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Colorado - Thu. 07/09/26 |
A Free Business Publication from Alpine Bank
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ALL THAT SMOKE ACROSS COLORADO: BABYLON FIRE IN UTAH TOPS 100,000 ACRES
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Currently, the largest wildfire burning in the U.S. is the Babylon Fire just 25 miles southwest of Monticello, Utah, which makes it less than 40 miles from the Colorado border. The fire was very active Monday, burning east and northeast and it has covered more than 100,000 acres. Firefighters in the Monticello area focused on protecting buildings in and around the town’s area, assessing homes, infrastructure, and important facilities. All National Forest lands, roads, and trails in the Monticello Ranger District are closed to the public. The Needles District of Canyonland National Park is also fully closed. The Bureau of Land Management has also temporarily shut all BLM-managed lands west of Harts Draw Road and north through the Indian Creek Corridor to Indian Creek Falls. This includes Shay Mesa, Beef Basin, Dark Canyon, and the Sweet Alice Wilderness Study Area.
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WAYMO ROBOTAXI CLOSER TO DENVER SERVICE, WITH EMPLOYEE-ONLY TRIPS
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On Wednesday, autonomous vehicle company Waymo announced it will begin offering service for employees with its driverless robotaxis. Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said the employee-only trips are a precursor to “opening the service to the public”, which will happen “soon.” Further, Karp said, “Because an iconic city deserves an equally iconic fleet, Denver riders will be among the first to experience the Ojai.” That’s the minivan-like robotaxi built by Chinese automaker Geely. Waymo estimates that as of March, its vehicles have driven 220.6 million miles without a human driver. Waymo selected Denver last fall to be one of its next launch cities. It was already offering rides to the public in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. Denver was picked for its cold-weather places, along with New York and Washington, D.C. The new Ojai has sixth-generation Waymo technology and was designed for snowier conditions.
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SANTA FE DRIVE IN DENVER WILL BE CLOSED THIS WEEKEND
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Motorists and residents are advised that Santa Fe Drive between Evans Avenue and Florida Avenue will be closed in both directions from midnight Saturday until 5 a.m. Monday. Work crews will be installing main spans for a new bike and pedestrian bridge at West Jewell Avenue, with two large cranes to set the spans in place for the bridge, which will allow pedestrians and cyclists to safely cross over Santa Fe and the BNSF and Regional Transportation District rail lines at Jewell Avenue. A large portion of Santa Fe Drive will be closed in Denver this weekend due to construction. Northbound traffic will be detoured east on Evans Avenue, north on Broadway and then west on Mississippi Avenue to return to Santa Fe. Southbound traffic will be detoured west onto Florida Avenue, south on Platte River Drive and then east onto Evans Avenue to return to Santa Fe.
Additionally, the West Evans Avenue on-ramp leading to northbound Santa Fe will close at noon on Friday and will remain closed until 5 a.m. on Monday. During the closure, RTD will provide shuttle bus services between Englewood and the Interstate 25-Broadway station in place of the C Line trains, which will be shut down during the bridge installation. The southbound Santa Fe off-ramp to West Evans Avenue will also remain closed until Sept. 11 as crews build new sidewalks and other concrete work as part of the project.
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BLACK CANYON OF THE GUNNISON SHOWING REBIRTH AFTER LAST YEAR’S FIRE
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It was just over a year ago, July 10, 2025, that dry lightning ignited the South Rim Fire in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The fire burned for eight weeks and scorched 4,323 acres. Evidence of the fire is still very apparent in the park today, with charred trees, soil and burned-over bushes visible from the road. However, signs of new life are also abundant, once more providing evidence that fire also produces regeneration. Vibrant wildflowers cover the territory on the Uplands hiking trail. Verdant green plants have emerged below burned Gambel oaks.
Brinnen Carter, Integrated Resource Manager for the park, notes that wildlife has also returned thanks to “deeper-than-expected soils” that allowed grasslands to regenerate quickly. However, it will take time - maybe 40 to 50 years for the pinyon pines and juniper trees to come back on top of the Vernal Mesa. Where the burns are not as severe, Gambel oak may pop back up sooner. Carter has seen other Gambel oak forests, where live root systems remain intact after a fire, recover more quickly. Vegetation may return to a pre-fire appearance within 10 to 15 years, Carter said.
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OLYMPIC COMMITTEE ELIMINATES NORDIC COMBINED EVENT FROM 2030 WINTER GAMES
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The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that it was cutting the Nordic combined from the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in the French Alps. The Nordic combined, in which participants compete in cross-country skiing and ski jumping, has been an event since the Winter Games debuted in 1924. The elimination of the event hits especially hard in Steamboat Springs. Steamboat Springs has a long history of Nordic combined athletes on the World Cup, World Championship and Olympic stages. Nordic combined skiers from Steamboat include Todd Lodwick, Johnny Spillane, Billy Demong, Brett Camerota, Todd Wilson, Ben Berend, Taylor Fletcher, Bryan Fletcher, Jasper Good, Ryan Heckman, Jed Hinkley, Dave Jarrett, Eric Camerota, Gary Crawford, Marvin Crawford, Matt Dayton, Kristoffer Erichsen, Ted Farwell, Kerry Lynch, Tim Tetrault, Carl Van Loan, Gordon Wren and Paul Wegman.
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SUMMIT COUNTY TO RAMP UP FINES FOR FIRE RESTRICTION VIOLATIONS
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The Summit Board of County Commissioners approved on first reading an updated fire ban ordinance at their meeting July 7, with second reading due on July 21. The ordinance has not been updated since 2003, and Sheriff Jaime FitzSimons told the commissioners Tuesday that the update will help bring Summit into alignment with other counties’ fire restriction enforcement, particularly with fines. Currently, the county fines fire restriction violators $150 for their first violation, $500 for their second and $1,000 for their third. Sheriff’s Office deputies can also issue Class 2 misdemeanors and court summons for violations, but the fines are below those of other counties. The proposed ordinance would allow Sheriff’s Office deputies to issue fines of up to $1,000 for any infraction, FitzSimons said. By increasing the fine, the county would look to further deter fire restriction violations.
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DURANGO WILL IMPROVE ROAD/PARKING AT LAKE NIGHTHORSE
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This spring the city of Durango joined with the Federal Highway Administration, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation began a $5.2 million joint infrastructure project to pave about a mile of the access road and the overflow parking lot at Lake Nighthorse. The project, which will pave the access road to the lake’s boat ramp parking lot and completely pave the overflow parking lot, which is currently gravel, is part of the plan by the city of Durango when it took over responsibility for managing the recreational operations of the lake in 2018. The other agencies will split the cost of the project with the city paying $1.2 million. The access road, which extends from the entry, off County Road 210, to the boat ramp parking lot, was initially a gravel road that was chip sealed before the city opened the lake for recreation in 2018.
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WANT TO FLY FISH & ENJOY A LUXURY HOTEL? TRY ONE OF THESE
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Some eight million people in the U.S. went fly fishing each of the last two years. Now, luxury properties are coupling their upscale accommodations with fully outfitted excursions for fishing quality waters. Here are some locations, including one in Colorado:
- Grand Hyatt Vail Resort & Spa in Vail, Colorado: One of the few properties that has quality fly fishing just steps from the front door on Gore Creek. Offerings include guided excursions as well as beginner programming that includes a session in which casting lessons are paired with cocktails.
- One&Only Moonlight Basin in Big Sky, Montana: Opened in November 2025, One&Only’s first U.S. resort occupies 240 acres. It has guided fly-fishing excursions on sought-after rivers and streams, including the Madison and Gallatin rivers.
- The Observatory Sun Valley, A Viceroy Resort in Ketchum, Idaho: Scheduled to open in October in downtown Ketchum, which is the gateway to Sun Valley Resort, this 73-room property sits near the Big Wood River and Silver Creek. A mountain concierge connects guests with local guides for fly fishing.
- Quercus in Gay, Georgia: Set across nearly 4,000 acres along the Flint River, this ranch only started to host overnight guests about two years ago—and recently became Georgia’s first Relais & Châteaux property. The fly-fishing programs include guided trips on private lakes and ponds, along with a “Float and Fish” river excursion.
- Hotel Burg in Leesburg, Virginia: Opened last August, it has 39 rooms across three distinct buildings on King Street in the heart of Leesburg’s Old & Historic District. Excursions on the upper Potomac River are led by Orvis-endorsed guide Scott Penn, who covers the history, flora and fauna of the region along the way.
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ISTANBUL: A TANGO CAPITAL OF THE WORLD?
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Sebastian Jimenez, a former world tango champion who has danced all over the world, was asked to rank the top international destinations for tango dancing. Of course, the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, topped the list, but those following included Rome, Moscow, Seoul and Istanbul. Istanbul? Well, Jimenez was in Istanbul for La Turca Tango Marathon and Championship this month, a three-day festival organized with the city of Buenos Aires as a way to expand tango’s global reach. In addition to social dances and workshops, the event’s main draw was the competition, in which 54 dancers from Turkey, Britain, Italy, Belgium, Russia and elsewhere vied for prizes in six categories.
Tango in Turkey dates back to 1923, when its founder and first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, sought to pull Turks away from their Ottoman past and toward what he considered superior European culture. As part of his quest to model Western sophistication, he took up ballroom dancing and developed a taste for tango.
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GROUP OF SEVEN: CREATORS OF CANADIAN NATIONAL ART MOVEMENT
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Double Seven, that is July 7th, is celebrated as the official Group of Seven Day in Canada. The Group of Seven was Canada’s first internationally recognized national art movement. The landscape artists revolutionized Canada's visual identity, replacing traditional European aesthetics with bold interpretations of the country’s wilderness. The seven artists: FH Varley, Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, AY Jackson, Franz Johnston, Arthur Lismer and JEH MacDonald remain hugely popular today, as does Tom Thomson, a major influence, who died before its official formation. Their most acclaimed paintings, which include Thomson's The Jack Pine, The West Wind and Harris's North Shore, Lake Superior, have become, for many, the national paintings of Canada, truly embodying the country's spirit. How did it come about? It began in the 1910s, with a key element being in 1913, when MacDonald and Harris visited a Scandinavian art exhibition in Buffalo, New York.
The contemporary art at that time of Norway, Sweden and Finland depicted the sparse landscapes of the countries in vivid, bright colors. It was carried forward by Tom Thomson, who painted and sketched the Canadian wilderness during long journeys, including many by canoe, and “started the images of the solitary tree.” Thomson died in 1917 at the age of only 40, but he was the cultural legend that fostered the group, which officially organized in 1920, to define their goal as “to follow in his footsteps.” In classical irony, it was the group’s selection for the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924 that established their credibility. Their display received an extremely positive response in the British press, praising its “distinct Canadian character.” That endorsement from those the artists were trying to distance themselves from caused the movement to “suddenly become popular in Canada.”
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2026 WORLD’S MOST LIVABLE CITIES
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The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2026 Global Liveability Index was released this week. The annual ranking assesses 173 cities worldwide on "liveability" criteria, including: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure to identify those offering the highest quality of life.
Here are the 2026 top 10 Most Livable Cities:
- Copenhagen
- Vienna
- Melbourne
- Sydney
- Zurich
- Geneva
- Osaka
- Adelaide
- Vancouver
- Tokyo
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MARKET UPDATE - 07/08/2026 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 07/02/2026)
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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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