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What should I do if I see injured wildlife? Call *277!

After the initial shock of seeing an animal struck on the road, an elk entangled in a net (or basketball goal, hammock, or holiday lights), your mind might race to the question, “What should I do?”

Here is your answer and it’s all wrapped up in 4 characters: *277.

Why that number?

Colorado State Patrol (CSP) operates a non-emergency phone line, *CSP (which is *277). While humanrelated emergency calls should always be sent to 911, the CSP nonemergency number can be used for wildlife emergencies.

What are wildlife emergencies?

Animals that are injured and need immediate assistance are appropriate issues for a *277 call. Human-wildlife con icts, such as an animal attack or car crash, should be sent to 911.

When nearby and not involved in another call, CSP troopers or CPW ofcers may respond to *277 calls about herds of elk that are moving slowly across Highway 74 and are blocking tra c for long periods of time. In this case, the trooper or o cer will calm tra c but are not allowed to interfere with the animals’ progress across the road for safety reasons.

What happens when I call *277?

Just like a 911 dispatcher, the *277 dispatcher will ask pertinent questions and will contact the appropriate agency to respond to the wildlife emergency. e dispatcher knows the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) o cers, CSP trooper, Je co Sheri ’s deputy or Evergreen Fire/Rescue re-

Inside The Outdoors

sponders on duty.

Why not call Colorado Parks and Wildlife, county animal control or a wildlife rehabilitator directly?

While those are all options, calling *277 will allow a dispatcher to make the determination of which organization is appropriate to respond to that wildlife emergency, and *277 is always available.

What about nights and weekends?

Dialing *277 is an excellent option because the caller does not have to be concerned with knowing an agency’s o ce hours. People may have difculty thinking clearly when facing an emergency involving a su ering animal, and dialing *277 is simple and fast.

When is *277 not the right choice?

Do not call *277 when:

You see dead animals or roadkill (the state or county road crews will likely remove them, but you may also contact them to report the carcass) unless the carcass is a human safety issue, such as blocking tra c.

You have wildlife questions of a non-emergency nature (call CPW or another wildlife-based agency or nonpro t during o ce hours)

Other important details concerning animals in the road:

In the Conifer/Evergreen areas, we have state and county roads. e responsible agencies are di erent for each jurisdiction.

Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) Region 1 includes Highways 74, 285, 8, I-70, Highway 40 among others. CDOT Maintenance is responsible for roadkill removal. Colorado State Patrol jurisdiction includes all state and interstate highways.

Je erson County roads are those not included in the above list, such as Highway 73, Brookforest and Bu alo Park Roads. Je co Road and Bridge is the agency responsible for roadkill removal on these roads. Je co Sheri deputies respond to crashes on county highways and roads.

Wildlife carcasses discovered on personal property are the responsibility of the property owner. Options are calling a carcass removal company or in some cases, the animal may be harvested for which a permit from CPW is required. questions as they arise. is agency will have a broader mission than the oil and gas drilling that previously was its exclusive domain. One is potential tapping of underground heat to generate electricity.

CPW asks that residents experiencing bear encounters contact the appropriate CPW o ce to report the incident. Sta will share important information with the callers, such as how to bearproof the home and how to haze the animal, with the goal of preventing bears and other wildlife from feeling comfortable near homes. Bears that associate food with humans may become increasingly aggressive. Regretfully, when a bear breaks into a home, he is then considered a danger to human beings and may be put down by CPW o cers.

To report bear encounters, learn more about bear-proo ng, or ask wildlife-related questions, please contact CPW’s Denver o ce at (303) 291-7227.

An hour before the tours and four miles away at the Colorado School of Mines, Gov. Jared Polis had signed several bills. e new laws contemplate possible solutions as Colorado stretches to achieve its emissionsreduction goals from 2030 to 2050.

Two of the laws anticipate using the subterranean in ways to quell emissions or even stow carbon dioxide captured from the atmosphere. A central player in this governance will be the Energy and Carbon Management Commission, which is a new name for an old agency.

Another is governance of underground storage of hydrogen as Xcel Energy contemplates with a potential project involving the Pawnee power plant near Brush.

Carbon capture and sequestration is a third possibility, but one hotly disputed by some environmental watchdogs, among them Leslie Glustrom, a biochemist. ey are skeptical of the agency’s ability to regulate oil and gas, let alone other activities. Pipelines, both for oil and for carbon dioxide, have a history of ruptures. In 2022, residents of a rural area of Mississippi were left unconscious after a pipeline rupture left the odorless carbon dioxide spewing for four hours. e work has begun on the changes that will be manifested beyond 2030. e path leading to the current basketball championship began in 2014 when the Nuggets drafted Jokic with their third draft choice that year. e Nuggets did not have high expectations. Some things take time - and then, all of a sudden they’re here.

Dozens of bills addressing the energy transition were passed this year by Colorado legislators, a recognition of the need for swift actions proportionate to the risk of still-rising emissions. Even more striking was a report from northwest Colorado that Rangely, one of our most prominent oil and gas boom towns, plans to be engaged in the clean energy transition.

Speaking at NREL on Monday, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm noted that urgency. “We have to do everything everywhere all at once to get to that 100% goal,” she said.

Allen Best produces an e-journal called Big Pivots. Find him at BigPivots.com

Be Studio is an all-inclusive space for people young and old to feel the music and express themselves. For dancers who want to break out of the traditional dance studio format, the international company based in Denver could be a dream come

Striving to bring the magic of global movement to people in Colorado, Caitlin BroznaSmith founded the dance studio that brings a piece of global culture along with self-expression and con dence with each class.

“It was so important to include people from where these cultures are sourced,” said Brozna-Smith. “I found people from Polynesia to teach Polynesian dance… teachers from Iran. We really have this beautiful, electric group of dancers from all over the

Among a multitude of dance styles, students can learn the soft style of Hula ‘Auana, Tahitian dance, Bollywood, Belly Dancing, adult ballet and Ginga Vibe, which draws on styles from the African Diaspora including Funk, Afro-Caribe, Dance Hall, Soca, Lambada and Samba. e studio also o ers Taiji Fit, a halfhour mind and low-impact body workout that combines traditional T’ai Chi with mindfulness and modern Western tness. Inspired by the Bollywood style of dance, BollyX Fitness is a 50-minute cardio workout and GROOV3 Hip Hop Dance Fitness.

Within the Bella Diva studio, both the

Students learn worldwide dance styles at Bella Diva World Dance Studio

BY HALEY LENA HLENA@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

teaching sta and students are multinational. e dance teachers come from ve di erent countries and teach a range of students from 29 di erent countries.

teach countries.

To bring as much authentic culture into Denver, many teachers have gone abroad to study di erent styles of dance.

“ e people (teachers) who are not native from the cultures that we’re teaching travel and learn from the source because it’s really important that we do cultural appreciation and cultural exchange,” Brozna-Smith said.

Samba styles (teachers) the from source appreciation exchange,” Brozna-Smith abso-

Samba, the high energy and fast footwork style is not just a dance form, it is a lifestyle. ose who teach Samba at Bella Diva make sure they are staying true to the culture and teach the students the history of where the dance originated.

“I am very careful when I am teaching my students because I am not Brazilian, it is not my culture, but it is something that I am absolutely fascinated with and love,” said instructor Chelsi Vecchiavelli. “I spend a lot of time outside of class researching, asking experts, listening to podcasts, consulting my mentors who are Brazilian and who are my teachers.”

Born out of the slave trade when it was down in Brazil, Samba was a means of hope and joy and is a dance of resistance and raises up against oppression.

Samba schools have often been located in a favela, which is the poor neighborhoods within Rio De Janeiro. Vecchiavelli said there

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