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Colorado - Thu. 06/25/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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LEGISLATURE PROVIDES FUNDING FOR WILDLIFE HIGHWAY CROSSINGS
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State highway and law enforcement officials know that one of the most serious problems on the state’s roads is wildlife. Last year, there were 7,770 auto wrecks with wild animals, and that was counting only those incidents that were reported. Since the 1960s, Colorado has built wildlife passageways, i.e., overpasses, underpasses and culverts, etc., and there are approximately 75 wildlife crossings in place. The Colorado State Legislature has now passed an act to fund wildlife crossings, with Senate Bill 26-141, which has been signed by the governor, creating a dedicated funding source for wildlife crossings, providing for the planning, engineering and building stages. The bill authorizes an optional $5 collision prevention fee to be collected during vehicle registrations beginning in 2027. The revenue, an expected $4 million annually, will be credited to two funds: CDOT’s Bridge and Tunnel Enterprise Fund and a CPW fund for maintaining wildlife habitat connectivity.
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AAA REMINDER: YOUR CAR CAN CAUSE WILDFIRES
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As the hot weather has increased the wildfire danger across Colorado to an even higher level, after the dry winter, in an announcement issued last week, the American Automobile Association urged motorists to treat vehicles as potential fire starters or preventers during the fire season. “On a red-flag day, dry grass doesn’t need a campfire or a downed line to catch and spread. All it takes is a single spark, including from a car,” said Skyler McKinley, AAA regional director of public affairs. More than 90 percent of Colorado wildfires trace to human causes, while lightning accounts for only about 7 percent of fires, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
The National Interagency Fire Center tracks vehicles as a distinct ignition source. Common triggers include dragging trailer chains or metal parts that scrape pavement, driving on flat tires or exposed rims, hot catalytic converters igniting dry vegetation and worn brakes. The association said drivers should secure tow chains in an X pattern under the hitch, inspect undercarriages for hanging parts, properly inflate tires, avoid parking or driving over dry grass and pine duff, and maintain brakes and exhaust systems. The organization also recommended carrying a fire extinguisher and postponing nonessential towing on high-risk days.
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NEW CU STUDY: MOOSE ARE NATIVE TO COLORADO
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife, as well as the National Park Service, have maintained that historically, moose are not native to Colorado, but have been only transient until their introduction to the state in the 1970s. However, a study published this month, authored by William Taylor, a University of Colorado anthropology professor and curator of archaeology for the CU Museum of Natural History, states that “without a shadow of doubt” moose were always established in Colorado. Taylor, and colleagues, provided evidence of moose in the state from newspaper articles, databases, museum collections, photos, journals and Native traditions that there were references to moose in the state since 1850, a quarter century before Colorado became a state.
Taylor also looked at records from archeological sites around Colorado, which uncovered reports of moose at Jurgens, near Greeley, dating back 9,000 years ago. Moose bones have also been identified near Mesa Verde National Park, dating back 1,000 years. Taylor’s published study can be found at a site accessed through the link below.
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IT’S NOT RIDE THE ROCKIES, BUT COLORADO’S RIDE IS A MULTI-DAY EVENT FOR CYCLISTS
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For decades, Coloradans, as well as out-of-state cyclists waited each year to sign up for Ride the Rockies, the multi-day, multi-town cycling tour of the state. Ride the Rockies ended in 2023, but Bill Plock, organizer of the last Ride the Rockies, now is the leader of Colorado’s Ride. With his experience in organizing the huge Ride the Rockies, Plock realized a smaller event with more community engagement was a better option. He started Colorado’s Ride in 2024 and there is a cap of 350 cyclists, and the 2026 event is Aug. 9-14. It starts and ends in Crested Butte, with stops in Buena Vista, Salida and Gunnison. It is five days of cycling, 303 miles, with 19,100 feet of climbing, including Cottonwood Pass and Monarch Pass. For complete information, and registration (there still are spots open), go to coloradosride.com.
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DENVER AN ICE CREAM CAPITAL? 3 SHOPS IN TOP 50 MOST COVETED LOCATIONS
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Yelp just released its list of the top 50 most coveted ice cream destinations in the U.S. and there were three from Denver. Denver’s top spot, and No. 8 on Yelp’s “most saved” list, was Little Man Ice Cream’s flagship outlet at 2620 16th St. It is a notable milk jug-shaped store. Another Little Man store, at 3506 12th Avenue in Congress Park, was ranked No. 38. The 40-year-old classic Bonnie Brae Ice Cream (in a location that has been an ice cream destination since 1945 at 799 S. University Blvd.) also made the Top 50 at No. 47. Yelp compiled its list based on which stores had the most “saves” or “bookmarks” among its users, with added weight for star ratings and number of reviews.
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CHINA NOW HAS THE WORLD’S FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTER
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The Top500 supercomputer ranking was released this week and China’s LineShine system was ranked in the No. 1 position. The Chinese supercomputer was able to calculate 22 percent faster than the No. 2 contender, El Capitan at California’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Tennis-court-sized supercomputers are used for frontier scientific research and problems such as predicting hurricanes and determining where oil deposits lie. They also have military applications. The U.S. government uses El Capitan to help maintain its nuclear-weapons stockpile, among other tasks. The U.S., China and Japan have long battled for the crown as the fastest machine.
A Chinese machine won for the first time in 2010. LineShine, built by the National Supercomputing Center in Shenzhen, relies on central processing units developed in China, instead of graphics processing units, or GPUs, which power most of the leading supercomputers today. The machine also uses other homegrown technologies behind its memory, networking and cooling systems.
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“READY TOGETHER”: INFORMATION MEETING ON ASPEN AIRPORT CLOSURE NEXT SUMMER
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Officials from the airport, Pitkin County and the Aspen Chamber Resort Association presented the current progress that the community continuity regional leadership committee has made on planning for airport closure disruptions during a joint work session between the Pitkin Board of County Commissioners and the Aspen City Council on Monday night. It was the first presentation on the planning for the airport closure and focused on transportation options, including ground transportation, RFTA, Bustang, Amtrak and the Eagle County Airport. The other major focus was on worker housing. The public is invited to a public information meeting on July 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
In order to ensure community concerns and questions get addressed, the public is asked to submit questions in advance of the meeting at a site accessed through the link below. While the event is free, space is limited and the event is currently full. Interested individuals can put their name on a waitlist. The event will also be broadcast live on GrassRoots TV and YouTube, allowing community members throughout the region to participate remotely, with a recording available for on-demand viewing following the event. For more information, visit aspenairport.com/communityevents.
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USFS CONVERTS TO PAID CAMPING AT HOMESTAKE ROAD SITE
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The camping sites along Homestake Road used to be labeled by the White River National Forest as “dispersed camping,” which is the designation for National Forest locations where people can camp, but are not official campgrounds. In the Homestake Road location, the impact of camping in more sensitive stream and wetland areas caused the USFS to turn it into an official campground of some 46 individual campsites managed by the White River Forest’s campground concessionaire. The Homestake Valley Campground includes 44 individual campsites at $20 per day and two group sites at $80 per day. The new camping fees will cover cleaning the campsites and fire rings, managing and collecting trash, maintaining and replacing infrastructure, and making visitor contacts. Visitors will be able to pay for the campsites with cash or check at the kiosks located near the start of Homestake Road and across from the Gold Park Campground.
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JAPAN INCREASES FEE FOR VISAS FOR MORE THAN 100 COUNTRIES
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The administration of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi announced last week that Japan will raise the price of tourist visas by more than 400 percent for travelers from more than 100 countries starting in July. The increase will go from about USD$18 to $93 for a single-entry visa and from $37 to $186 for multiple entries. Included in the countries subject to the increase are China, India and Vietnam, which were among Japan’s largest sources of visitors last year. Tourists from the United States and some 70 other countries will not have to pay the new fees because of visa exemptions. In 2028, Japan plans to roll out an electronic system for visa-exempt travelers known as Jesta, the fee for which has not yet been set.
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WAYS TO AVOID LONG LINES AT EUROPE’S AIRPORTS
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Just as Europe is overheating with soaring temperatures, so too long lines are taking over Europe’s airports as summer travel heats up as passengers are dealing with the new program called the Entry/Exit System, or EES, which has been a leisure and business travel disaster. EES requires all first-time visitors to countries in the European Union and Schengen area (the open borders area encompassing 29 European countries) to register biometrics (fingerprints or eye scans) at automated kiosks on their first point of arrival, whether leaving the airport or often when changing planes, especially within the region. This data is supposed to be stored for three years and make future travel faster and ultimately increase efficiency and speed things up, but right now all it seems to be producing is long lines and angry travelers.
There have been delays of one to four hours reported in Milan, Italy, with other bottlenecks at major airports in Greece, the Netherlands, France, Germany and Portugal. Some repeat visitors are being told to register again, even though this is exactly opposite the purpose of EES. In many cases, repeat visitors who have successfully registered still have to wait in line for kiosks with all the first timers, saving almost nothing. And in many cases the machines just don’t work.
Other than not going to Europe this summer, here are some tips for dealing with EES:
- Understand there is no Android system for pre-registration
- For those with an iPhone, pre-register through Travel Europe Pre-Registration for EES app
- If you are transferring through an airport, give serious consideration to booking a long connection time or stay overnight to ensure you do not miss connections because of long EES lines
- To avoid connection issues, fly non-stop from the U.S. to your intended destination
- If not flying non-stop consider making your transfer in Istanbul, a hub not affected by EES
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MARKET UPDATE - 06/24/2026 Close
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(Courtesy of Alpine Bank Wealth Management*)
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Canadian dollar (per U.S. dollar)
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Mexican peso (per U.S. dollar)
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30-year fixed mortgage rate (Freddie Mac 06/18/2026)
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*Not FDIC insured. May lose value. Not guaranteed by the bank.
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Alpine Bank is an independent, employee-owned organization with headquarters in Glenwood Springs and banking offices across Colorado's Western Slope, mountains and Front Range. Alpine Bank serves customers with retail, business, wealth management*, mortgage and electronic banking services. Learn more at alpinebank.com.
*Alpine Bank Wealth Management services are not FDIC insured, may lose value and are not guaranteed by the bank.
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