In this week’s stories, I noticed a general theme I’ve seen before: the importance of volunteers in our foothills.

Volunteers are critical to the success of three of the entities featured in this week’s Courier: Staunton State Park, the Evergreen Park & Recreation District, and the Conifer Area Council.

And all of these organizations have a huge impact on the area’s quality of life. More on the role volunteers play in an upcoming story.

One thing that surprised me while reporting this week: Even for a dedicated state park supporter, the increase in Staunton’s numbers was startling.

As Manager Zach Taylor said, it’s a good problem to have. And it shows that in Colorado, the popularity of and appreciation for the outdoors and state parks wasn’t just a pandemic blip. If anything, the pandemic got people hooked on all that the state has to offer.

Why it matters: It proves what we already know: Coloradoans love the outdoors. All of Colorado and Jefferson County’s parks and trails are seeing high use. Jeffco alone offers over 58,0000 acres dedicated to nature.

And then there are our 43 state parks, all of which are experiencing sustained high visitation following the pandemic surge. So while development continues and traffic snarls our highways, Colorado is dedicated to preserving vast swaths of land marked by little more than trails, places to which we can still retreat to find peace and quiet.

What happened: In a late-breaking story, Mountain Foothills Rotary reported the Ice Melt Barrel fell into Lake Evergreen on Thursday (March 5) afternoon. We’ll publish the exact time once we hear it.

Why it matters: Money raised through the event is a major source of funding for Mountain Foothills Rotary, benefitting local nonprofits like INSPIRE, EChO, and Crutches 4 Africa.

What to know: Local fire agencies challenged a select group of Colorado School of Mines students to solve what has so-far proven an unsolvable issue: What to do with forest biomass. That’s not just the debris left in the wake of mitigation, but pine needles and other naturally occurring organic matter on the forest floor that can contribute to wildland fire danger.

Next step: Students were given six weeks to come up with a solution, which could help not just local agencies but forest management offices around the world.

The Sweet 16 round was rather tough on teams in our news area, but a handful of boys and girls basketball teams in Class 6A and 5A are hanging on. Read the story here➡

As the school district considers asking voters for more money, teachers’ unions say they won’t support such a question need binding guarantees on where the money will go. Read the story here➡

Eric Martinez relaunched his acting career with a sugar-sweet holiday movie. In his latest role of several since then, he’s playing a zombie. All of it has convinced him that Evergreen could have a starring role in future productions, and helped prompt the formation of a movie production company.

Friday, Saturday & Sunday:

Monday:

Tuesday:

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