With the daily drama of politics, too few of us are likely aware of how many Native Americans continue to be exploited. On July 19 and 20, a coalition of Catholic sisters, including myself, joined Indigenous elders to stand in solidarity with the Western Apache in defense of their most sacred site, Oak Flat (Chi’chil Bildagoteel), Arizona, which risks becoming a two-mile-wide copper mine due to a federal land transfer to a private corporation on August 19.

Oak Flat’s decades-long federal protections were only recently retracted, through a last-minute provision on a “must-pass” defense-spending bill in Congress. Now, after several legal battles, the Apache site for sacred ceremonies, since time immemorial, faces total demolition by Resolution Copper, a multinational mining company and subsidiary of Rio Tinto, a corporation with a global track record of ecological damage and mishandling an important cultural site.

Apache Stronghold, a coalition of Western Apache and other allies, petitioned to protect Oak Flat with a religious freedom case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. But in May, the Supreme Court declined to hear the Apaches’ case, despite the Apache Stronghold’s assertion that the land transfer and mine would destroy their ability to practice Apache religion, a religion which is inextricably tied to the land at Oak Flat. Two justices (Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas) dissented against the majority decision to not hear the case, calling it a “grievous mistake” and a threat to religious freedom everywhere.

As members of the Catholic Church, the delegation of sisters stood with their Apache brothers and sisters in humble acknowledgment of the harm done historically by the Church to Indigenous people through the suppression of their religion and the theft of their land. The past is not past.

Sheila Karpan, Wheat Ridge

Law enforcement must also abide by the laws

Re: “Grateful for Mesa County deputy’s enforcement of laws,” July 25 letter to the editor

I take deep concern at the letter supporting the actions of Mesa County Sheriff Deputy Alexander Zwinck in stopping and detaining individuals whom he initially suspects of being illegal immigrants and messaging ICE their details. As noted in his letter, we are citizens of a country, state, and city built on laws, laws to help protect all (not just citizens or “god”) individuals and provide them with due process.

Deputy Zwink will get his chance in court to defend himself and his actions, but in my opinion and knowledge, his actions were deplorable and out of alignment with any state’s laws related to due process.

Randy DeBoer, Denver

Feeling squeezed by CDOT

Every day on C-470, somebody cuts me off in their frustration, and somebody else drives in front of me 10 miles an hour slower than I wanna go, and traffic is stop-and-go between University Boulevard and Quebec Street, in both directions.

CDOT built this highway with a capacity to handle 80-90% of the traffic that it actually gets. So we approach 100%-full, with the associated dangers, a lot more than we should. CDOT is quite good at designing highways, so they apparently intended to build a highway that would generate congestion, rather than safely handle the traffic that we always get. They are not, then, about safety and building good highways. Are they too interested in getting tolls? Do they enjoy the large fines that they get because frustrated people all across Colorado cross the double solid lines to get into that third lane? Yeah, apparently so.

If they’re not about safety and nicely flowing highways, what are they about?

Kenny Gilfilen, Highlands Ranch

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More than 14 million acres of federal public land in Colorado could be eligible for sale if Congress passes the current version of the budget bill mandating the sale of a fraction of the nation’s public lands, an analysis by The Wilderness Society found. The eligible parcels cover chunks of mountain, foothills and plains along the Front Range and the Western Slope.

The budget draft requires the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service to sell between 0.5% and 0.75% of the 438 million acres the agencies manage across the West — up to 3.3 million acres, or 5,100 square miles. It exempts certain lands from sale, including national monuments, wilderness areas, national conservation areas, national parks and national recreation areas. Public lands with existing mining or drilling rights would also be exempted.

Republican leadership pitched the land sales as a way to generate revenue and make more land available for housing, though the bill contains no provisions requiring proposed housing to be affordable. The bill states the agencies should prioritize the sale of lands that are nominated by states or local governments, are adjacent to existing development and infrastructure, and are suitable for residential housing.

Nearly all of the proceeds from the sales — estimated at between $5 billion and $10 billion over the next decade — would go to the U.S. Treasury.

The provision sparked broad and fierce criticism from Colorado conservation and recreation communities as well as the state’s Democratic delegation in Congress. Coloradans’ businesses, ways of life and identity rely on public lands, they said.

Public lands are Americans’ birthright and a unique treasure that can be accessed by all, Tony Prendergast, a Colorado rancher and member of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, said in a call with reporters Friday.

“There is nothing like this issue that will fire up people like me to get involved politically,” he said. “The depth of the anger I feel and the disappointment in those elected officials who are putting this proposal forward and those who will support it is just intense for me.”

Lawmakers over the weekend expanded the eligibility of lands for sale by removing a definition that specified what types of leases exempted land from sale, said Michael Carroll, the BLM campaign director at The Wilderness Society. The text no longer explicitly exempts lands with grazing leases, which cover millions of acres across the West.

The revision to the bill also strengthened requirements that the sold land be used for housing or “infrastructure to support local housing needs.” Previously, it allowed the land to be used for broader “community needs.” It also removed language that required agencies to prioritize selling tracts that were difficult to manage because of their remoteness.

After the exemptions are accounted for, approximately 14 million acres of public land are eligible for sale in Colorado, according to The Wilderness Society’s analysis.

On the Western Slope, eligible lands include chunks of BLM land north of Blue Mesa Reservoir and along the Gunnison River below the reservoir’s output. Swaths of land in the Book Cliffs immediately north of Palisade could be for sale, as well as the popular Lunch Loops mountain bike trail system outside Grand Junction. Durango’s beloved Animas Mountain recreation space is eligible, as is land along the scenic U.S. 550 between Durango and Silverton — known as the Million Dollar Highway.

In the Arkansas River Valley, thousands of acres would be eligible across the Sawatch Range west of Twin Lakes, Buena Vista and Salida. Another large tract covers a huge chunk of mountains north of Aspen, and another nearly all the mountains immediately east of Steamboat Springs, which serve as popular camping, hiking and biking areas.

Closer to the Front Range, nearly all of the Forest Service land in the hills west of the Interstate 25 corridor between Castle Rock and Colorado Springs is eligible. Forest Service land abutting the eastern borders of the popular Brainard Lake Recreation Area and Indian Peaks Wilderness would be eligible as well.

Because the bill prioritizes land near communities, it could threaten the lands most accessible and most used by Coloradans, said Carroll, who lives in Durango and frequently visits Animas Mountain.

“The big loser is people’s recreation and outdoor space that we all go to on a regular basis,” he said. “The real impact is on local communities.”

The Senate proposal follows a failed amendment to the House version of the budget that would have sold more than 500,000 acres of public land in Utah and Nevada. The amendment was later stripped from the House draft — in part due to opposition from Western Republicans.

Rep. Jeff Hurd, who represents the sprawling 3rd Congressional District, was the only member of Colorado’s Republican House delegation to oppose the measure or speak publicly about public lands sales. In a previous interview with The Denver Post, he said he opposed the large-scale sale of public lands without local input but eventually voted in favor of the larger package because his concerns about the land sale did not outweigh the parts of the bill he liked.

Other Senate committees are still working this week on their pieces of the budget bill as Republicans work to pass a final version in the coming weeks.

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One of the newest events on the timeline: a $30 million, 18-month renovation and expansion project that begins next year. The project will add 50% more space for the permanent exhibition and fundamentally rethink how visitors, especially kids, interact with the hall’s thousands of sapphires, quartz, rubies, emeralds, garnets and diamonds.

Still, change can be hard, especially at a museum. “One of the things we heard when we spoke to the community was, ‘You need to keep this or that exhibit, because it’s where I had my first kiss or my first date,'” said museum project lead Luke Fernandez.

“We respect the nostalgia people may have, and are honoring that by repurposing a couple of the most popular elements of the old hall into the new design,” he added. Those are the Sweet Home Mine, which shows off the red rhodochrosite crystals mined in Colorado, and the Crystal Grotto, which resembles the inside of a natural cave.”

The new parts of the exhibit will focus on immersive features such as an interactive state map of mineral deposits; a Mineral Mart mock convenience store that teaches about the daily role of minerals in our lives; a Color Room with more than 250 fluorescing minerals that “transform under changing ultraviolet light conditions”; a Gem Journey that traces the raw-mineral-to-finished-gemstone path (featuring the museum’s largest faceted mineral, the Dali Topaz, a 10,588-carat gemstone); never-before-displayed specimens; and the world-renowned Hero Specimens, such as Diane’s Pocket, the Alma King and Campion Gold.

“When we think about museum-goers and guests from the 1980s, they really would just go to see things — that type of absorption of information. But (today’s) museum guests really want to get more engaged and have more hands-on learning,” said Jeff Joplin, the museum’s vice president of operations. “We want them to be able to learn about what’s happening beneath our feet every day, because the average American uses about 20,000 pounds of minerals per year.”

Only one other permanent exhibit at the museum, the life-sized wildlife dioramas, predates the 1982 launch of the gems and minerals section, which makes sense because of Colorado’s mining history. Currently sponsored by Coors, the exhibit will be renamed The Dea Family Gems & Minerals Hall after it reopens in 2027, following a “transformative” donation by longtime museum supporters Peter and Cathy Dea, the museum said.

Fernandez declined to name the donation amount, but said Peter’s career as a geologist, and his longtime board service at DMNS, give him and Cathy a strong connection to the new exhibit — even if they don’t have a direct say in its design and specimen selection.

“As a geologist, I naturally gravitate to the gems and minerals displays, and we are excited for this new experience to spark guests’ curiosity and imagination and inspire children’s enjoyment of science,” Peter Dea said in a press statement.

The 50% expansion will be accommodated by newly freed-up space on the City Park institution’s first floor, Joplin said. The design phase of the project started in 2023 but was accelerated by the Dea’s gift. A fundraising campaign to make up the remaining 22% of its $30 million price tag (or about $6.6 million) is ongoing, he added.

The current gallery will close for renovation at the beginning of 2026 and will remain off-limits to visitors for about a year and a half. Some of that time will be used to clean and reorganize the specimens, which aren’t always as sturdy as they may seem, Fernandez said.

“I know they’re old and I know they’re rocks, but you’d be surprised at how brittle they can be,” he said. “We have a very pointy, sea-urchin type specimen that’s brilliant with thousands of these crystals coming off of it. It’s extremely delicate and over time can degrade.”

How much time? Fortunately, far longer than the museum needs to renovate its exhibit — give or take a few million years.

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Unlike Thursday’s trading, where apparel retailers Crocs and VF Corp., owner of Timberline and Vans, were hit hardest over a big hike in tariffs, Friday’s losses focused most intensely on oil and gas and mining companies, which are important players in the corporate mix in Colorado.

The five Colorado companies with the biggest losses in share value on Friday were all in the petroleum business: Civitas Resources, down 17.3%; Liberty Energy down 15.8%; Ovintiv down 15.7%; Antero Resources, down 13.7%; and SM Energy, down 12.12%.

Widespread tariffs levied by the Trump administration on Wednesday have sparked the steepest sell-off in stocks since the pandemic arrived in March 2020.

Natural resource companies, in theory, should have fared better than importers of products from other countries. But concerns that a trade war could result in a global slowdown and lower energy and materials consumption helped push oil prices down 10% this week.

If that weren’t bad enough for domestic producers, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries made a surprise announcement that it would raise crude production by 411,000 barrels per day in May despite signals of too much supply.

“While conjecture on our part, OPEC+ could be trying to retake share from U.S. shale, gambling that independents have drilled through their highest-quality inventory. Still, most U.S. shale firms boast breakeven prices well below current oil prices,” Joshua Aguilar, a research analyst with Morningstar, wrote in a research note Friday.

Aguilar downgraded his estimates of the value of domestic producers by about 4%, which in body terms is equivalent to cutting off an arm somewhere below the elbow. Investors on Friday hacked off closer to 15% off the value of Colorado’s petroleum producers, the equivalent of removing an entire leg.

Mining and royalty companies weren’t hit as hard, but they were next in line when it came to big losses. Shares of Sitio Royalties Corp. lost 11.4% in value; Intrepid Potash shares fell 10.5%; Vista Gold was down 10.11%; SSR Mining was down 9.8% and the big daddy of the state’s gold producers, Newmont Mining, lost 8.61% in share value, which works out to $5.1 billion in lost market value.

Although gold remains a hedge against economic uncertainty, it had run higher ahead of the tariff announcements and fell when the details came out. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell also took a hawkish stance on inflation, saying future interest rate cuts might be delayed if prices increase due to tariffs. Higher interest rates make gold alternatives like U.S. Treasuries more attractive.

An analysis of trading in 57 Colorado-based public companies showed a one-day loss of $43.7 billion in market value on Friday, which represented a 9.6% decline in the state’s overall market capitalization. Over half of that loss, $22.5 billion, came from an 11.5% decline in shares of Denver-based Palantir Technologies, which is Colorado’s largest public company and had been enjoying a rapid run the past year.

Shares of Denver-based VF Corp., which owns several popular brands like The North Face and Dickies, received a reprieve on Friday, dropping 1.1% after a crushing 28.7% decline on Thursday. And Crocs shares rose 4.9% after a 14% loss on Thursday, making it one of only five Colorado companies to show a gain.

The Nasdaq Composite on Friday officially entered bear market territory, which is defined as a 20% or greater decline from the most recent high in value.

But the bears have been quite active in Colorado, with 47 of the 57 stocks tracked having already suffered a 20% or greater decline from their 52-week highs. Another eight are in correction territory, defined as a loss of 10% or more from the recent high, but short of a 20% decline. And only two are within 10% of their recent highs.

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While I think it would be a cool story to draft Bo Nix‘s adopted brother Tez Johnson, do you think that it would be a beneficial move for the Broncos? He seems to be a much smaller version of Marvin Mims Jr., and I think Troy Franklin is due for a lot more targets next year. I just don’t know how much he would add to the offense.

— Owen, Fort Collins

Hey Owen, thanks for writing and for getting us going this week. The Broncos drafting Tez Johnson would be, unequivocally, a really cool story. The Nix family considers him one of their own. They call him their adopted son and brother. He and Nix are inseparable. Nix was up there last month for Oregon’s pro day to watch Johnson and several other former teammates.

Johnson’s a fun watch, too. He’s electric in the open field. But… yeah, he’s really small. He checked into the combine at 5-foot-10 and 154 pounds. And he ran 4.51 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Mims, by comparison, was 5-11 but 183 pounds — 29 pounds heavier! — and ran 4.38 in the 40. Interestingly, Johnson’s 10-yard split was quicker than Mims’ despite the slower overall time. Franklin was 6-2 and 176 and ran 4.41 in the 40.

We know Payton prefers big wide receivers as a baseline. He likes to say that it’s not that he dislikes small receivers, just that small receivers have to walk on water. A receiver Johnson’s size would have to be really, truly special to be an impact player in the NFL. Someone will give him a shot. It would make for quite a story if that someone was the Broncos.

We’re talking about needing additional tight ends or running backs or wide receivers. Do we have a strong enough backup QB in case Bo Nix goes down?

— Tilman Adair, Denver

Hey Tilman, thanks for writing in. The Broncos really like what Jarrett Stidham brings to the table. That’s why they signed him for another two years after he played through his previous two-year deal. Would the Broncos be in trouble if Nix missed a big swath of the season? Most likely — though the defense believes it can carry the team regardless of situation. But that’s not unique in the NFL.

In the interim since you submitted this question, the Broncos have also agreed to sign Sam Ehlinger to a one-year deal. Payton’s talked about wanting to constantly be in the quarterback development business, both with his starter and with the reserves. Ehlinger will get a chance to work with Payton, quarterbacks coach Davis Webb and a room that got along really well last year. The way the rules work now with being able to have the emergency third quarterback not count against your gameday active list, there’s more incentive to keep three quarterbacks on your 53-man roster.

If the Broncos coaches watched ASU nearly pull off an upset of Texas in their bowl game due to Cam Skattebo‘s terrific play (he single-handedly nearly won the game) when he wasn’t vomiting on the sidelines they would see the tailback that they seek, don’t you think?

— Gary Mason, Aztec, N.M.

Hey Gary, I wrote in last week’s mailbag about how Skattebo checks a lot of boxes the Broncos look for at running back. This week at the owners meetings in Florida, we heard Payton and Paton draw a clear delineation between first- and second-down backs and guys that can play all three downs. Skattebo’s got the receiving ability to play on third down and he’s also got the kind of toughness and demeanor coaches love.

The flip side, if you want to call it that, is he reportedly ran in the mid-4.6s for the 40-yard dash at his pro day. Probably not a big surprise, but that kind of number might keep him from being a true premium prospect. It might even give some teams pause about whether he can really carry a week-in, week-out load and create enough big plays for an NFL team. But the tape is the tape. He’s hard to tackle, he plays with an edge and he’s got real versatility.

I’d love to see the Broncos be aggressive and draft all offense to start off with in this year’s draft, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson and LSU’s Mason Taylor getting the call, heck, throw in Utah State’s Jalen Royals or the Sun Devils’ Cam Skattebo!

What are the chances Denver adopts such an idea? This year’s draft is so deep you’d think they’d trade back once or twice to acquire a few more picks to round out the roster. I’d be happy with Ollie Gordon II or Devin Neal, too! It’s crazy how many great backs there are this year. Despite that, picking up JK Dobbins on a one-year prove-it deal makes sense.

We all know they need a new center. What about moving over Quinn Meinerz to center and bringing back Dalton Risner? If not that, maybe draft Tate Ratledge or Jared Wilson out of Georgia to solidify that O-line. I think our defense is set, but we need more depth on the line (Omarr Norman-Lott or Deone Walker?).

I’d love to see at least a couple of fresh new faces at linebacker (Jack Kaiser) or Kobe King? Sebastian Castro or Caleb Ransaw in the late rounds addressing the safety position would be ideal!

— Dennis Moore, Fruita

Dennis has been grinding the tape and is so, so ready for the draft. Love the excitement. It is indeed a fun time of year. Don’t even know where to start with this.

It does seem like there’s the potential for the Broncos to make a run on offensive players in the draft. That’s because of the depth at tight end and running back in the draft class plus the interesting set of mid-round receivers and offensive linemen but also because of the attention the Broncos gave the middle of their defense in free agency. We’ll see if Henderson’s there at No. 51 and Taylor at No. 85. I’d be a bit surprised if both of those happened.

Speeding through the rest: No on Risner returning or Meinerz moving to center. The Broncos have Luke Wattenberg and Alex Forsyth in the middle and if they’re going to do anything, they’ll probably try to get some young talent in the pipeline. That’s good planning in case this is Wattenberg’s final year in Denver or they decide to move on from Ben Powers after 2025.

Agree with you about mining linebacker and safety, too, though we’ll see if the Broncos think they’re getting good value there. Maybe the running back class is so good that they take one on Day 2 and another flavor on Day 3. Not impossible they find a veteran running back still, but Payton made it pretty clear this week that wasn’t a priority, calling the free agent crop “pretty lean” from a talent perspective.

Hey Parker! With the draft right around the corner, it’s an exciting time to see what the pundits are predicting the Broncos do with the 20th pick. I know that the RB class is quite deep in this year’s draft but I’m personally hoping the Broncos don’t mess around and just take North Carolina back Omarion Hampton with the 20th pick as opposed to taking a back in the later rounds. What’s your take on what the Broncos might do at this point in the game?

— Rick Tout, Wilmington, N.C.

Hey Rick, thanks for the note. Very interesting this week in Florida to hear Paton, quite specifically, say he thinks there are running backs to be found in this draft from the second through the sixth rounds. Conspicuously absent: The first round. Now, the draft is only a few weeks away and that means it’s smokescreenin’, subterfugin’, lyin’ season for every team in the league. Maybe the Broncos are trying to coax Hampton down to No. 20. Maybe they like Ohio State’s TreyVeon Henderson, who has some late first-round buzz, enough to take him there or enough to trade back a few spots and hope he’s there in the mid-20s. .

What’s interesting is there are three spots I keep coming back to as it pertains to the first round: Running back, tight end and defensive line. But those three positions also have depth, so they could address any of them on Day 2 as well. I still think if the right tight end or defensive lineman is there at No. 20, that would be difficult to pass up.

Now watch them take a corner or an edge or something.

If you’re the Broncos, you’re hoping Ole Miss quarterback Jaxon Dart goes in the top 19 picks in addition to Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders and, probably, that several offensive linemen and corners get picked. Push the talent at other spots toward No. 20.

In your opinion, which AFC West team has done the best job so far in signing free agents, extending its own players and overall roster management? And if not the best, where do the Broncos rank?

— Ed Helinski, Auburn, N.Y.

Hey Ed, thanks as always for the question. It’s a good one. It strikes me that Denver and Vegas have probably been the most active overall. Kansas City’s had to rework its offensive line and has set about doing that. The Chargers had some tough decisions to make but are still in good shape.

Denver on paper has done a really nice job of addressing needs in free agency and retaining D.J. Jones. They lost a couple guys they wanted to keep and were in the mix for a handful of free agents who went elsewhere like tight end Juwan Johnson, but that’s part of life this time of year.

All that said, I do think the Raiders have done a good job this offseason and not just on the roster front. Hiring Pete Carroll brings instant credibility and then pairing him with GM John Spytek and having the Tom Brady influence, too, makes for an interesting front office. Then trading for Geno Smith and getting Maxx Crosby to commit to a big extension are both solid moves.

At the beginning of the offseason, it felt like they were teetering. But the waters are calmer now, they’ve got their quarterback and a cornerstone defensive player and a Super Bowl champion coach. Oh, and Brock Bowers. They’ve got a ways to go, but the bet here is they won’t be a pushover with Carroll at the helm.

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DeVoto summed up the platform pressed by Western elected officials of his day in a memorable punchline: “Get out–and give us more money.” This “economic fantasy” is still with us, as DeVoto predicted, “yesterday, today, and forever.”

The new, fossil-fuel-friendly heads of federal land management agencies are serious about the “get out” part of that plea, firing thousands of their employees and closing dozens of offices across the West. Their list targets Fort Collins, Colorado; Flagstaff, Arizona; Moab and Salt Lake City, Utah; Lander, Wyoming; Boise, Idaho, and more. Local economies will lose millions they’ve depended on.

But President Donald Trump and Elon Musk aren’t doing so well with the “give us more money” part. Voters who elected Trump may not get what they bargained for.

I have a home in southern Utah, in Torrey, gateway to Capitol Reef National Park. My neighbors in Wayne and Garfield counties, who gave well over 70% of their votes to Trump, often complain about federal overreach. They see conservation of national public lands as “locking up” land.

Yet Westerners love all that financial support coming in from the agencies they profess to hate. They rely on the federal government for so much more than they often acknowledge.

After a charming presentation about cowboy culture at Torrey’s nonprofit Entrada Institute recently, my wife asked a young rancher what his family did for health insurance.

“My wife works for the Forest Service,” he said. Indeed, government employees make up 23% of the workforce in Utah’s Garfield County and 25% in Wayne County. These salaries and the benefits that come with them are crucial to family stability.

A revealing interactive map in Grist magazine shows the reach of investment by the federal government through legislation passed by the Biden administration. I click on the town of Torrey and find tens of millions of federal dollars from the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law flowing into the county.

Think upgrades of rural airports, solar panels on small businesses, bridge replacements, removal of lead from drinking water — and on and on.

And then on February 14,  the Department of the Interior announced the firings of more than 2,300 public servants at the Department of the Interior, including the Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, and Geological Survey. With this “Valentine’s Day Massacre,” southern Utah communities will feel accelerating impacts — loss of income and benefits, more money going to unemployment payments, understaffed parks and monuments, and irate visitors.

My inbox and social media feed are flooded with anecdotes about what these firings mean. One man grew up in a Park Service family and then worked as a park ranger himself for years. He transferred to the Forest Service recently, becoming a “probationary” employee only because he was new to his position. He lost his job and his career thanks to the Trump administration.

When rural Westerners say “get out” to the feds, I don’t think this is what they have in mind.

President Trump is also considering once more eviscerating national monument protection for Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears in southern Utah. These monuments have been good for local communities and economies.

The monuments haven’t locked up the land; ranchers still have their grazing permits. Pre-existing mining and drilling claims remain in force. And the conservation and tourism values of these designated preserves expand every year.

According to a recent Colorado College poll, 84% of Utahns support the establishment of new national parks, national monuments, national wildlife refuges and tribal protected areas. Still, Utah’s governor, attorney general, and congressional delegation continue to waste millions on fruitless lawsuits attacking those same preserves.

Westerners are evolving; politicians aren’t keeping up. And yet we keep re-electing these same officials. Maybe, just maybe, the Trumpian war on civil servants will force a reckoning. We’ll re-evaluate why we need a robust federal presence in the West.

And our war against ourselves will end.

Stephen Trimble is a contributor to Writers on the Range, writersontherange.org, an independent nonprofit dedicated to spurring lively conversation about the West. He worked for the National Park Service, BLM, and Forest Service in his twenties and has been a conservation advocate ever since.

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Editor’s note: We received a large response in The Open Forum to the televised Oval Office meeting Friday between President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Here are a few of those letters, which overwhelmingly supported Zelenskyy and Ukraine.

***

Dear Mr. Zelenskyy,

Please accept our sincere apologies for the crass bullying you received at the White House on Friday, Feb. 28. Trump’s behavior only shows his complete ignorance of world affairs and his ever-increasing descent into Putin’s realm with its lies and misinformation.

The world can never again trust America’s word or its commitment. For this, we are extremely sorry.

Boyd and Barbara Norton, Evergreen

Every war has two sides. In some wars, the issues are so complex it becomes hard to tell the difference between the sides. But, in the case of Ukraine, it seems very clear that Russia is the aggressor and Ukraine is the defender. Russia invaded Ukraine, holds significant Ukrainian territory, has kidnapped hundreds of Ukrainian adults and children, and continues to aggressively bombard and kill Ukrainian citizens.

Ukraine is defending itself as best it can, but if left alone, it will be doomed to failure.

Into this debacle steps our “peacemaker” president who “wants to stop the bloodshed.” He wants a ceasefire and peace, and so he starts talks.

Does he talk to both sides? No! He is pushing (bullying) Ukraine to roll over, cede territory, and give up. What is he doing with Russia? Nothing.

Has he held open talks with Putin? No! Has he received any indication of any concessions from Putin? No! Has he pushed Russia at all? No!

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy faced down Soviet Union leader Nikita Khrushchev and made America great. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan faced down Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and made America great. And now, in 2025, President Donald Trump bends his knee to Russian President Vladimir Putin. What does that make America?

Kevin Rudolph, Littleton

The elephant in the room, so to speak, about the Russian/Ukrainian war is why Putin invaded. He wants the mineral wealth of Ukraine. From sage wisdom from a Chinese thousand years ago: don’t corner your enemy. That is Putin’s error.

The irony is that the United States’ investment in mining the minerals does two things: It robs Putin of his subversive intent and keeps the United States available to deter any further Putin incursions. Zelenskyy can’t get his head around it and would rather die on his pride.

Fred Stewart, Grand Junction

I am embarrassed, heartsick, horrified and terrified after viewing the disastrous meeting between our president, vice president and President Zelenskyy.  I saw no leadership, diplomacy, listening or compassion coming from our American leaders. They did nothing but shout and act like bullies, a new low in American diplomatic negotiations. None of Trump’s or Vance’s exhibited behavior makes America at all great; all it does is put us and our world more at risk.

Deborah Reshotko, Denver

I don’t know anyone from Russia. I do feel if I did, we’d be able to sit, discuss our differing perspectives, and come to an agreement that didn’t involve yelling, disrespecting each other, or loss of innocent lives.

David L Stevenson, Denver

And the award goes to …

President Trump and Vice President Vance for their politically motivated theatrical performance during the live telecast of their Oval Office meeting with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy.

I can hardly wait for the land grab sequels when they “host” Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, and Panama’s President, José Raúl Mulino.

Let’s call this what it is: a set-up, public bullying, picking on the “little guy,” and political theater. Trump and Vance had no intention of doing anything but trying to humiliate Zelenskyy. I believe they embarrassed themselves and many in our country instead.

Jamie Lofaro, Lone Tree

Trump and Vance not only berated Zelenskyy, they threatened him and tried to intimidate him with “We’re holding all the cards” and “You’re going to lose without us, so do what we want” without allowing Zelenskyy to respond with their constant haranguing.

It was astonishing to watch, anticipating a huge backlash on how it was handled by both Democrats and Republicans. Instead, Lindsay Graham said, “I have never been more proud of the president.” Other Republican lawmakers called Zelenskyy “disrespectful”  and praised Trump.

Trump clearly expects Zelenskyy to hand over access to Ukraine’s mineral resources with no guarantees. What is wrong with this picture? It’s a case of “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” a story about another vain leader whose followers go along with the pretense that the nude emperor is wearing lavish clothes until one brave participant blurts out the truth, and the people realize they’ve been fooled. The trouble is, the Republicans already know the truth but don’t have the courage to speak out. They need to put the country in front of keeping their positions. Shameful.

Marcia Murphy, Centennial

How shameful that President Zelenskyy arrives at the White House for a staged ambush, gets shouted at by President Trump and VP Vance, and then is accused of lacking diplomacy.

How shameful that Vance assails Zelenskyy for lacking gratitude (not at all true) when Vance has spoken out and voted against continuing aid to Ukraine.

How shameful that Sen. Lindsey Graham has reversed his comment in July 2024 that Vance’s lack of support for Ukraine is “garbage” to now calling for Zelenskyy’s resignation.

How shameful that the world looks at the United States now with a lack of trust and disbelief.

Andrea Clifford, Denver

I had been withholding submitting comments to The Post, in large part to contain our rising anger at the administration. But the ambush of President Zelenskyy in front of the entire world is intolerable. “Our” president refused to call out Putin and instead used his Vice President to start a dress down of a true hero trying tirelessly to save his country from an invading army.

We grew up in the Vietnam era, where the domino effect of Communism supposedly justified us sending our ill-equipped forces into the jungles and into ultimate defeat in a war where we never should have entered.

But now, where the clear goal of Russia is to take as much of the world as possible, our country is standing back and “our” president used the Oval Office debacle as a way to deflect blame on his inability to stop the war in Ukraine.

The America we cherished would never, ever support a dictator like Putin, and turn away from a clear need to support a country in desperate need. Actually, we are turning away from supporting the world and the allies we cherished for decades.

This is not our America anymore.

H. Rene Ramirez, Aurora

What a shameful performance by Trump and Vance. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but I thought I heard vodka being poured and glasses being clicked coming from Moscow.

Other world leaders had very different reactions to what occurred at the meeting as they now wonder: What does America really stand for these days?

Gene Reetz, Denver

President Zelenskyy has done what no GOP-elected politician has done in months: Disagree with Trump in front of the media. Thank you, President Zelenskyy.

Becky Roberts, Watkins

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“We decided that creating a mining-focused hub in Mesa County provided the best economic and growth opportunities for Morgan,” said Justin Morgan, president of Morgan Mining, in a statement.

And some other big announcements may not be far behind. ProCaps Laboratories, a Nevada maker of nutritional supplements, is looking at Jefferson County for a manufacturing facility that could employ 564 people.

A quantum computing company with 250 employees in Broomfield would like to add 195 more there as it works on breakthroughs in the emerging tech field.

Colorado Springs is under consideration for 107 jobs from a Swiss startup looking to manufacture high-speed transportation equipment, and 145 jobs from a German industrial giant looking to produce and distribute more of its polymer products within the U.S.

In one of its busiest award rounds since October 2015, the Colorado Economic Development Commission on Thursday morning approved eight Job Growth Incentive Tax credit awards worth $24.8 million tied to creating 2,009 new jobs in the state over an eight-year window.

To obtain the full award, companies must add all the jobs pledged. Beyond that, they must have enough income to write off against the tax credits they receive.

Morgan Mining is looking to hire engineers, electricians, and finance workers, at an average annual wage of $92,447, to support various mining operations in the region. The company employs 206 workers, including 196 in Colorado, which beat out Tennessee for the support hub.

The commission agreed to provide up to $10.9 million in state tax credits, or $12,196 per job.

ProCaps Laboratories is a maker of hundreds of different nutritional supplements under the ProCaps name based in Henderson, Nev. It has about 400 employees, none in Colorado, and is weighing a new manufacturing plant in either Jefferson County or Arizona.

The company expects to hire 564 workers — including corporate executives, engineers and facility technicians — earning an average annual wage of $80,450. The commission provided $5.1 million in tax credits, which works out to $9,089 per job. While not necessarily advanced manufacturing, ProCaps could help revive the state’s reputation in the health-food segment, where it has long been a leader.

Project Q-Chips, the code name for the quantum computing firm, received an award of $4.3 million in return for adding 195 jobs, which works out to $22,246 per hire. The state extended a more generous award because of the higher annual wage of $145,990 per employee, and its focus on quantum computing, an emerging field the state has prioritized.

Of the company’s 538 employees, 250 are in Broomfield. That head count aligns with Broomfield-based Quantinuum, which was created from the merger of Honeywell Quantum Solutions and Cambridge Quantum Computing.

Two European companies are interested in setting up manufacturing plants in the Colorado Springs area. A German conglomerate with 20,000 employees is looking to set up a polymer plant in El Paso County that would employ 145 workers at an average annual wage of $65,569. It received $1.9 million in tax credits.

Project Chocolate, a maker of high-speed transportation equipment, received an award of $918,000 in tax credits in return for creating 107 new jobs. Those jobs would pay $67,952 a year on average.

Denis Tudor, who spoke on behalf of Project Chocolate, is the CEO and co-founder of Swisspod Technologies, which is racing to create the world’s first large-scale “hyperloop” by 2030. Its proposed transportation system, under development in Switzerland and Pueblo, uses levitating magnets and a near-vacuum environment to reach ground speeds surpassing airline jets.

Swisspod is testing its technology at the former Pueblo Chemical Weapons Depot and looking to manufacture its pods or train cars in Colorado Springs, and also considering New Mexico. If the proposed speeds of 760 mph are achieved, travelers could zip from Denver to Pueblo in 10 minutes, one-tenth the current driving time.

With 105 of the company’s 150 current employees in the state, Swisspod’s success could make Colorado a global center for what the company describes as “the 5th mode of transportation.”

Other awards went to a maker of outdoor backpacks and bags looking at Denver for 50 jobs; a semiconductor company looking at 20 jobs in El Paso County, and a recycler of high-strength magnets and batteries looking at Weld County for 35 jobs.

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As the elevator descended, the door swung out and caught the side of the mine shaft, the guide fell out, was dragged and ended up landing on top of one of the tourists as the elevator continued its descent, investigators determined.

The harrowing account of the October accident that killed Patrick Weier, 46, at the Mollie Kathleen Mine in the mountains near Colorado Springs was included in an investigative report obtained by AP in response to a public records request.

The sheriff’s office announced earlier this month that Weier’s death was caused by “operator error” but did not explain how he died or what the error was. State mining regulators inspected the mine after the accident and did not find any problems with the equipment there.

Steve Schafrik, a University of Kentucky associate professor of mining engineering, said that at commercial mining operations, an elevator will not move if the safety systems are not in place and functioning. However, he said he did not have experience with operations in former mines that are now only used for tours.

Surveillance video showed that in the minutes prior to his death, Weier loaded the group of tourists onto the lower level of a double-decker, cage-like elevator for a 1,000-foot descent into the mine. But he had trouble squeezing in himself because it was so crowded, said the report by the Teller County Sheriff’s Office.

The tourists who were in the lower section with him told investigators that Weier had asked them to squeeze together more so he could fit inside, according to the report. A woman suggested that he ride in the upper level of the elevator since the people were smaller, but she said he didn’t respond.

Weier barely had enough room to reach his hand out to close the door, and he did not appear to have secured its latch, the report said.

Within a few seconds of starting the descent, passengers said the elevator started to hit the wall of the shaft. Weier cursed and said things like “I can’t stop this,” and debris was flying at the passengers in the dark. Some lost their hard hats and, without much light, they had to rely mostly on sounds to try to make out what was happening.

According to the report, about halfway down the shaft, the door opened, came off its track and bent as it scraped along the elevator shaft. Investigators believe Weier fell out after ringing the bell to tell the operator to stop the elevator. At first he was trapped between the shaft wall and the still-moving elevator and ultimately fell into the top elevator car.

When the elevator suddenly stopped, the group in the compartment above then said someone else was in their car — Weier. His body landed on top of a woman, who said it felt like she was being suffocated by it.

A woman in the lower car was pinned by the bent door until others could free her.

Two women in the top car decided to climb up a ladder seeking help. They said the ladder was breaking as they went, but both made it up safely.

The accident left a second group of tourists stuck for hours 1,000 feet below ground, as authorities worked to make sure the elevator could safely bring them back up.

No one answered the phone at the mine and its owner did not respond to telephone messages or an email. The mine’s website says it is closed until further notice.

Weier had a 7-year-old son and was from the nearby town of Victor. Some people who went on tours at the mine with him have donated to an online fundraiser for his son, saying his knowledge about the area’s mining history left an impact on them.

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This year’s quartet of buildings on Colorado’s Most Endangered Places list was announced Thursday as part of the Saving Places Conference at Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs. The program has for 28 years partnered with preservationists and citizens to try to save significant Colorado historic structures and culture.

That includes not only physical landmarks but also “intangible cultural elements like language, storytelling, music, and other community practices that embody our past and connect us to our future,” wrote Katie Peterson, director of the Endangered Places program, in the report.

The statewide program looks at both iconic buildings and family-owned businesses, rural or mountainous, and in the past has highlighted 144 “historic resources throughout Colorado.” That includes 57 successful saves, she wrote.

Colorado’s Most Endangered Places is the signature program of the nonprofit Colorado Preservation Inc., which was founded in 1984 and works to route preservation money to vulnerable buildings and cultures. The four new additions to the list are:

Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast

This modest home near the New Mexico border in Conejos County is an important part of Colorado’s movie culture, preservationists said, but its history stretches back to 1888, when it was one of the first houses constructed in the San Luis Valley town of Antonito.

One hundred years after it was built by the Carroll family — who sold horses and mules to miners — it became the boyhood home of Indiana Jones in 1989’s “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.” “The opening scenes … were filmed there, with the action centered on the historic Cumbres & Toltec Railroad and the charming Victorian building at 502 Front Street, now known as the Indiana Jones Bed & Breakfast,” according to Colorado Preservation Inc. (CPI).

The current owners run it as a bed and breakfast, but the adobe home is beginning to sag and shift and needs a new foundation before any other work can be done, CPI said.

Knearl Block and Opera House

This red-brick building in Brush has served as a post office, hat-making factory, hotel, restaurant, opera house, bank, bar and telephone exchange — and since 2003 has been the Corral Sports Bar & Grill. Eastern Colorado communities rely on these multi-faceted structures as civic hubs, CPI said, and the architecture of the 1902 building “reflects the grandeur of its era.”

“With its intricate brickwork, tall windows, and timeless facade, the building captures the elegance of early 1900s design,” CPI wrote. “The owner has taken as many steps as possible to stabilize the building using available funds. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on the building, rendering the upper story unusable and the south wall beginning to detach.” And that’s despite the Morgan County structure joining the State Register of Historic Places, CPI added.

Newman Block

This modest blue building once housed the Granada Fish Market, which was owned by Frank Masa Tsuchiya, who had been incarcerated at the Japanese-interment site Camp Amache near Granada, CPI said. He founded the business in 1943 after his release from the World War II-era camp.

“He worked alongside Frank Torizawa, who had also worked in a fish market before the war,” CPI wrote. “Together, they delivered fish, poultry, and ice to those still incarcerated at Amache (and) donated various items to improve the lives of those behind barbed wire.”

It’s currently vacant and used as a rental event space, but “attention was drawn to the structures when one of the four buildings that share walls collapsed,” CPI wrote. They hope to work with the private owners, the Amache Alliance, the Amache Preservation Society, and the National Park Service to shore it up and explore future uses, CPI said.

Red Cliff Town Hall

This Main Street structure in the Eagle County town of Red Cliff — itself inside the White River National Forest — is a historic town Hall and firehouse that stands as an “enduring (symbol) of the town’s rich heritage and (is) central to its community life,” CPI wrote.

Built in around 1887, it was a key site for the Battle Mountain Mining District. “But after fires in 1882 and 1883 destroyed most of the town, residents realized the need for a better system to help fight fires,” CPI said. The town added water pipes and hydrants that drew from nearby Willow Creek, and eventually the building was used as a dance hall, a jail (added to the rear in 1927) and a day care before its 1980 closure.

“Unfortunately, the building is in failing condition and not structurally sound,” CPI wrote. “Rotting wood and a sloping foundation contribute to the building’s decline.” Boosters hope to turn it into a museum.

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