Get Wild
This beaver kit was rescued in Aurora and relocated with three siblings and its parents to a private ranch in the mountains.
Photo by Sarah Koenigsberg / TheBeaverBelievers.com
In Summit County, beavers are neighbors to ranchers and urban dwellers, and in both cases, their reputation has not fared well. They flood fields and roads with their dams and find ornamental trees in town irresistibly yummy.
They’re called nuisance beavers, but things are changing.
Biologists have long documented how beaver ponds enrich the ecological habitat for innumerable species of plants and animals, and as people realize the toll of global extinctions and the grave loss of biodiversity, a different descriptor for beavers is gaining traction: keystone species.
Get Wild
A volunteer works to clear a tree from the Mesa Cortina Trail on Aug. 4, 2020, in Eagles Nest Wilderness Area.
Photo by David Brewster / Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance
Our wilderness areas in Summit County are wonderful places to visit, and every year thousands of people hike, camp, fish, admire the wildlife and wildflowers, and enjoy the solitude.
Unfortunately, every year, nature and people cause trails to be eroded and bridges to break, trees to fall and brush to grow over trails. In addition, illegal campfire rings and camps are built in overused and delicate areas, sensitive vegetation is trampled, non-native noxious weeds are introduced and trash is left behind.
Vail Police/Special to the Daily
New parking restrictions to address overcrowding and safety concerns take effect June 2 at popular trailheads in East Vail. With those restrictions in place, the town of Vail and the White River National Forest encourage hikers to “Bus It to Hike It.”
The parking area for the Booth Lake Trailhead in Vail will be closed for the summer season. Parking at the Pitkin and Bighorn trailheads will be limited to three hours with no overnight parking. Visitors to the Gore/Deluge Trailhead will see designated parking spaces and delineated no parking areas to address conflicts between vehicles and bicyclists on Vail Pass.
Get Wild
May mud season brings out mixed emotions in Summit County. I can still ski, I can ride my bike, and I get excited for the early spring wildflowers!
These amazingly well-adapted plants prove it really is springtime. By the summer solstice June 20, we will have meadows of wildflowers in bloom. In May, we get a teaser of summer glories to come.
Sagebrush buttercups are pictured April 29 along Ptarmigan Trail.
Photo by Karn Stiegelmeier / Eagle Summit Wilderness Alliance
Sagebrush buttercups
Sagebrush buttercups (Ranunculous glaberrimus) are bright, shiny, five-petaled blooms found in May on south-facing, exposed hillsides along with chiming bells and pasqueflowers.
Photo from David Boyd
Right after finishing a rafting trip down the Grand Canyon in September, Cindy Ebbert got some good news.
Ebbert, an employee with the Dillon Ranger District of the White River National Forest, found out she was being recognized nationally for her wilderness expertise and her contributions to maintaining local wilderness.
The U.S. Forest Service awarded Ebbert the Traditional Skills and Minimum Tools Leadership Award, which recognizes someone who “demonstrates outstanding commitment to wilderness principles using traditional, nonmotorized equipment and hand tools” within the department, according to a news release.
“There’s a lot of amazing folks with the Forest Service who helped manage our wilderness areas, so I felt very fortunate to receive this award as a wilderness manager myself,” Ebbert said.