What's New at Grand Environmental Services!

Pedestrian Foot Bridge

Hot Sulphur Springs, CO

Grand Environmental Services (GES) helped the Town of Hot Sulphur Springs (ToHSS) with the purchase of Pioneer Park with a GOCO Open Space Grant in 1999-2000.  We continue to advise ToHSS on facility and environmental planning/permitting including trails and angler access, campground, river restoration, and of course water intake and treatment. See Photo Gallery for pictures of some of the Pioneer Park improvements.

A pedestrian bridge over the Colorado River was identified by local High School students as a park priority, an idea championed by then-new Mayor Hershal Deputy.  GES has been working with a local firm, TopKnot Engineering as well as the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Colorado Division of Wildlife to locate and design the bridge with additional funding from GOCO.  In 2009, GES helped secure a construction grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT)for $232,000 through the FHWA Enhancement Grant program. ToHSS has committed matching funds for engineering design work. TopKnot Engineering has been working on design plans for the bridge and expects to have final plans completed in February 2012.  GES continues to act as Project Manager for the bridge project, with construction expected to be put out to bid this spring.

Please visit the Pedestrian Bridge Project web page for more information.

We're working with the San San Luis Valley Ecosystem Council (SLVEC) to support community based masterplanning of renewable energy in the San Luis Valley (SLV).  For the latest information on the masterplanning effort please visit this webpage.

Very large scale planning for solar energy development on Federal Land is addressed in the BLM-Department of Energy Solar Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement <http://solareis.anl.gov/> but we feel that effort fails to recognize ongoing development of smaller scale renewable energy in the San Luis Valley, needs to re-evaluate transmission and distribution, and the cumulative effects upon local communities and ecosystems.

Our aim is work with the Federal agencies to better define the environmental baseline (what’s here now and likely to happen in the foreseeable future) by collecting and consolidating the many local planning efforts now ongoing.  Using NEPA tools and techniques developed for energy planning (Eccleston 2008 and Eccleston and March 2011) combined with the SLVEC ecosystem mapping http://slvec.org , we believe local SLV communities can have a much stronger voice in their energy future while improving project planning and reducing risk and uncertainty. 

Questions now being addressed include:

Renewable Energy Masterplanning

for the San Luis Valley, Colorado 

Grand Environmental Services is pleased to share a webpage with presentations supporting a NEPA-Based Renewable Energy Masterplan (NREMP) for the San Luis Valley (SLV).  This NREMP has been developed through a series of workshops in the SLV responding to the Federal Solar Program http://solareis.anl.gov as proposed by the Bureau of Land Management and Department of Energy.  We offer PDF versions of our presentations

For more information about San Luis Valley renewable energy, check out:

Renewable Commuties Alliance

Conejos County Clean Water

Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) is Sponsoring Strategic Environmental Planning Workshops in 2011 - 2012

Grand Environment Services and Rebecca English & Associates are Presenting   One-Day Workshops entitled

"Your Renewable Energy Project: Strategic Planning for Fast-Track Permitting"

Grand Environmental Services (GES) and Rebecca English & Associates have been presenting a series of environmental workshops across Colorado for the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES) since November 2011.

The workshops focus on helping small, renewable energy project proponents to:

• Get Better Organized
• Evaluate Energy Project Strengths and Challenges
• Develop a Strategic Plan for Team-Building, Permitting, Funding, and Implementation
• Meet and Work with Like-minded Folks working on Similar Project

For more information about the workshops, contact Grand Environmental Services.

Click here for a copy of the Nov. 4, 2011 Workshop Flyer. 

Grand Huts Association

Broome Hut Replacement

Grand Environmental Services (GES) is continuing to support the Grand Huts Association (GHA) project to replace the Second Creek Cabin, on National Forest System lands near Berthoud Pass.  The new Broome Hut will be a state-of-the-art backcountry facility supporting outdoor recreation and environmental education in a spectacular tree-line setting.  Now fully authorized by the USFS and holding a building permit from Grand County, we are currently in the construction process. 

GES has been working with GHA since 2000 to permit the project with the USFS, including full NEPA environmental assessment of the project site and access route – wetlands, threatened and endangered species, wildlife and vegetation resources, cultural resources, recreational uses – the whole Shebang! 

Thanks to generous support from a number of kind donors and a multitude of GHA volunteers, we are now moving ahead with Geoff acting on a volunteer basis as Environmental Coordinator and Project Scientist, focusing on environmental compliance including erosion and sediment control and revegetation.  Geoff works directly with GHA project manager Andy Miller and builder John Westerlund as well as US Forest Service Mike Rickets and Zack Humbles.  Our revegetation effort will form the basis of ecological studies.

For more information on the Broome Hut, check out their blog page at grandhutsassociation.blogspot.com.

Grand Environmental Services (GES) is working with Munn Architects (MA) and the Grand Lake Institute (GLI) to create a public-private partnership with Rocky Mountain National Park to develop an outdoor education facility on the old “Betty Dick Property” in the Kawuneeche Valley at the Headwaters of the Colorado River.

The GLI vision is to protect and enhance the historic property for a wide variety of uses including environmental education and the arts.  Facilities will be fully off-grid utilizing the latest ideas in sustainable development while protecting the unique nature of this historic property and the memory of our dear friend, Betty.  Trail River Ranch will offer a creative, educational base for RMNP amenities including Ranger interpretive programs, the Colorado Divide National Scenic Trail, fly fishing, hiking, and snowshoeing.  Activities will be closely tied to the Grand Lake community and businesses, further leveraging our position as the western gateway to RMNP.  GES is acting as Environmental Coordinator and NEPA Facilitator for the project.

Trail River Ranch

Educational Center