Rocky Mountain News

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 

Crews are working to rescue a 57-year-old man who fell while mountaineering in Rocky Mountain National Park and spent 24 hours lying at the base of Ptarmigan Glacier.

Bark beetles continue to be active within Rocky Mountain National Park, impacting large numbers of conifer trees.  The park has already started applying an insecticide to up to 5,000 high value trees to protect them from bark beetles.

With only about 20 to 25 bears left in Rocky Mountain National Park — considered one of the lowest densities of black bears in the country — the Park is taking steps to save them by changing human behavior.  Starting May 1, overnight campers will be required to store food in bear-resistant food canisters, or bear vaults, when exploring the backcountry.

When I climbed Longs Peak in 2007(click to read about it), I was amazed to see such a large group as 20 youths riding horses to the famous view of Chasm Lake in Colorado's 

President Barack Obama signed a sweeping public-lands bill into law Monday, setting aside more than 2 million acres as part of the largest expansion of wilderness preservation in 15 years

President Barack Obama signed a sweeping public lands bill into law Monday that designates almost all of Rocky Mountain National Park as a wilderness area, 35 years after the Nixon administration first proposed doing so.In a signing ceremony in the ornate East Room of the White House, Obama singled out the Colorado landmark, which attracts 3 million visitors a year, as an example of a project that competing interests can support.

Beginning in mid May, a dedicated group of volunteers known as the Bighorn Brigade will be back on duty. This volunteer group helps staff the Sheep Lakes Information Station in Horseshoe Park, one of the premier wildlife viewing areas in Rocky Mountain National Park. Volunteers furnish information to park visitors about bighorn sheep and other park resources, protect the migration of bighorn sheep across Hwy. 34, and educate visitors on ethical wildlife viewing.

An omnibus lands bill carrying Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness legislation passed the U.S. House on Thursday, and is headed to the President. 

An omnibus lands bill carrying Rocky Mountain National Park wilderness legislation passed the U.S. House on Thursday, and is headed to the President. 

Rocky Mountain National Park plans to replace the 49-year-old entrance station on the west side of the park.A plan outlined Wednesday calls for building a new station about 90 feet north of the current one. Improvements would include better ventilation and safety for park employees, making the station comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and adding an express lane for visitors with electronic passes.

It had taken years and much negotiating, but Colorado's congressional delegation had come to agreement on the wisdom of giving Rocky Mountain National Park the protection of an official wilderness designation.Or so it seemed.

When it comes to coyotes, Charlie Gindler, rancher and lands specialist with the Larimer County Department of Natural Resources, straddles the fence - laughing at them at times and shooting at them other times. 

 Extensive beetle mitigation work continues at a variety of locations in Rocky Mountain National Park, including Glacier Basin Campground, on the east side of the park.