May 2013 - Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument (May 19, 2013)
One of the prettiest flights there is starts right here in Aspen in the Roaring Fork Valley. Our flight path takes us to Taos, New Mexico, flying right over the West Elks and into the San Luis Valley, supposedly the highest and largest alpine valley in the world containing one of the largest freshwater aquifers in North America. From there we skirt the Sangre de Cristo Range and look over on the other side of the valley at the Winnemuche Wilderness and the magnificent San Juans. We are heading down to the newly designated Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument...
KVNF RADIO 5-14-13 Tours of the Valley From on High (May 14, 2013)
EARTHJUSTICE 5-10-13 Drillers Make a Play for Thompson Divide (May 10, 2013)
Monitoring the Lower Santa Cruz River (May 7, 2013)
The Santa Cruz River supports the culturally and ecologically diverse region of the Southwest. Recognizing the river's importance to the communities who depend on it, the Sonoran Institute is leading a project that assesses the health of the river and identifies protection and restoration needs of the Lower Santa Cruz River. Sonoran will be working with Pima County, Arizona to use the project to monitor river health and disseminate wetland and river conditions.
EARTHJUSTICE 5-6-13 Conservationists Act to... (May 6, 2013)
Senator Bennet flies over the Thompson Divide 5-3-13 (May 3, 2013)
EcoFlight flew the senator and his staff over the Thompson Divide in Colorado to help deepen their understanding of this area that is critical to the local economy. The aerial perspective over the Thompson Divide presents a compelling and stark contrast, as the Divide presents an actual dividing line - to the West and North is the industrialization of the Roan Plateau and the Piceance Basin, to the South and East is the Roaring Fork Valley providing world-class recreational opportunities.
DENVER POST 5-2-13 Creek Spill an Overdue Wake-Up Call (May 2, 2013)
DENVER POST 4-10-13 Source of Spill Identified (Apr 10, 2013)
ASPEN BUSINESS JOURNAL 4-10-13 Prospect of Drilling Still Alive (Apr 10, 2013)
ASPEN DAILY NEWS 4-10-13 BLM Grants Lease Suspension (Apr 10, 2013)
Denver Post 4-10-13 Photo Essay: Water Use on Colorado (Apr 10, 2013)
Damming the Crystal River 4-6-13 (Apr 6, 2013)
Two water conservation districts own conditional water rights on the Crystal River in Colorado that date back to 1958. The rights are connected to plans that include a dam on the upper Crystal River and one on North Thompson Creek. The aerial perspective gives testament to the majesty of this uncontained river, which flows freely from high in the Elk Mountains near Marble, Colorado all the way to the Roaring Fork River in Carbondale and eventually the Colorado River. In 2012, American Rivers named the Crystal one of America’s most endangered rivers.
April 2013-Colorado Sage Grouse (Apr 5, 2013)
These days I usually begin the week looking at www.weather.com. This has become a daily habit in addition to the aviation weather products I subscribe to, as I invariably get a call from Janey stating weather.com is saying "the snow or rain will clear from 11 to 1, that is your flying window". I scratch my head, consult my charts and say "hogwash". But weather.com is often right, so checking this has now become a staple for me.
GRAND JUNCTION SENTINEL 3-30-13 Who Is Minding the Pipelines (Mar 30, 2013)
Parachute Creek Gas Plant: Hydrocarbon Spill 3-29-13 (Mar 29, 2013)
On March 8th 2013 crews doing routine pipe location work at a gas plant on Parachute Creek discovered contaminated soil – a plume of liquid hydrocarbons surging up from the ground just 50 feet from Parachute Creek. Vacuum trucks have removed over 60,648 gallons of hydrocarbon material and 5,418 gallons of oil from the leak and remain on the scene to collect more contaminants as they appear. A test well just 10 feet from the creek showed cancer-causing benzene in the ground water at levels between 1,900 parts and 4,100 parts per billion.
DENVER POST 3-28-13 Benzene Polluting Groundwater (Mar 28, 2013)
POST INDEPENDENT 3/20/13 - Parachute Creek Spill (Mar 20, 2013)
NY TIMES 3/15/13 - On Western Lands a Free-Market Path (Mar 15, 2013)
ONEARTH 3/11/13 How Vernal Learned to Love Big Oil (Mar 11, 2013)
March 2013-Thompson Divide (Mar 5, 2013)

Captain's Log 1XE, Day 27 in the month of February in the Earth Calendar Year of 2013.

Big doings going on. I know you have read about this issue before but things are coming to a head here in the Roaring Fork Valley of Colorado. A beautiful blue bird Colorado winter day with mares' tails high in the stratosphere  (usually a precursor of weather a-coming) with the NY Times aboard looking at the Thompson Divide from above. This iconic landscape has a smattering of gas leases that threaten to fragment and totally change the nature of this wild and mostly pristine area.

Ranching Done Right at High Lonesome 3-1-13 (Mar 1, 2013)
EcoFlight flew the landscape of The High Lonesome Ranch to look for wintering Greater Sage Grouse in suitable sage grouse habitats. As part of a landscape approach to responsible energy development, the High Lonesome Ranch is developing a sage grouse conservation strategy using existing conservation tools and cooperation with partners. Along with a manager from the ranch, we brought along a few local students to give them an understanding of the ranch and to engage them in local conservation efforts.
ASPEN DAILY NEWS 2/26/13 Call for Action on Thompson Divide (Feb 26, 2013)
February 2013-Colorado's Browns Canyon (Feb 25, 2013)
When EcoFlight visited Salida, Colorado and invited community members to fly with them over the Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area, filmmaker Sam Bricker rode along. He shot a few video clips with EcoFlight, but after the flight, simply filed most of the clips away on his hard drive and didn't know when he'd have a chance to use them.
Opportunity came knocking later that year when the Friends of Browns Canyon and The Wilderness Society...

DURANGO HERALD 1/27/12 A Path Paved in Coal (Jan 27, 2013)
Weld County - Oil and Gas Regulations 1-23-13 (Jan 23, 2013)

Weld County leads the state in oil and gas production with over 16,500 active oil and gas wells.

Many people are concerned about the industrial use of water in this drought stricken region of Colorado. Oil and gas companies use millions of gallons of water and thousands of chemicals in the process of fracking each drill site.  With water already scarce in Colorado, increased fracking operations threaten traditional uses of water, such as agriculture and recreation, as well as posing risks for polluting ground water.

EARTHJUSTICE - 1/22/12 Groups Seek Fracking Chemical Information (Jan 22, 2013)
Aspen Daily News 1/7/12 PitCo Request for Stricter O&G Regs (Jan 7, 2013)
Field and Stream 12/18/12 Bold Plan to Save America's Backcount (Dec 18, 2012)
High Country News 12/13/12 Protecting the Piceance (Dec 13, 2012)
Happy Holidays from EcoFlight (Dec 12, 2012)
Check out our year-end holiday video, guaranteed to put a smile on your face! After the video, please DONATE to help support EcoFlight in its mission to educate and advocate for the environment, and help us continue "Flying for the Future".
GJ Sentinel 12/9/12 Waiting on Winter (Dec 9, 2012)
GJ Sentinel 12/9/12 Parks and Wildlife studying from the sky (Dec 9, 2012)
ASPEN TIMES 12/4/2012 Purchase proposed for last water in Ruedi (Dec 4, 2012)
Colorado Backcountry Conservation Areas 12-4-12 (Dec 4, 2012)
EcoFlight flew our partner organization Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and members of the press to bring attention to the concept of Backcountry Conservation Areas in northwestern Colorado. We also took a look at nearby oil and gas development and discussed potential wildlife impacts of a proposed new development scenario in the BLM’s Oil and Gas Resource Management Plan Amendment (RMPA). The overflight was helped to supplement outreach efforts for public open house focusing on the wildlife aspects of the RMPA.
FOX NEWS 11/13/12 Outdoor Industry Pushes National Monument (Nov 13, 2012)
NBC LATINO - 11/9/2012 Salazar Commended for Saving the Colorado (Nov 9, 2012)
THE BULLETIN 11/6/12 - Bend High grad gets a new perspective (Nov 6, 2012)
GRIST - 11/4/2012 Oil Rig Wasteland (Nov 4, 2012)
ELEPHANT JOURNAL - 10/31/2012 Flying the Colorado River (Oct 31, 2012)
Captain's Video Log - Fall 2012 (Oct 31, 2012)

Come fly along with us on another Captain's log.  The day was CAVU (Ceiling Absolute, Visibility Unlimited) a righteous day for flying, nary a bump to be felt and with a favorable groundspeed this video is only about 2 minutes long.

BIG HORN MTN RADIO - 10/30/2012 More from the EcoFlight (Oct 30, 2012)
GRAND JUNCTION FREE PRESS - 10/26/12 Reflections of My EcoFlight (Oct 26, 2012)
GRAND JUNCTION FREE PRESS - 10/26/12 A Fresh Air Perspective (Oct 26, 2012)
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE- 10/24/12 Oil Sands Can Proceed Without Permit (Oct 24, 2012)
THIS AMERICAN LAND - 10/24/12 EcoFlight (Oct 24, 2012)
DAILY CAMERA - 10/24/12 CU-Boulder students take flight to learn (Oct 24, 2012)
STEAMBOAT TODAY - 10/23/12 Importance of Rhetoric (Oct 23, 2012)
GRAND JUNCTION SENTINEL - 10/19/12 Extreme drought conditions (Oct 19, 2012)
Steamboat TV 18 - 10/17/2012 EcoFlight Lands in Craig (Oct 19, 2012)
KOB 4 - 10/17/2012 Students Get View of Power Plants from Above (Oct 17, 2012)
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