It has been four months since Colorado Parks and Wildlife released ten wolves onto Colorado’s western slope. Here are the highlights.

Mountain Candytuft (Noccaea fendleri) is generally found on hillsides, slopes, open woods or forests, and tundra, and blooms from April to July.

I had the opportunity to join a team out of CU Boulder for a day of field work this month! This was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about some of the snow, ice, and water fieldwork taking place in Colorado.

I love hiking and use a range of guides and apps on every hike - both for safety and for fun!

The white-stemmed evening primrose (Oenothera albicaulis) is one of the most beautiful wildflowers I have seen in person!

Wildlife reserves are undoubtedly important conservation tools for recovering species and protecting populations. However, when planning reserves, research shows that conservation of species requires both direct protection and thorough understanding of ecosystem interactions and feedbacks (Christianen et al., 2014).

On Saturday, Xcel Energy shut off power to approximately 55,000 customers in the Denver-Boulder area as a preemptive effort to prevent fires from downed electrical lines due to high winds, which reached up to 100 miles per hour. Are planned outages an option for wildfire risk reduction?

Blue flax (Linum lewisii) is a vibrant spring wildflower that is easy to spot and identify. We can expect to see blue flax growing by mid-March, and they flower until fall.

In October, Colorado’s Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee introduced SB24-005, a bill titled, “Prohibit Landscaping Practices for Water Conservation.” The bill aims to reduce the amount of water used by prohibiting nonfuntional and non-native grass in public areas.

When I was about seven, I wanted to be a marine biologist - specifically, I wanted to be an “orcanologist,” a term I made up for a scientist who studies orca whales. When I saw an advertisement for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science’s new orca exhibit, I had to go!

Tall chiming bells (Mertensia ciliata), also known as mountain bluebells, are beautiful and delicate flowers with colors ranging from (occasionally) white or pink to (frequently) blue or purple.

Yesterday, I attended Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s volunteer training for the Bear Aware program!

The Rocky Mountain Spring Beauty (Claytonia sp.), as the name suggests, is one of Colorado’s earliest and most beautiful blooms.

The Glacier Dashboard, created by USGS and the Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center (AK CASC) and the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, compiles and presents glacier information from several datasets in an interactive map.

Chemical pollution isn’t just bad for humans and other mammals - insects are at risk, too. A 2024 paper by Chan et al. shows that chemical pollutants disrupt pollinator olfaction (a.k.a., sensing through smell). Since many insects rely heavily on olfaction, the impacts of pollution have been devastating.

Mullein, a highly invasive plant, is found across most parts of the United States and into Canada. In the field a couple years ago, my coworkers and I came across a bunch of gigantic mullein plants!

Stemless Townsend Daisies (Townsendia exscapa) are another early-year wildflower in Colorado! They grow in a “tufted” or “mounded” form, giving them the title of “stemless” - the stems are so short they can be difficult to spot.

In the final part of this post, we’ll discuss analyzing tree cores under the microscope and on the computer.

Generally the second flower I see in the spring, sand lilies (Leucocrinum montanum) are resilient and beautiful!

Colorado Parks and Wildlife just put out a press release about bear activity in 2023, along with a media package that includes lots of best practices for living and recreating in Bear Country (as well as data, photos, and even videos)!