with questions raised about whether Xcel Energy could provide electricity to some of them to power electric drilling equipment.

Other locations, the company said, would have required much longer truck trips and called for running pipe over more ecologically sensitive areas.

Commissioner Mike Cross said Crestone’s proposed site for Sunlight/Long was well outside the state’s required 2,000-foot distance buffer from homes. He said the company’s commitment to use quieter and cleaner electric equipment on site was a positive aspect of the project.

“The best practices that we’ve seen from operators in the state, we’ve seen in this application,” he said. “It does meet our rules.”

But Willard, who has been working to defeat the application for nearly two years, said neighbors were already complaining of noise from other Crestone drilling operations on Lowry Ranch. In a presentation that the opposition group ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the group claimed that more than 40 noise complaints were filed with the agency last month alone.

That, Willard said, will only increase once drilling starts at Sunlight/Long in the coming months.