Rocky Mountain News

-->With winter beginning to grip Rocky Mountain National Park, National Park Service researchers are beginning a five-month survey of the park's elk population, which has been decreasing during the past decade or so.

A study says increasing nitrogen pollution is turning algae in Rocky Mountain National Park's alpine lakes into junk food for fish. Arizona State University professor James Elser, the study's lead author, says the effect of airborne nitrogen on once-pristine lakes in the park is greater than previously believed. The nitrogen comes from vehicle exhaust, fertilizer used on farms and livestock feed lots.

Planes and helicopters will fly over Rocky Mountain National Park over the next five months to estimate the number of elk in a herd that park officials want to cull. A plane and helicopter will fly at different altitudes to enhance the monitoring. The National Park Service and the U.S. Geological Survey are working together on the study. Park officials have a 20-year plan that includes using sharpshooters to cull the herd. They want to thin the herd because overgrazing by elk has nearly wiped out aspens and willows — prime habitat for beavers and birds.

Weekend vacationers, hunters and traveling tourists be forewarned: Road closure season is here. Several popular high-elevation routes in Rocky Mountain National Park and Roosevelt National Forest are now closed off for the season.In Rocky Mountain National Park, Fall River Road is gated off for the season, park spokeswoman Kyle Patterson said.

A hike through the wilds of Rocky Mountain National Park or the Comanche Peak Wilderness yields the sound of rustling leaves or the calming white noise of a swift stream — sounds the National Park Service views as natural resources to be protected.

National parks in Colorado will be on the Natural Resources Defense Council's list of America's 25 parks most vulnerable to climate change.The NRDC and Stephen Saunders of the Denver-based Rocky Mountain Climate Organization on Thursday will issue a report on the impacts of climate change on national parks. Those impacts include melting glaciers, loss of plant life and rising sea levels, according to an NRDC statement.

Trail Ridge Road remains closed today due to winter weather, officials at Rocky Mountain National Park said, with drifts of more than a foot deep on the road. The road closure is currently between Many Parks Curve and the Colorado River Trailhead. At 9:30 a.m. it was snowing at the Colorado River trailhead on the park's west side.Read more...

Standing next to a birch shedding its yellow leaves in a sprinkling of fall foliage last week, pre-dawn mist hovered over the heart of Moraine Park, shrouding the bull elk that were eerily piercing the crisp air with high-pitched bugles. Peering through the dim light and mist, the steady sun rose slowly, unveiling the scene. Three big bulls in different areas of the park warned each other with these squeals to stay away from their harem of cows with which they intended to breed. Growing light methodically burned off the mist.

Oh, the mountains are the keepers of my joy. And hiking in Colorado at Rocky Mountain National Park in the fall is the best. Following are two of my favorite fall hikes. Remember: Consult a map before heading out and invite a friend or two along.

If you're heading up to Rocky Mountain National Park this week, be prepared for some significant delays on park roads.

This beautiful glacier is one of the largest in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), and is the easiest to climb. It also serves as the headwaters to Andrews Creek. Andrews Glacier averages a modest 20 degrees, and in good snow conditions this is an easy climb or line of descent to or from the Continental Divide.

At first, Ray Rafiti thought a black bear spooked the elk he was photographing at Rocky Mountain National Park above treeline near Trail Ridge Road last Friday.Too agile to be a black bear, he said, the animal looked more like the wolverine that wandered into Colorado from Wyoming in mid-June.

New shuttle buses will go to into service Saturday in Estes Park to transport people around the community.Route maps are available throughout town at lodging properties and at retail stores on Elkhorn Avenue and the Estes Park Visitors Center.

Hannah Marketing Group completed its Branding and Marketing Assessment of Estes Park for the Local Marketing District (LMD) recently, and it is well worth a read. The LMD now has a good road map for future action. Recommendations include researching in detail why people come to and stay in Estes Park, increasing publicity, increasing CVB staff time devoted to group, and retaining a branding company. You can find a link to the report at www.marketestes.org to see all the recommendations.

Bear problems aren't unique to