Good Earth – The Durango Herald

Earth Briefs

Open house offers info on greenhouses The “High Tunnel Open House” will be held from 3 to 5 p.m. Sept. 13 at Rohwer Farms, 10591 Road BB in Cortez. Hosts Heidi and Judy...

DATE: Sep 9, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Farm, restaurant relationship exemplifies benefits of local food

Twin Buttes, Carver’s relationship exemplifies benefits of local food

DATE: Sep 9, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Earth Briefs

Growing Partners hires new director Growing Partners of Southwest Colorado announces that Joni Podschun has been named executive director. Podschun grew up in rural Ka...

DATE: Sep 2, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

4th-graders get free pass to national park system

Your fourth-grader is your family’s free pass to the nation’s national parks. The federal government is giving annual passes to fourth-graders and their families, an effort to ge...

DATE: Sep 2, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Should Colorado reintroduce wolves?

Top conservation biologist advocates for return of top predator

DATE: Sep 2, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Invasive tamarisk tough to eradicate

Scourge of Southwest remarkably resilient

DATE: Aug 26, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Earth Briefs

Mountain Studies to test plant spray The Mountain Studies Institute of Durango and Silverton has joined with Terra Environmental to study the effects of Terra’s EnviroNow, an orga...

DATE: Aug 26, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Warming seas rising faster than predicted, NASA scientists say

Global sea levels are rising faster than predicted as a result of warming temperatures driven by burning fossil fuels, according to researchers who now say an increase of at least three feet...

DATE: Aug 26, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Scientists create 360-degree images of Hawaii coral reefs

HONOLULU – Alongside the lush and steep windward coast of the Hawaii island of Oahu researchers are creating images of coral reefs that are in danger of dying because of warm ocean waters. ...

DATE: Aug 19, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Earth Briefs

Tree farmer earns praise for work The Colorado State Tree Farm Committee has recognized Archuleta County tree farmer Peter Prina as the 2015 Colorado Outstanding Tree Farmer of th...

DATE: Aug 19, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Lobster population is shifting north; ocean warming blamed

PORTLAND, Maine – The lobster population has crashed to the lowest levels on record in southern New England while climbing to heights never before seen in the cold waters off Maine and other...

DATE: Aug 18, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Air pollution killing 4,000 in China a day, U.S. study finds

WASHINGTON – Air pollution is killing about 4,000 people in China a day, accounting for 1 in 6 premature deaths in the world’s most populous country, a new study finds. Physicists...

DATE: Aug 13, 2015 | CATEGORY: Good Earth

Photos: Parade launches 2024 Connie Mack World Series in FarmingtonFans line street as players march on Main Damp, overcast weather cooled off the crowd lining Main Street on Friday morning for the 2024 Connie Mack World Series Parade. The hourlong parade began shortly after 10 a.m. in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

Fans line street as players march on Main

Photos: ‘Mini Takes the States’ tour stops in DurangoHundreds of Mini Cooper vehicles occupy Fort Lewis College on Sunday; Participants began the journey in Albuquerque and will finish in Seattle

Hundreds of Mini Cooper vehicles occupy Fort Lewis College on Sunday; Participants began the journey in Albuquerque and will finish in Seattle

Photos: Boxing returns to DurangoAnimus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic at the Durango Main Mall on Saturday

Animus on the Animas: 1st Annual Durango Boxing Classic at the Durango Main Mall on Saturday

Photos and video: Going for the gold by devouring piesContestants try their best to win the Oscar’s Pie Eating Contest on Friday in Durango

Contestants try their best to win the Oscar’s Pie Eating Contest on Friday in Durango

Photo: Fireworks light the sky in DurangoDurango celebrates Independence Day on Thursday night

Durango celebrates Independence Day on Thursday night

Photos: Working with woodLocal craftsman uses wood joinery, rather than nails or screws to construct homes and other structures

Local craftsman uses wood joinery, rather than nails or screws to construct homes and other structures

2024 Fourth of July Parade draws crowd Thursday in downtown Durango

Photos: Downtown Durango hosts Fourth of July ParadeDowntown sidewalks were full for Thursday’s celebration

Downtown sidewalks were full for Thursday’s celebration

Durango Rotary Club, Parks and Recreation department host Independence Day events

Law enforcement conducts active threat training at Park Elementary SchoolResidents may see and hear police activity Thursday and Friday

Law enforcement agencies across Southwest Colorado sent officers to participate in active threat training this week at Park Elementary School in Durango. Those in the neighborhood can expect police vehicles parked on the premises, officers in tactical gear conducting exercises inside and outside the school, and signs advising that training is in progress. The sounds of shouting, airsoft weapons and the popping of a starter pistol will also be audible near the school, said Karla Sluis, spokeswoman for Durango School District 9-R.Sluis said that members of the school district’s safety department have gone door-to-door with flyers notifying residents around Park Elementary School about the training.

Hosted by the Durango Police Department and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office, this week’s voluntary training invited officers from law enforcement agencies across a five-county region of Southwest Colorado encompassing La Plata, Archuleta, San Juan, Montezuma and Dolores counties.

La Plata County Sheriff’s Office deputy Durango Police Department Deputy Mike Latham, lead instructor for this week's training, said Wednesday and the first half of Thursday were mostly preparatory, teaching officers the school’s layout and devising scenarios, whereas the latter half of Thursday and Friday residents should anticipate some noise as active threat scenarios play out.

Latham said active threat training teaches officers proper protocol during active threat scenarios, especially in densely populated areas where they have become increasingly common.Park Elementary School is not the only Durango School District facility law enforcement has conducted active threat training. Latham said schools lend themselves well to this sort of training because, “It gives us all kinds of doors to work on, different rooms, different scenarios we can run. We can pretend it’s a mall with nice big corridors, we can even pretend it’s an outdoor area in the gymnasium.”Latham has participated in active threat training multiple times in the past and described the drills as exhilarating and nerve-wracking. He said one of the training’s main goals is teaching officers how to manage stress and remain calm with lives on the line.

“I take a pulse oximeter in the morning and get a baseline on their heart rates,” Latham said. “And sometimes, just before they’re about to engage a threat, I say ‘Timeout.’ Put it (the oximeter) on there, and their heart rate’s skyrocketed to 140, 150, 160 just in training.”

Latham said throughout his career active threat training has evolved to become safer for officers and fall in line with increasingly professional police standards.“When I first started we were just running into halls and rooms hoping for the best,” Latham said. “Now the tactic is still to get there, still stop the taking of lives, but tactics are much better than they were 20 years ago.”

Residents may see and hear police activity Thursday and Friday

Earth Briefs

Farm, restaurant relationship exemplifies benefits of local food

Earth Briefs

4th-graders get free pass to national park system

Should Colorado reintroduce wolves?

Invasive tamarisk tough to eradicate

Earth Briefs

Warming seas rising faster than predicted, NASA scientists say

Scientists create 360-degree images of Hawaii coral reefs

Earth Briefs

Lobster population is shifting north; ocean warming blamed

Air pollution killing 4,000 in China a day, U.S. study finds

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