Glenwood Springs–Budgets will take up a good portion of tonight’s Glenwood Springs City Council meeting. With slight improvements in sales tax revenue, the council may have a little more money in the coffers for 2013. The council will also discuss a budget for next year’s tourism and marketing plan. City officials are also expected to vote on a requirement for sprinkler systems in new homes. Tonight’s meeting begins at 6.
Glenwood Springs–Dry conditions and careless people are a bad combination in the backcountry. Two human-caused fires broke out this week in the White River National Forest. One fire in the Flat Tops Wilderness was sparked by an unattended campfire north of Glenwood Springs. The South Falls fire has burned a little over 20 acres and is close to being fully contained. A smaller blaze, called the Lily Pad fire was sparked by someone’s crudely built campfire that was left unattended. According to forest service spokesman Bill Kight, that fire outside of Thomasville was fully contained after burning a couple of trees. Forest service and fire officials say these fires should serve as reminders to hunters to be extra careful in the backcountry as conditions are still extremely dry.
Mancos–The U.S. Forest Service is calling for evacuations of at least 30 to 40 homes threatened by a wildfire in southwestern Colorado. Fire officials said Wednesday that the fast-moving fire six miles southeast of Mancos is burning on more than 100 acres near where the Weber Fire burned earlier this year. Meanwhile, crews are trying to keep another fire in southwest Colorado from spreading toward houses at Vallecito (vy-uh-SEE’-toh) Reservoir. Fire officials say high winds pushed the fire toward the reservoir in the afternoon, and about 20 homes have received pre-evacuation notices. Air and ground crews weren’t able to attack the fire directly Wednesday. It is estimated at 200 to 250 acres. In northern Colorado, Rocky Mountain National Park officials say activity at the Fern Lake Fire has remained low.
PRICE, Utah (AP) – Three Colorado men have been fined and banned from hunting in Utah after a doe and buck were killed illegally last fall. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources says Ostan Ware, Ryan Hagin and Kody Kean didn’t have proper permits for either animal. Officials say the men posted pictures of the dead deer online, and left the doe to rot. A tipster calling the state’s Turn-in-a-Poacher hotline reported the incident, which wardens say happened in November about three miles away from the Colorado border in Utah’s Book Cliffs.
The three pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of wanton destruction of protected wildlife or aiding in the crime.
Ware and Hagin are suspended from big game hunting in Utah and 37 other states for 10 years. Kean is suspended for five years.
