Opinion Columns - The Durango Herald

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A note on history: Paying for the beneficial public services that individuals and states cannot provide

Fellow citizens and working-class taxpayers, we have watched several financial crises unfold that the government has helped solve, all being paid for by us. As we watched the powers in Washi...

DATE: Jul 9, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Wildfire threats are growing, LPEA is acting and we hope you will too

Wildfire is a familiar reality in Colorado. We’ve dealt with the smoke and the unease it brings. As fire seasons become longer, hotter and less predictable, the risk feels less distant and m...

DATE: Jul 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Washington’s budget cuts are hurting real people in our district

When policymakers in Washington talk about “efficiency,” “reforms” or “cost savings,” it’s easy to forget who pays the price. But here in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, the price is ...

DATE: Jul 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Fixing mismanagement doesn’t mean selling off our public lands

Public lands should remain public; there’s no question about that. As someone who deeply values our public lands and the opportunities they provide for hiking, ranching and economic developm...

DATE: Jul 6, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Wildflowers are early again this year. That’s good, right?

We’re on track to a 9-degree rise in average temperatures. That has profound implications for the Colorado River. Spring came early this year on the mountain slopes near Crested Butte. David...

DATE: Jul 4, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

‘Home, where’s home?’ Life with partners living with dementia

Our daily lives are comfortable repeated patterns of rituals and responses – fill the coffee pot in the morning, drive to and from work where we may confront multiple challenges needing to b...

DATE: Jul 2, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Cleanup and community progress nine years since the river turned orange

In August 2015, an unplanned release of acid mine drainage from the Gold King Mine turned the Animas River bright orange. It looked horrible – but thankfully, this orange plume was less dama...

DATE: Jun 29, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

What is easy is not always right, or moral and certainly not science-based

On July 7, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioners will discuss the real possibility of killing the entire Copper Creek wolf pack, including pups birthed last spring. Why? Because killing ...

DATE: Jun 29, 2025 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

We owe it to ourselves, one another to pursue a different pathway to peace

Every experience of personal trauma comes with a story. Over time, that story becomes a wounded piece of who we are. Much of the mistreatment we experience in the world happens as we stumble...

DATE: Jun 29, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

Colorado’s public lands can and must support both conservation and energy

Public lands are essential to Colorado’s identity, including economically, environmentally and culturally. They support everything from hiking and hunting to grazing and energy production. Y...

DATE: Jun 27, 2025 | CATEGORY: Guest Columns

Two illogical GOP issues: The Electoral College and Second Amendment

Ah, the Red/Blue political fractures in the United States today. I certainly can relate as during my lifetime I have bounced from voting for Republicans to Democrats. My family actively supp...

DATE: Jun 25, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion

The divisions that continue to widen only weaken us as a country

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” This quote is usually attributed to Albert Einstein talking about the horror of World War II, particularly ...

DATE: Jun 22, 2025 | CATEGORY: Opinion