Bud Werner Library presents “Navigating Medicare” at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Library Hall. 

This is a free talk in the library’s ongoing Health Perspectives series and an opportunity for Medicare enrollees to learn more with the State Health Insurance Assistance Program, which helps Medicare enrollees navigate the Medicare system and provides free, unbiased and individualized information.

Presenter Jonnah Glassman is the SHIP Medicare Coordinator for Routt County, and she returns to the library. She works for Vintage, the local Area Agency on Aging based out of the Northwest Council of Governments. She comes with a wealth of knowledge and has a team of local Medicare Counselors in the area she can connect you with as well.

This Medicare presentation will cover: How to enroll; original Medicare Part A and B; employer insurance and Medicare; Advantage and Medigap Plans; Part D drug Coverage; and open enrollment updates.

A good chance of rain on what is expected to be a cooler Tuesday arrives ahead of a cold front bringing temperatures in the high 60s through Wednesday and Thursday, according to local meteorologist Mike Weissbluth.

Weissbluth, who posts twice-weekly weather forecasts on Sunday and Thursday afternoons to SnowAlarm.com, said another storm is expected to arrive by end-of-day Friday.

“Remnants of Tropical Storm Ileana to our south and an approaching storm over the California and Oregon coasts to our west will dominate our weather through midweek,” Weissbluth posted on Sunday.

“Moisture from Ileana has been carried over our area by winds from the southwest ahead of the West Coast storm,” he added.

Weissbluth noted agreement among weather forecast models over the late-week storm proving “colder and drier,” but disagreement on “how quickly the center moves eastward.”

With the approaching precipitation, the local meteorologist said the season’s first high-elevation snowfall is likely.

“If we don’t see a dusting of snow on Mt. Werner on Wednesday morning, the first high-elevation snowfall of the season may be visible by Saturday morning,” said Weissbluth.

Amber Pougiales is the new executive director of the Community Agriculture Alliance, the organization’s board of directors announced yesterday.

Pougiales grew up in Routt County and holds a B.S. in Environmental Studies and a master’s degree in Natural Resource Management. “Routt County is home to a unique community that is rooted in agriculture and has grown into a renowned recreational hub, yet the small-town values and traditions still shine through,” she said in a CAA news release.

“Amber brings a dynamic combination of education, experience, leadership and passion that make her an excellent match for the position and organization,” said CAA Board Chair Colby Townsend.

CAA has provided leadership and programming to promote and support agriculture in the Yampa Valley since 1999. As community growth and ongoing environmental challenges persist, CAA continues to take on expanded roles that support the region’s agricultural community, food systems and heritage.

In recent years, CAA has grown its local food and agricultural resources programs in an effort to meet increasing demand and support a resilient future for Yampa Valley agriculture.

Routt County Commissioners said last week they would only permit future SBT GRVL events so long as participant numbers are capped at 1,800 riders and prize money is not involved.

The nationally renowned gravel event this year took place Aug. 15-18 and involved over 100 miles of rural county roads and state highways. It also saw the largest participation in SBT GRVL’s five-year history with 3,000 registered riders.

Routt County Sheriff Doug Scherar and Colorado State Patrol Captain Ryan Parker applauded event organizers for steps taken to improve rider behavior this year but told commissioners Monday that 3,000 riders would not be workable for their officers in the future.

“I think if we can slow this down a little bit and work with you guys about maybe bringing this back to 1,000 or 1,500 riders or something that is a little more manageable,” said Parker.

The state police captain for Troop 4B in Craig also explained that his office would not be able to permit the event if prize money is involved because Colorado State Patrol requires competitive races to be run on closed courses.

He said Colorado State Patrol permits between 100 and 150 large events that utilize state highways each year with professional or competitive amateur races requiring an assignment of as many as 80 troopers in order to keep the course closed to all traffic.

“I can’t permit the SBT GRVL race as a race because I can’t bring in that amount of troopers, first off. Second off, they would have to go through the permit office for special events and probably all the way up to the governor’s office,” added Parker.

Scherar said SBT GRVL provided for three off-duty officers to patrol the course this year but could only fill two of those roles.

“It is great to say we want ‘X’ amount of people, whether it is a total of five or six, then the challenge is to find those people that are not on duty that day and want to come in to volunteer for those overtime shifts,” said the sheriff.

Commissioners readily agreed with the sheriff and the state police captain that future SBT GRVL events should not be races where prize money is involved and an entirely closed course is required, but they went back-and-forth on the participant number limit.

While stating 3,000 participants was too many, Commissioner Sonja Macys said she felt that cutting the participant pool in half seemed too harsh.

“I do think it is difficult to cut the ride in half … I think that is hard, I start to question whether or not we are just basically saying go away and I don’t think that is necessarily what we are trying to do by layering on additional requirements,” said Macys.

“Recognizing I am going to be highly unpopular with many of our rural residents … I am not throwing out a number that is necessarily 2,000 but I think 1,500 is a hard cut,” she added.

At Commissioner Tim Redmond’s suggestion, the participant limit for future SBT GRVL events was set at 1,800.

The commissioners stated the conditions discussed would only apply to SBT GRVL and would not change the county’s permitting process for all events.

“I am not in favor of changing the (permitting) document in response to one particular event. I would rather us take this event as an isolated case that had some permit challenges last year and we are providing some additional conditions for which we will accept an application,” said Macys.

Macys said SBT GRVL organizers have said they intend to submit a permit application by the end of the month with a tentative plan to hold next year’s gravel ride at the end of June so as not to conflict with the local haying season or the county fair as it did this year.

She added that she hoped SBT GRVL organizers would not publicize a 2025 event until necessary approvals for the event are secured.

“I would not like to see next year’s advertising, next year’s save the date, next year’s registration until this event is permitted by the needed entities,” said Macys. “I was uncomfortable with that this year, and I think it left us in a very bad spot.”

The Steamboat Springs Chamber will host its second “Pastries and Policies” event at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Community Center.

The free event will feature a question and answer session featuring candidates for the state’s 26^th House District: Republican Nathan Butler and Democrat incumbent Meghan Lukens.

Each candidate will be allotted three minutes for an opening statement and three minutes for a closing statement, with moderated questions in between. Questions can be submitted ahead of the event by sending an email to Cecilia@steamboatchamber.com.

Go to SteamboatChamber.com for more information and to register to attend.

Young black bears trying to survive in Routt County need the cooperative assistance of human residents and business employees, especially now when the bears are hungry and feeding all day to prepare for hibernation.

“Everyone needs to lock it up – trash, homes, businesses, cars,” said Christy Bubenheim, lead educator for Keep Routt Wild Steamboat.

“Lock it, close it, keep it shut; we have to do our part as human beings,” said Community Service Supervisor Krista Amatuzio with the Steamboat Springs Police Department.

Amatuzio said the service officer team has been “quite busy” this time of year including issuing tickets for continued city trash ordinance violations. She said the largest amount of improperly secured trash is dumpsters at multi-family housing complexes and dumpsters used by multiple businesses that must be shut and locked 24-hours a day.

Bubenheim said residents do not realize that up to two dozen bears are living within city limits. The Keep Bears Wild educator noted “a lot of misinformation flowing around Facebook” about bears in Steamboat, so she provided an update on the curious, hungry bruins and one high-profile black bear family.

An older sow with ear tag 1036 was relocated in September 2022 and then walked 46 miles back to Steamboat to have three cubs in summer 2023. The sow swiped at and made contact with a male walker on May 22, so the sow was euthanized per state policy.

Two of that sow’s three cubs were captured and released in southern Routt County. On June 4, the third yearling was found with a severe puncture wound to his stomach. CPW officials deemed that the third yearling could not recover, so that yearling was euthanized.

On June 17, the relocated female yearling with ear tag 1045 was seen back in the Steamboat area from where she was removed and has been spending time in that Walton Creek area, Bubenheim noted. On June 18, the male yearling with ear tag 1041 was seen northwest of Milner where he remained for a few weeks and has not been seen since.

Bubenheim said the yearling bear recently seen in the area of Taco Bell, Central Park Plaza, Safeway and Starbucks is a different bear that “has been getting fed regularly by unsecured trash in this area.”

“When a bear has an endless supply of high-calorie food from humans, it usually does not lead to a good ending,” Bubenheim said.

All residents are asked to help by locking any trash cart or dumpster they may see open — but first, take a photo to report the violation to the community service team by calling dispatch at 970-879-1144.

Although residents ask about the possibility of relocating bears, the history of ear-tagged bears shows that is often unsuccessful.

“There is no place to put them that is a viable place where they either will not get into trouble, get killed by another bear who already has that territory or just return to where they were moved from,” Bubenheim said. “When a bear is taken from a location and the food and trash situation is not fixed, a new bear will just move into that area.”

Bubenheim said the bear shown on cell phone footage Sept. 5 walking in one open door and out another open door at Wild Plum grocer on Village Drive is yet another yearling bear.

“It’s frustrating to have a business with known bear activity being resistant to closing their doors and doing right by the bears,” Bubenheim said.

Black bears in Colorado in hyperphagia will spend up to 20 hours a day trying to find and eat as much food as possible as they fatten up to survive winter, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. More than half of bear incident reports in 2023 occurred in the months of August, September and October as bears begin the annual quest to prepare for hibernation.

Bubenheim said a morning drive around Steamboat on Monday showed about 90% of the bear-resistant trash carts in the Old Town area were unlatched because the cans were overfilled. Dumpsters in multi-family neighborhoods showed where animals had scattered trash from unsecured dumpsters.

“Research shows that bears prefer natural sources of food, but they will seek out sources of human-provided food if it’s available,” CPW Northwest Region Senior Wildlife Biologist Brad Banulis explained.

Submit your photographs for publication online and in print by emailing them to share@steamboatpilot.com. Don’t forget to include the photographer’s name and a short caption to tell readers what’s happening in the image.

Students rushed onto the turf in celebration of Steamboat Springs football’s homecoming victory Friday night, even as the local weather forecast called for a storm over Gardner Field.

The back-and-forth affair with the Aspen Skiers came down to the final seconds when the heroics of junior Luke Jordan stunned the Aspen faithful as he intercepted a pass near the pylon in the end zone.

Steamboat won the game 24-22 to improve its record to 4-0 and continue its undefeated season.

Jordan made a number of big plays throughout the game, including his pick-six on Aspen’s opening drive. 

“I saw that play on film a lot,” Jordan explained. “I saw them run it against another team they played and they got a pick on it, so I knew it was coming first drive. I jumped it and I had it.” 

With the game deadlocked at 14 heading into halftime, Steamboat coach Scott Przymus said he focused on fixing missed tackles. Offensively, he wanted his team to dictate the pace of play, something the Sailors managed to do in the third quarter after a Cohen Vanderbosch touchdown. 

The back-and-forth contest continued into the fourth quarter. Aspen took a one-point lead after a touchdown and two-point conversion. Sophomore Eli Bever then regained the lead for the Sailors with a field goal to make it 24-22 with six minutes remaining.

“We gave up probably 40 or 50 yards of penalties (in the fourth quarter),” Przymus said after the game. “There were bad snaps and fumbles that put us behind, but we were able to stay composed. I told the boys all week that this game was going to be a culmination of the last three — all the lessons we learned from (previous opponents) Coal Ridge, Craig and Middle Park.”

Steamboat nearly gave away the game late in the fourth quarter when a botched snap on a punt attempt led to a turnover on downs in Aspen territory. The Skiers offense took over and fired shots into the end zone, but Jordan’s game-winning interception sealed the victory

“I was nervous as hell,” Jordan said. “I almost dropped it too, but I just held on. It means a lot, we haven’t been 4-0 in over 10 years, so we just have to keep it going. I think we can get into the playoffs.”

Steamboat has not started a season 4-0 since 2009 — and that team made it to the state championship game. 

Przymus gave a ton of credit for Friday night’s victory to the students, families and community members who came to Gardner Field to cheer on the Sailors. After students stormed the field, Przymus gathered everyone in the middle of the turf and offered words of appreciation and advice to celebrate homecoming weekend safely and enjoyably. 

“That place was rocking. I’ve never seen it so packed,” Przymus said. “Traditionally we don’t win games like that, so being able to do that for the community is huge. We really care about our students and I wanted to take a moment inside that win, to have them be a part of it and also let them know that we as the school and coaching staff care about them and want them to make good decisions.”

The Sailors will enjoy a bye week before traveling to Summit for a Sept. 27 game.

Final: Aspen 22, Steamboat Springs 24
A:   7 7 0 8
SS: 7 7 7 3

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is warning residents and their pets to use caution and avoid contact with water at Stagecoach Reservoir after accumulations of blue-green algae were discovered last week.

The wildlife agency temporarily closed a section of the reservoir last week after samples collected Sept. 2 “indicated hazardous levels of toxins specifically in Morrison Cove with lower levels of toxins found at four other test locations within the reservoir,” according to a news release.

“Algae blooms are common at Stagecoach State Park,” said Craig Preston, Stagecoach State Park manager. “Because it is an annual event, we installed educational signs several years ago and we test the algae once a week all summer long. Additionally, we send samples to the (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) once a month for further analysis.”

Preston added that “hazardous levels of toxins” are rare at the reservoir while “low levels are not uncommon late in the season. But we have not seen hazardous levels since 2014, the first year we started testing for toxins.”

As of Sunday, Stagecoach Reservoir is one of four water bodies in the state listed under a “warning” for toxins detected at high levels. Before the water body was built in 1989, planners warned that algae blooms fed by nutrients could be a long-term issue to contend with.

Toxic algae exist naturally in Colorado waters but become an issue when they multiply rapidly to create a “dense cyanobacteria concentration” or “bloom,” according to the state Department of Public Health and Environment.

Certain water bodies in the state are monitored and tested for toxic algae, which can make water look green, turquoise, gold or red.

The blooms can also appear “like thick pea soup or spilled paint on the water’s service,” according to the state’s public health agency, or can be made up of “small specks or blobs” floating at or just below the water’s surface.

In addition to weekly and monthly testing performed by CPW and the EPA, the Upper Yampa Water Conservancy District also contracts with a consulting firm to run monthly testing in five locations around Stagecoach Reservoir between May and November.

CPW said Friday that park staff are encouraging visitors “to still avoid any activities in the water where algae has accumulated and elsewhere around the reservoir.”

“Be especially mindful when walking pets near the reservoir, as blue-green algae can be toxic to pets. Keep your dog leashed at all times. Do not let them drink the water, or lick or ingest dried scum along the shoreline,” said CPW.

“If accidental exposure does occur, do not let your pet lick their fur or paws. Rinse them thoroughly with potable water and wear gloves for your own protection, if possible,” the agency added.

According to CPW, algae are an important part of the aquatic food system, but some types of blue-green algae are capable of producing toxins that may cause negative health impacts for humans and pets at elevated concentrations.

If individuals or their pets are exposed to an algae bloom, they should contact a medical care doctor or a veterinarian if they experience nausea, digestive stress, breathing problems or unexplained illness, the wildlife agency said.

September 21, 1941 – January 9, 2024

Moke Raymond’s celebration of life will take place Saturday, September 21 from 4:00pm to 7:00pm at 34100 County Road 33. Please email Mariah Raymond at mokeraymond@gmail.com to RSVP or for additional information.