Top story / Monday, Oct 26
Water managers in the West keep their books on a "water year" that runs from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, because that is roughly how long it takes for one winter's snow to melt, run downhill and get used. The Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University released its review of the 2026 water year on Oct. 20, and KUNC walked through it with climatologist Allie Mazurek in an interview published Oct. 25. The headline is heat. Statewide, the year averaged 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1991-2020 normal and more than 2 degrees warmer than the old record, set in 1934, with records going back to 1895. Colorado logged its warmest December, February, March and August on record, and 286 of the year's 365 days ran above average. A late-March heat wave pushed the statewide March average nearly 10 degrees above normal and started melting snow earlier than had ever been recorded. That heat helped produce the lowest mountain snowpack on record. Statewide snowpack peaked at about 51% of average, below the infamous dry years of 1977, 2002 and 2012, and 60 of the state's 64 long-term snow-measurement sites recorded their lowest April 1 readings ever. Since most of Colorado's water starts as mountain snow, rivers ran far below normal, Blue Mesa Reservoir hit record lows and Lake Powell downstream kept dropping. By late April, about 59% of the state was in extreme or exceptional drought, and two of this summer's fires, Aspen Acres and Ferris, now rank among Colorado's ten largest. Mazurek said a strong El Nino is in place and NOAA's outlook leans wetter for eastern and southeastern Colorado, but she cautioned that El Nino does not guarantee a big snow year.
Why it matters: Snow is Colorado's savings account, and this year it came in at half. That shortfall shows up everywhere downstream: ranchers selling cattle, fish stressed in warm low rivers, elk and deer on thin winter range, and the 40 million people who depend on the Colorado River. This winter's snow will decide whether 2027 is a recovery or a second hit.
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Monday, Oct 26
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has sent letters this month to the governors of every state with gray wolves or Mexican gray wolves, KANW New Mexico Public Radio reported Oct. 24. Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, where wolves are protected under state law, were asked to re-evaluate and potentially drop those protections. Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, which already allow wolf hunting, were asked to keep their current policies. The letters carry out President Trump's Sept. 4 executive order on ranchers, which also asked federal agencies to look at removing wolves from the federal endangered species list. "I am urging states to listen to their producers, review state-specific wolf protections, and work with USDA wherever possible to protect livestock, including through lethal removal when requested by the appropriate authorities and authorized by law," Rollins said. The administration points to rising livestock losses, and a 2025 American Farm Bureau Federation analysis estimated wolves cost U.S. ranchers about $128 million a year. Mitch Jones of the advocacy group Food and Water Watch argued the push will do nothing for beef prices. In Colorado, wolves exist because voters approved reintroduction in 2020, and they are listed as endangered under both state and federal law. As The Aspen Times has reported, federal delisting alone would not change Colorado's state protections. The state's wolf plan allows downlisting after four straight years with at least 50 wolves, and full delisting once the count holds between 150 and 200 for two years. As of Sept. 24, Colorado Parks and Wildlife estimated 45 wolves in the state, 20 of them pups, and the agency recently paused its framework for killing wolves involved in livestock conflicts after a rough survival year. Colorado pays ranchers up to $15,000 per animal lost to wolves.
The 2001 Roadless Rule blocks most new road building on about 45 million acres of national forest, including 3.3 million acres in Wyoming that cover almost all of the Wyoming and Salt River ranges and big parts of the Gros Ventre Range. The U.S. Forest Service is now working to repeal it. On Oct. 24, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that the Wyoming County Commissioners Association, which has a representative commissioner from every county, has told the agency it supports repeal. The group works by consensus, and its natural resource adviser, Micah Christensen, said every county except Teton backed rescission. In its letter, the association said it does not dispute that unroaded country can have real ecological, recreational and social value, but argued those calls should be made locally through each forest's own plan instead of by a national rule. Peggie dePasquale of the Wyoming Wilderness Association countered that these are federal lands, so a federal rule fits, and that the current rule already gives local forest managers plenty of flexibility. Teton County's commissioners filed comments to keep the rule. The association joins Gov. Mark Gordon, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the state's congressional delegation in favor of repeal, while the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, the Wyoming Outdoor Council and the Wyoming Wilderness Association want it kept. The latest public comment period closed earlier this month. In the earlier round that began in August 2025, more than 625,000 people commented, and about 99% opposed repeal, according to the Forest Service's own draft environmental impact statement.
England and Wales banned hunting foxes with dogs under the 2004 Hunting Act. Many hunts switched to trail hunting, where hounds follow a scent that people lay down ahead of time, and the law says a hunt must call the dogs off if they pick up a real fox. The Labour government promised in its 2024 manifesto to ban trail hunting too, arguing the sport carries an "inherent risk" of hounds chasing wild animals. A public consultation that closed in June drew 184,000 responses, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs says it is committed to a ban and will announce next steps this autumn. In a BBC report published Oct. 25, members of the Worcestershire Hunt, which traces its history back more than 150 years, said a ban would cost jobs, hurt local businesses and leave their hounds' future uncertain. Its senior master said his hounds had killed no wild animals in the past year. The Countryside Alliance, which says more than 200 hunts trail hunt today, argues existing law already lets police prosecute hunts that break it. Hunt saboteur groups call trail hunting a cover for fox hunting and point to recent video they say shows hounds following a fox's path, which the hunt involved disputes. One open question is whether a ban would also sweep in drag hunting, where hounds follow a scent with no animal source at all.
Sunday, Oct 25
Days of heavy rain on already soaked ground sent rivers over their banks across southwest Colorado this week. On the night of Oct. 22, Gov. Jared Polis verbally declared a disaster emergency for 11 counties: La Plata, Archuleta, Montezuma, Dolores, Hinsdale, San Miguel, Ouray, San Juan, Mineral, Alamosa and Rio Grande. On Oct. 24 he added Conejos County, bringing the total to 12. The declaration puts the state emergency plan into motion and lets the Colorado National Guard help with rescues, evacuations and debris. In Pagosa Springs, the San Juan River crested just over 15 feet early Friday, Oct. 23, the second-highest crest on record and the highest since 1911, according to the Archuleta County sheriff. Swift-water crews rescued a hypothermic elderly couple, and an occupied RV was swept about 100 yards downstream. Floodwater also damaged town sewer lines and lift stations, so officials are telling people to stay out of the water. Denver7 reports about 100 people have evacuated and many more are stranded at home by washed-out roads, and the state is working with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe on flooding on tribal land. The San Juan National Forest says roads, bridges and trails across the forest have been damaged or destroyed, and crews are still locating campers and visitors stuck behind roads that can no longer be driven. The timing is hard on hunters, because Colorado's second rifle season opened Oct. 24. All that rain does little for the long-term water picture, though. The Oct. 22 U.S. Drought Monitor noted Lake Powell was holding only about 22% of its capacity.
On Nov. 3, Colorado voters will decide Amendment 83, which would add a right to hunt and fish, including by traditional methods, to the state constitution. It would also make hunting and fishing the state's preferred tools for managing wildlife, while still letting the state regulate them for sound scientific conservation, public safety or to keep hunting and fishing going for future generations. In a feature published Oct. 23, KUNC reporter Rachel Cohen visited Davis Tent, a small Denver company that sews canvas wall tents for backcountry hunters, where owner Will Marquardt recently hosted one of the campaign's final stops. Marquardt, a bowhunter and birder, said the amendment recognizes how much hunting and fishing matter to businesses like his. The Common Sense Institute puts the industry's value in Colorado at roughly $6 billion a year, and a state analysis found hunting licenses provide about a third of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's revenue. Almost half of states, including neighbors Utah, Wyoming and Idaho, already have similar language in their constitutions. Supporters point to the 2020 wolf reintroduction vote and the failed 2024 measure to ban mountain lion hunting as examples of wildlife decisions being pushed to the ballot box. Campaign spokesman Dan Gates said the amendment would not overturn any existing rules and would keep science-based decisions with the agency's experts. Some opponents question the undefined phrase "traditional methods," and Gates said he sees no legitimate scenario where it brings back anything Colorado has already banned.
Red Creek Basin, south of Rock Springs, Wyo., about 10 miles from Flaming Gorge Reservoir, is almost all public land: more than 56,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management ground and 8,300 acres of state land. It holds about 1,000 elk, plus pronghorn, moose, one of Wyoming's most prized mule deer herds and pure-strain Colorado River cutthroat trout. Scattered through the basin are 19 private parcels totaling 4,161 acres that make up Red Creek Ranch, owned by Adam Lerrick since 1994 and protected by a conservation easement worked out with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, The Nature Conservancy and Wyoming Game and Fish. A dirt road that has carried people into the area for about 100 years crosses a small piece of the ranch, and Sweetwater County, the BLM and the state have all maintained it. The Rocket Miner reports that Lerrick recently destroyed the stretch on his property, cutting off access along that road to the state land beyond. When the BLM went looking for the paperwork, it found no recorded easement, even though the route has been listed as a BLM and county road for decades. Sweetwater County Commissioner Taylor Jones called it sad and frustrating and worried people would start driving cross-country to get around the break. The BLM's acting Rock Springs district manager, Mike Gates, said Lerrick raised liability concerns about people driving on his land and has been reasonable to work with in the past. The agency's plan is a new road around the private ground, with environmental clearances finished over the winter so it can be ready next summer. Gates called it a high priority.
On Oct. 9, ATF stopped requiring federal approval and registration under the National Firearms Act before people make or transfer short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and suppressors. That followed an Aug. 5 federal court ruling in Texas, which came after Congress cut the NFA tax on those items to zero. Federal nonenforcement does not change state law, though, and Ohio's statutes still make it a crime to make, possess or use those items without ATF approval. On Oct. 23, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson wrote to Senate President Rob McColley and House Speaker Matt Huffman warning that confusion over the ATF change could lead otherwise law-abiding gun owners to break Ohio law without knowing it. "If that reflects the policy of this legislature, so be it," he wrote. "If, on the other hand, the legislature sees these registration requirements as archaic remnants of an overly restrictive past, it is time to eliminate them from Ohio law." The letter does not change anything by itself. A bill already at the Statehouse, the Freedom to Carry Act, would take those items off Ohio's dangerous ordnance list, and according to Ohio Gun Owners, the General Assembly has four scheduled session days after the election before its term ends Dec. 31. Alaska's acting attorney general asked her Legislature for a similar fix on Oct. 15.
Saturday, Oct 24
Across the West, millions of acres of public land belong to every American but sit behind a locked gate. When a parcel of BLM or national forest ground is surrounded by private property with no public road or trail crossing it, you can legally hunt it, but you cannot legally get there. A 2018 analysis by the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership and onX counted 9.52 million acres of these landlocked federal lands in 13 western states, most of it managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This week the BLM opened nominations for projects that would fix that. The agency is looking for voluntary deals with willing landowners, such as access easements, rights-of-way or, in some cases, buying the land outright, to reach parcels identified under the 2019 Dingell Act and other hard-to-reach public ground. The projects would be paid for through the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which Congress fully funded in 2020 through the Great American Outdoors Act. The request follows a September executive order directing federal land agencies to prioritize practical access to hard-to-reach public lands. Nominations are taken on a rolling basis through local BLM field offices.
Every fall, black bears enter a stage called hyperphagia, when they try to eat as many as 20,000 calories a day to fatten up before winter. This year there is not much out there for them to eat. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says low snowpack, drought and late spring freezes wiped out the berries, acorns and other wild foods bears depend on, and the shortage stretches across much of the West. "This is the worst food failure year that we've ever had," CPW assistant wildlife manager Travis Sauder told KKTV in Colorado Springs, adding that the agency is seeing unprecedented bear activity in neighborhoods. CPW is asking people to lock up trash, take down bird feeders, bring in pet food, clean grills and keep air horns or bear spray handy. The agency also says people should not set out food for hungry bears, because a bear that gets even one food reward tends to keep coming back. Last year, 13 bears were euthanized in southeastern Colorado after hundreds of reports of bear activity.
Since 2024, New Mexico has required most gun buyers to wait seven days before taking home a firearm, even when their federal background check clears in minutes. In August 2025, a divided panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals said that waiting period likely violates the Second Amendment, and in August 2026 a federal judge barred the state from enforcing it. The catch is that the order only protected the two people who brought that case, Samuel Ortega and Rebecca Scott, so every other buyer in the state is still waiting. On Oct. 19, a coalition including the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the NRA, the Second Amendment Foundation, two New Mexico shooting groups and several firearms retailers filed a new federal lawsuit against Attorney General Raul Torrez. They want the court to declare the waiting period unconstitutional for law-abiding buyers whose background checks clear within three days, and they have asked for a preliminary injunction while the case moves forward. The state has appealed the earlier ruling, and supporters of the law argue waiting periods can reduce impulsive shootings and suicides.
In May 2020, Canada's federal government banned about 1,500 models and variants of what it called assault-style firearms, and it added more bans in December 2024 and March 2025. To keep owners of those guns from becoming criminals overnight, Ottawa has used a series of amnesty orders while it builds a buyback program. The latest amnesty was set to run out on Oct. 30. Instead, the government has extended it until 90 days after the Supreme Court of Canada decides the appeals challenging the 2020 ban, a ruling that is not expected before mid-2027. The court agreed to hear those appeals in March 2026. Saskatchewan, which has pushed back on the federal bans, reminded owners this week that its provincial firearms office will verify whether a gun is affected, appraise its value, and issue certificates that let eligible owners keep certain banned firearms stored on behalf of the province after the amnesty ends.
Friday, Oct 23
Since 1958, federal law has made it a crime to make, ship or sell switchblades across state lines. Congress passed the Federal Switchblade Act during a Cold War panic over juvenile delinquency, and for decades it meant a knife that is legal to carry in your own state could still be a federal problem the moment it crossed a border. On Oct. 21, a unanimous Fifth Circuit panel in New Orleans ruled that part of the law unconstitutional. Writing for the court in Knife Rights v. Blanche, Chief Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod held that switchblades are arms commonly kept for lawful purposes like self-defense, and that the right to keep and bear arms includes the right to acquire them. Applying the Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen test, the panel found a long history of rules about how weapons may be carried, but no founding-era tradition of banning their manufacture or interstate sale. The court did not rule on the separate federal possession provision; it said the challengers had not met the bar for that kind of facial challenge and sent the case back to the trial court in Texas.
For years the working assumption on the Colorado River has been simple: the Upper Basin states of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico get the Rocky Mountain snow, so they hold up better in a drought than Arizona, Nevada and California. A new study says that assumption needs a second look. Researchers at Virginia Tech used satellite gravity data from NASA's GRACE missions, along with snow, soil and surface water records, to track groundwater across the basin from 2004 through 2023. During the 2020 to 2022 drought, the Upper Basin lost about 4.2 cubic miles of groundwater, nearly double the Lower Basin's 2.3 cubic miles. Over the full 20 years the basin lost about 14 cubic miles in all, and losses sped up after 2019. Lead author Esther Oyedele said the Upper Basin's reliance on snowmelt to refill its aquifers likely left it exposed when the snow came up short. The study was published Oct. 13 in the journal Water Resources Research.
The U.S. Forest Service manages about 193 million acres of national forests and grasslands, the places where millions of Americans hunt, fish, cut firewood and camp. The Trump administration wants to move the agency's headquarters from Washington to Salt Lake City, close 23 research stations, and replace regional offices with state offices. On Oct. 13, U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria paused the plan while a lawsuit from federal employee unions, environmental groups and local governments moves forward. He wrote that the administration almost certainly spent money Congress set aside for other purposes and that thousands of employees would face a choice between moving far away or losing their jobs. On Oct. 22, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department is "full-bore ahead" and has appealed. Supporters, including Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, say it puts leaders closer to the land, since nearly 90% of national forest lands are in the West. A retired Forest Service leader told the Associated Press it could tilt the agency toward state priorities like timber, oil and gas and grazing. The workforce has already shrunk about 16%, from more than 39,000 to 33,000.
Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain disease in deer, elk and moose, and it has turned up in 63 of Saskatchewan's 83 wildlife zones, with 525 confirmed cases in the 2023-24 season alone. On Oct. 13 the provincial government announced it was ending its testing program, pointing to low hunter participation, and Premier Scott Moe later called it a budget decision. Hunters and wildlife groups pushed back hard for a week, saying they rely on test results to decide whether meat from their harvest is safe to feed their families. On Oct. 22 the province reversed itself. Environment Minister Darlene Rowden said, "We made a mistake," and acknowledged the government had not consulted its own advisory committees. Testing this season will work as it did last year, mandatory in designated areas and voluntary elsewhere. The Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation welcomed the decision, and University of Saskatchewan researcher Ryan Brook said Indigenous nations should have been treated as partners in the decision from the start.
Tuesday, Oct 20
On Oct. 19, the Guardian, following Good News Network a few days earlier, credited North America's largest wildlife overpass, on I-25 at Greenland between Castle Rock and Monument, with cutting animal crashes by 91% in the 10 months since it opened. The 91% is real, but the overpass didn't earn it. The number comes from a CDOT-commissioned study that used crash records and wildlife camera footage from 2022 through 2024, after the I-25 South Gap project put in five large underpasses and 14 miles of 8-foot fencing on each side of the interstate. Wildlife crashes fell about 85% a year on average and 91% in the final year studied. CDOT says that before the system was built, this corridor averaged about one wildlife crash a day. The overpass broke ground in January 2025 and opened in December 2025, so it isn't in that data at all. Its job is different: elk and pronghorn are usually too skittish for tunnels and want open structures with clear sight lines. The grass-covered bridge, 200 feet wide and 209 feet long, links 39,000 acres of habitat on both sides of I-25, and CDOT says it ties that ground to more than a million acres of Pike National Forest. CDOT's environmental manager told CBS News that pronghorn are crossing to the west side for the first time in decades. The overpass's own study results are due in spring 2027. If you want to help pay for the next one, Colorado's SB26-141 adds an optional wildlife collision fee when you register your vehicle, starting Jan. 1, 2027. You can decline it, and declining doesn't affect your registration. Three quarters of the money goes to wildlife crossings and the rest to Colorado Parks and Wildlife for habitat connectivity.
Maine passed a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases in 2024, six months after the Lewiston mass shooting that killed 18 people. Under the law, most buyers have to wait three days after the sale before they can take the firearm home, even when their background check has already cleared. Lawmakers pitched it as a cooling-off period meant to cut suicides and impulsive violence. A firearms instructor who teaches self-defense to domestic violence survivors, a state lawmaker who runs a gunsmithing shop, and three Maine gun dealers sued. Their Supreme Court petition described a woman being stalked who passed her background check and still had to leave her new gun at the store for days. A federal judge blocked the law in February 2025, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed him in April 2026, concluding the challengers were unlikely to win, in part because buying a gun comes before keeping or bearing one. On Oct. 19, the Supreme Court declined to take the case, without explanation or a noted dissent, even though the Second Amendment Foundation, the NRA and 25 states led by Montana had urged it to step in. Because the Court only declined review, the constitutional question is still open. Maine's law stays in force while the lawsuit goes back to federal court in Maine, and a split stays on the books: the 10th Circuit, which covers Colorado, ruled in Ortega v. Grisham that New Mexico's seven-day waiting period likely violates the Second Amendment.
The Upper Colorado River Commission, the body Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming use to manage their share of the river, met on Oct. 19, and every state brought bad news. Colorado Commissioner Becky Mitchell, who chairs the commission, said water users here "are selling cows because they can't feed them." In the Grand Valley, home of Palisade peaches, irrigation was shut off two months before the end of the season, which she said was the first time in 111 years, even though most of those water rights are older than the 1922 Colorado River Compact. In the Uncompahgre Valley near Montrose, some of the most senior water users in the state got about half their normal allocation, and fields went fallow. Blue Mesa, Colorado's largest reservoir, is about 17% full. It was rough everywhere upstream: Utah cut deliveries by 70% in parts of the state, and Wyoming irrigated 161,000 fewer acres than in a typical year. Downstream, Lake Powell sat about 10 feet above the 3,510-foot elevation the Bureau of Reclamation wants to hold to keep the hydropower running at Glen Canyon Dam. Reclamation's Upper Basin regional director said the agency won't decide how much water to send from Powell to Lake Mead until April 2027, after it sees what winter brings. Mitchell also pointed at Arizona, which she said has banked about 15 million acre-feet of water credits underground since 1990, and said the dry day that water was saved for has arrived. She called Nevada and Arizona's lawsuit over the new federal river guidelines the wrong venue and said it "will not provide one more drop of water." Meanwhile the Upper Basin states are building a voluntary program that pays water users to cut back temporarily.
Finland kept wolves fully protected until this year, when a regulated quota hunt was allowed for the first time starting in January. Now the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has drafted a second season: up to 109 wolves across 18 hunting areas outside the northern reindeer-herding region, most likely from Dec. 1 to Feb. 10, 2027. Minister Sari Essayah told Yle on Oct. 17 that some regions still have dense pockets of wolves, and the ministry says its plan relies on population and territory data from the Natural Resources Institute Finland. In Pyhtaa on the southeast coast, where a pack killed six sheep in August, the local game management association welcomed a proposed quota of eight. In Kuhmo, near the Russian border, the plan would take six wolves from the Kivikiekki area, where officials say the local breeding pair are full siblings. That worries wildlife photographer Lassi Rautiainen, whose hides there draw more than 1,000 visitors a year from about 30 countries. "If the wolf pack is killed, tourists will stop visiting here," he told Yle. The draft is open for comment until Nov. 13, and Essayah makes the final call in November.
Monday, Oct 19
Boca Chica State Park sits at the very bottom of Texas near Brownsville, where the Rio Grande meets the Gulf. It is wild beachfront where anglers surf fish for red drum, visitors drive the soft sand toward the river mouth, and the clay mounds along the road are favored habitat for the endangered ocelot. On Oct. 16, Texas Monthly reported that a draft agenda for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission's Nov. 5 meeting listed the sale of "1,300 acres" in Cameron County for a closed-door session. Two anonymous sources told the magazine the land is the state park and the buyer is SpaceX. Neither the department nor SpaceX has confirmed that. A department spokesperson told the magazine the commission "is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting," though sources said it could come back later. Texas's Open Meetings Act lets land talks happen in private, but any final vote has to be taken in a public meeting. Separately, on Oct. 14 the FAA opened an environmental review of SpaceX's plan to go from 25 Starship launches a year at Boca Chica to as many as 456, plus up to 912 landings. Public comments are due Nov. 30, with public meetings Nov. 17 in Brownsville, Nov. 18 online and Nov. 19 in Port Isabel.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa authorized a firearms amnesty running from Oct. 12 through Nov. 12, 2026. Police say people and institutions can surrender unlicensed, smuggled or illegally acquired firearms and ammunition at the nearest station without being questioned or prosecuted, and will receive a safe-custody receipt. In an Oct. 19 statement, national police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the drive also targets licensed owners who skip certificate renewals, leave guns poorly secured, or leave weapons stranded after company closures, inactive club memberships or a license holder's death. After Nov. 12, police plan physical inspections and verification checks aimed at suspected illegal gun holders.
Sunday, Oct 18
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources said on Oct. 16 that it has not designated any shooting areas in the Matanuska Valley Moose Range near Sutton. Under rules the department proposed this month, those designated areas would be the only places on state land in the range where target shooting is allowed. Until then, firing a gun on state land there without a DNR permit would be limited to lawful hunting or trapping. Private land would stay exempt. The informal shooting and camping ground near Slipper Lake grew after the Jonesville coal mine closed, and the Legislature created the Jonesville Public Use Area in 2018 after the Mat-Su Borough cited a shooting death, near misses and shots fired at houses. DNR also pointed to a Mat-Su Borough request for land near Slipper Lake to build a formal shooting range, with public comment open through Oct. 30. Written comments on the proposed Moose Range rules are due by 5 p.m. Nov. 9.
Saturday, Oct 17
As of Oct. 9, ATF no longer requires individuals to get approval before making or transferring short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns, suppressors and "any other weapons," and it will not enforce NFA registration, tax-stamp or marking rules for those items. The chain started in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which cut the NFA making and transfer tax on those items to $0 starting Jan. 1, 2026. On Aug. 5, a federal judge in the Northern District of Texas (Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF) ruled that, with the tax at $0, the registration scheme was no longer a valid use of Congress's taxing power, and blocked enforcement for the plaintiffs. The Justice Department then chose to apply that nationwide as a matter of enforcement discretion. Machine guns and destructive devices still carry the $200 tax and full NFA rules. ATF's caveats: these items are still firearms under the Gun Control Act, so dealer sales still need a Form 4473 and background check; you still must file a Form 20 before taking an SBR or short shotgun across state lines; state and local bans still apply; and enforcement could resume if Congress adds a tax back, the ruling is overturned, or the policy is rescinded. ATF warns there is no automatic grandfathering, so unregistered items could become contraband. Voluntary Form 1 registration is still accepted.
Friday, Oct 16
A wetter September and a moist start to October knocked Colorado's Drought Severity and Coverage Index down to 244 as of Oct. 13, from a summer high of 336 on Aug. 11, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor numbers reported by the Denver Gazette. Extreme drought (D3) fell from about 35% of the state to about 18%, and exceptional drought (D4) fell from about 14% to about 8.5%. Severe-or-worse drought still covers more than half the state when you add D2 through D4. Much of the worst dryness remains in ski and high-country counties including Lake, Eagle, Summit and Pitkin, where fire risk and low water levels stay a concern. The last time Colorado's DSCI sat lower than 244 was March 17.
On Oct. 16, the Interior Department and the National Park Service finalized a rule that restores the Alaska-specific framework for wildlife harvest and some public access decisions in Alaska's national parks and preserves. It rescinds rule changes made in 2015, 2017 and 2024 and returns to the system built under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, where the State of Alaska manages fish and wildlife except where federal law says otherwise. In national preserves, state-authorized hunting methods apply again where they fit federal law. Alaska Beacon reports that includes bear baiting by sport hunters, which earlier rules had banned in Park Service units, and an allowance for licensed trappers to take animals with firearms. The rule also brings back public hearings and local notice by newspaper, radio and post office before certain hunting and fishing closures. The federal subsistence priority for rural Alaskans stays the same. Alaska Fish and Game Commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang called it a necessary return to the framework that served Alaska for three decades, while the National Parks Conservation Association and the Center for Biological Diversity condemned it. The rule publishes in the Federal Register on Oct. 19 and takes effect 30 days later.
Alaska law makes it a class C felony to possess a suppressor, a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches or a shotgun with a barrel under 18 inches, but gives a defense to anyone who handled the item under federal National Firearms Act registration. Since ATF stopped enforcing NFA registration for those items on Oct. 9, that defense no longer lines up with how federal law works. On Oct. 15, acting Attorney General Cori Mills asked the Legislature, which returns in January, to clarify the statute. Until it does, police have been told to consult state prosecutors before filing charges under that provision, and the Department of Law will look at each case on its own. Alaska was one of 15 states that sued in Silencer Shop Foundation v. ATF, and the Juneau Empire reports it is also one of 15 states whose laws tie possession of these items to federal registration. The Firearms Policy Coalition has asked those states' attorneys general to stop enforcing the affected laws and push for repeal. ATF still accepts voluntary registration.
Swedish county administrative boards announced on Oct. 15 that hunters may take up to 72 wolves between Jan. 2 and Feb. 15, 2027. Orebro gets the largest share at 36, Vastmanland and Dalarna share 18, Vastra Gotaland gets 12 and Sodermanland 6, while Varmland will have no hunt. Sweden has an estimated 355 wolves. Last winter's planned hunt of 48 was stopped by an administrative court after conservation groups appealed, and the European Commission had criticized the government for cutting its "favourable conservation status" threshold from 300 wolves to 170 without scientific backing. The government raised that figure to 220 this summer, and the boards based this season's quota on 300 to avoid new legal trouble. The boards say any reduction has to be gradual because the Scandinavian population struggles with inbreeding. The Swedish Hunters' Association welcomed the decision, and the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation called it outrageous. In 2023, the previous record year, 75 wolves were allowed and 57 were taken.
The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, one of the country's best-known hunting and fishing conservation groups, came out in support of Amendment 83 on Oct. 16. TRCP called regulated hunting one of the most important tools wildlife managers have for keeping herds in balance with habitat, limiting disease and reducing conflicts with people and agriculture, and pointed out that license fees and excise taxes paid by hunters and anglers are a major source of conservation money. "Amendment 83 recognizes that role and helps ensure hunters and anglers continue to contribute to the conservation and management of wildlife in Colorado," said Liz Rose, TRCP's Colorado field representative. The group added that 83 keeps Colorado Parks and Wildlife's authority to manage fish and wildlife based on science and safety. The endorsement came the same day as the Colorado Wildlife Employees Protective Association's.
Arizona's Department of Water Resources moved on Oct. 16 to join Nevada's federal lawsuit against the Interior Department and Bureau of Reclamation over the new 10-year Colorado River operating plan. The plan puts every mandatory cut on the Lower Basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California, while Colorado and the other Upper Basin states face only voluntary conservation. The first two years cut Arizona's share by 760,000 acre-feet, and later "sideboards" could push Lower Basin cuts as high as 3 million acre-feet a year, which ADWR director Tom Buschatzke said could effectively dry up the Central Arizona Project canal. Arizona is asking the court to keep the 2027 and 2028 cuts in place while it fights the later years. No court dates have been set.
Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge, just outside Denver, is holding its first big-game hunt this fall. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the herd has more than doubled since 2019 to about 700 elk, is damaging rare prairie plants, and raises the risk of chronic wasting disease, which has been detected on the refuge. The goal is 200 to 250 elk. Archery ran Sept. 17 to 28 and the firearm season runs Oct. 1 to Dec. 14, with a CPW lottery tag, a mandatory orientation, and no centerfire rifles, handguns, lead ammo or dogs. What is documented: the site made plutonium triggers until 1989, a cleanup of about $7 billion finished in 2005, and federal and state agencies say air and soil monitoring meets standards. The refuge manager said elk sampled in 2023 were non-detect for radionuclides in all tissues, and the inner core of the old plant stays closed. What is alleged: some advocates say the site still poses a health risk and cite a 2024 private sampling effort that reported plutonium in air filters near the refuge. Agencies have not adopted that finding.
The Colorado Wildlife Employees Protective Association (CWEPA), roughly 200 current and former wildlife professionals, formally announced its support for Amendment 83 on Oct. 16. CWEPA recognized hunting and fishing as primary wildlife management tools, affirmed the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, and said Colorado's wildlife is best protected, enhanced and managed by science-based wildlife professionals. It joins dozens of Colorado-based organizations backing 83, including hunting and angling groups, ag groups, conservation organizations and county governments. "When the people who have dedicated their careers to managing Colorado's wildlife step forward and take a public position, that matters," said Dan Gates, campaign manager for Colorado's Wildlife Deserves Better. Jenny Burbey, president of the Colorado Outfitters Association, said CWEPA "is joining organizations representing hundreds of thousands of Coloradans who are making a clear and definitive stance behind Colorado's established model for professional wildlife management."
Thursday, Oct 15
The National Integrated Drought Information System's Oct. 15 update for the Intermountain West says Water Year 2026 brought record-low snowpack, Colorado's hottest summer on record, and natural inflow to Lake Powell of 3.52 million acre-feet, just 37% of average. More than 90% of the region sat in drought from April through September. A strengthening El Niño favors a wetter winter in southern Colorado and the Four Corners, but forecasters say one good winter will not refill the big reservoirs.
Bulgaria's parliament passed amendments to its weapons and ammunition law at second reading on Oct. 15. Gun owners will now have to declare the type of suppressor in the Interior Ministry's electronic register, while permit holders no longer have to file documents when they change their permanent address. The bill also trims paperwork for businesses that make explosives and pyrotechnics.
Wednesday, Oct 14
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into whether police in Pennsauken Township, N.J., are unconstitutionally slow to issue firearm permits. The department points to Bruen, where the Supreme Court said long waits or steep fees can turn a permitting system toward "abusive ends." The case runs through the division's Second Amendment Section, which takes complaints from the public.
Safari Club International and Sportsmen's Alliance Foundation filed suit in Denver District Court on Oct. 2 against the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission over its July vote setting a two-per-day limit on 17 furbearer species, including beaver, bobcat, fox and muskrat. CPW's director had recommended 15 per day, and staff later offered limits of four or eight. The groups say the two-animal limit was never put out for public comment, which they argue violates the State Administrative Procedure Act, and they want the rule vacated and redone. CPW says it does not comment on pending litigation.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Hunt 2 Conserve committed a combined $125,000 to the Amendment 83 campaign. RMEF says hunters and anglers fund 68% of the CPW budget through licenses and fees. Separately, a letter from 127 fishing industry companies and groups backed the measure this week. As a constitutional amendment, it needs 55% of the vote on Nov. 3 to pass.
Confirmed: a Virginia Tech study in Water Resources Research, announced Oct. 13, estimates the Upper Basin lost about 4.6 trillion gallons of groundwater during the 2020 to 2022 drought, and that the whole basin has been losing groundwater for two decades. The researchers tie the Upper Basin losses to drought, heat and smaller snowpack. Not yet known: how much this will cut future river flows. The authors warn continued depletion could reduce the groundwater that feeds rivers, but that is a projection, not a measured result.
Conservation groups tracking submissions count at least 1.6 million comments against repealing the 2001 Roadless Rule, combining more than a million from the draft EIS period that closed Oct. 6 with roughly 600,000 from last fall's scoping. The Forest Service has not announced a date for a final decision. Colorado's own state roadless rule covers more than 4 million acres here and stays in place either way, per the Forest Service.
CPW's latest Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Grants will fund 17 projects around the state, the agency announced Tuesday. The program has paid out $3.9 million since it started in 2021, mostly for things like bear-resistant trash storage in mountain towns.
CPW gives away spawned-out kokanee salmon each fall so the meat does not go to waste. Giveaways at the Roaring Judy hatchery near Almont are scheduled Fridays from Oct. 16 to Nov. 20 around 9 a.m., with others at Lake Nighthorse in Durango on Fridays from Oct. 30 and at Joe Rowell Park in Dolores on Oct. 29. You need a valid fishing license and a cooler, and it is worth calling ahead since the run sets the schedule.
Tuesday, Oct 13
As of Tuesday, Denver Water cut the flow it leaves in the Fraser River below its Grand County diversions from about 4 cubic feet per second to 2, and trimmed Vasquez, Ranch and St. Louis creeks too, so it can send more Western Slope water through the Moffat Tunnel to Gross and Ralston reservoirs. Denver Water's reservoirs were about 67% full in early October, when they are usually near 90%. Grand County groups and Trout Unlimited talked the utility up from an original 1 cfs plan, but anglers warn that water this shallow can freeze and kill trout eggs and the insects fish eat.
Sitting en banc, the Third Circuit decided two felon-in-possession cases on Oct 13. In U.S. v. Bost it upheld the federal ban for a man whose record included terroristic threats, holding that convictions showing a risk of violence can justify disarmament. In Williams v. Attorney General it ruled the same ban unconstitutional as applied to a Pennsylvania man whose only qualifying conviction was a 2005 repeat DUI, finding no historical tradition of permanently disarming peaceable people over nonviolent offenses. Several judges split on the reasoning.
A Colorado Sun op-ed by John Stallone, published Oct 13, urges a Yes vote on Amendment 83. He notes the measure keeps the state's authority to regulate for science and public safety, leaves existing rules in place, creates no right to trespass, and excludes nongame and endangered species. He also walks through the history: spring bear hunting restricted in 1992, trapping in 1996, wolves in 2020, and Prop 127, which voters rejected in 2024.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is taking applications for its Sportsperson's Roundtable from the Northwest, Northeast and Southwest regions. Members serve two-year terms, meet in person twice a year, pay their own travel, and report back to sportspeople in their area. Applications close Nov 2 at 5 PM Mountain.
Monday, Oct 12
Over a million people weighed in on the Forest Service plan to rescind the 2001 Roadless Rule, which protects roughly 58 million acres of undeveloped national forest. The Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group, reviewed about 400,000 unique comments and found more than 99% opposed repeal. The administration says repeal would help wildfire work and move decisions to individual forests, while critics point to the agency's own analysis calling the wildfire benefit modest. No final decision has been announced.
ATF guidance issued Friday says it will stop enforcing NFA registration, approval and tax requirements on suppressors, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns. It follows an Aug 5 federal ruling in Texas won by Idaho and 14 other states after Congress cut the tax to zero, and DOJ chose not to appeal. Buyers still fill out Form 4473 and pass a background check, and ATF says the policy could be reversed.
Friday, Oct 9
CBS Colorado notes state law has long named hunting, trapping and fishing the primary tools for wildlife harvests, and that recent pushes to ban mountain lion hunting and beaver trapping prompted Amendment 83. The measure excludes nongame and endangered species and does not authorize trespass. Opponents say the word necessary is open to debate; supporters say the amendment repeals no current law.
Ohio's Fifth District Court of Appeals ruled that Columbus cannot enforce some of its gun restrictions while a challenge by six anonymous plaintiffs is pending. The panel found the city is likely to lose under the state law limiting local firearms regulation. The case continues in the trial court.
Backcountry Hunters and Anglers' September roundup notes the House finished scheduled business Sept. 17 and a stopgap funds the government through Dec. 11. Full-year funding, permitting reform and many public lands and conservation bills now wait for the post-election session. BHA also summarized the hunting executive order, including its default of allowing hunting on eligible federal land.
Thursday, Oct 8
Switzerland's Federal Office for the Environment has issued legally binding preventive culling permits for 39 wolf packs so far this autumn, up from 22 last year. Officials credit more packs overall and a change to the Hunting Ordinance. Young wolves may only be shot once their presence is confirmed.
In an Oct. 5 written opinion in Bathras v. Moore, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett denied a preliminary injunction against Maryland's ban on machine gun convertible pistols, set to start Jan. 1, 2027. He found the targeted handguns fall within the Second Amendment's text but accepted the state's historical justification. The result conflicts with the Connecticut ruling issued days earlier.
Monday, Oct 5
The Supreme Court opened its term with Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins set for argument Dec. 2, asking whether the Second Amendment protects AR-15 platform rifles. Respondents' briefs are due Oct. 21 and a decision is expected by June 2027. New Jersey has asked the Court to hold its rifle and magazine petition until those cases are decided.
Friday, Oct 2
Botswana authorized the killing of 23 elephants to provide meat for its 60th independence celebrations, the BBC reports, drawing criticism from animal rights activists. The country has the world's largest elephant population, more than 130,000, and the government treats regulated hunting as one way to manage elephant numbers and human-wildlife conflict while bringing in money for communities. Botswana banned trophy hunting in 2014 under former President Ian Khama and lifted that ban five years later under his successor. The government says hunting proceeds support conservation and local development, while conservation groups question whether the level of hunting is sustainable.
Thursday, Oct 1
The Sun's explainer walks through Amendment 83, which would put a right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife in the Colorado Constitution and name hunting and fishing the preferred management tools. It reports the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Alliance has put $1.5 million into the campaign, with other support from Farrell-Roeh and Safari Club International. The state keeps authority to regulate for science, safety and future opportunity.
U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley preliminarily blocked Connecticut's ban on handguns with a cruciform trigger bar, the design Glock uses, finding it likely violates the Second Amendment. She wrote that the unconverted pistols are safe, extremely popular for self-defense and protected, and that illegal switches added by third parties are not the manufacturer's fault. The ban would have made selling or owning the pistols a felony.
Wednesday, Sep 30
Colorado Parks and Wildlife temporarily suspended its chronic depredation directive and will weigh any future wolf removals case by case through March 31, 2027. The state counts 45 wolves, including a record 20 pups, but CPW expects pup numbers to fall and is investigating a possible parasite in two packs. The move came weeks after the state shot three wolves in early September.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is surveying hunters on 13 proposed big game changes in the Northwest Region and the survey closes today, Oct. 15. Ideas include extending bighorn unit S44 north of Red Table Mountain, moving antlerless elk licenses from List A to List B and restoring OTC antlerless archery in the Bears Ears and White River herds, and aligning Grand Mesa muzzleloader codes with archery. Anything adopted in January takes effect for the 2027 season.
Tuesday, Sep 29
New UK rules require firearm and shotgun certificate applicants to declare second homes where guns could be stored and to list everyone in their household. Holders must tell police about new or worsening relevant medical conditions over the five-year life of the certificate, including treatment from online or private doctors. Old application forms are accepted until Oct. 29.
Sunday, Sep 27
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 10 gun bills, including SB 948, which requires a safety class of at least four hours for residents buying new guns starting in 2029, and gives people moving in with guns 180 days to get a safety certificate starting in 2028. Another law bars gun ownership for 10 years after a conviction for removing a serial number. The California Rifle and Pistol Association called the class requirement a tax on a constitutional right.
Saturday, Sep 26
The NSW government defeated Barwon MP Roy Butler's motion to disallow the regulation that sets up the state's gun buyback, due to start Nov. 2. Butler said up to 274,000 firearms and about 50,000 licence holders would be affected, and cited the royal commission's interim finding that existing gun laws did not hinder agencies in preventing the Bondi attack. He also noted NSW is the only state that has signed on to fund the scheme.
Friday, Sep 25
CPW's September collar map shows wolves mostly west of the Divide, a change from a year ago when they ranged into Boulder, Gilpin, Clear Creek and Park counties. Six wolves have died since the last annual report, five of them shot by CPW after livestock attacks in Grand, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties. Rio Blanco ranchers have reported 13 incidents and 40 sheep, ewes and lambs lost in 14 months.
Thursday, Sep 24
At an FFL compliance event in Dallas, ATF Director Robert Cekada said upcoming guidance will address transfers of suppressors, short-barreled rifles and shotguns, and interstate travel with those items. AmmoLand reports the guidance appears aimed at letting SBRs and SBSs move on a Form 4473 alone. Cekada also said some forced reset triggers on the market are machine guns, without naming which.
Wednesday, Sep 23
Firearms dealers rallied at the New South Wales parliament, saying they have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in trade since the state passed Australia's strictest gun laws in December after the Bondi terror attack that killed 15. Six crossbenchers are working to block the buyback regulations and repeal new ownership limits. The NSW Liberal Party has pledged to remove the caps and freeze the buyback.
Most of New Zealand's Arms Act 2026 took effect Sept. 23, replacing the 1983 law. Firearms Safety and Education New Zealand now operates as an independent regulator separate from Police, and a new review committee lets licence holders challenge decisions without going straight to court. The act bars gang members from holding licences; ammunition seller rules start July 2027.
Tuesday, Sep 22
An 11-judge Ninth Circuit panel reversed a 2021 injunction and upheld Hawaii's 30-day window to use a handgun purchase permit and its requirement to bring certain new firearms to a police station for inspection. The court said objective shall-issue licensing is presumptively constitutional and these rules impose only modest procedural burdens. Judges Nelson, Forrest and VanDyke dissented.
Executive Order 14429, Reinvigorating America's Hunting Heritage, gives Interior 90 days to allow hunting of non-listed species in Castle Mountains and Craters of the Moon national monuments. Within 180 days, four departments must propose policy changes that generally allow hunting on their lands unless a closure is justified by local conditions. National parks stay off the table.
Monday, Sep 21
Hunters filled the four-wolf limit in Wyoming hunt areas one and two over the season's first weekend, and Game and Fish said none of the wolves taken were from Yellowstone packs. The state cut its trophy-area limit to 22 wolves this year, half of 2025's, after a distemper outbreak dropped the population to a two-decade low. Ten of the 22 were taken in the first week.
Friday, Sep 18
In Elite Precision Customs v. ATF, the Fifth Circuit held that the federal ban on buying a handgun directly from a dealer in another state violates the Second Amendment. The court reversed the lower court, rendered judgment for the plaintiffs, and openly rejected the Second Circuit's contrary ruling. Rifles and shotguns already had an interstate exception; handgun buyers have had to route through a home-state dealer.
Thursday, Sep 17
The BLM has proposed 114 oil and gas parcels covering 126,744 acres for its December sale, including four on top of the Roan Plateau and two nearby. Colorado's Department of Natural Resources and CPW asked the agency to defer or further consult on parcels that overlap big game habitat, the Beatty Canyon Ranch State Habitat Area and the plateau. The Roan fight dates to 2007 and ended in a 2014 settlement that canceled 17 leases.
Reacting to the White House hunting executive order, NSSF said $804 million of the $1.3 billion apportioned to states in February 2026 came from Pittman-Robertson excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. The trade group puts the total invested in conservation since 1937 at more than $29 billion, adjusted for inflation. It also highlighted the order's provisions on traditional ammunition, Sunday hunting and an open-until-closed approach to public land.
Wednesday, Sep 16
The First Circuit affirmed Jason Levasseur's conviction under the federal felon-in-possession law, rejecting his as-applied Second Amendment challenge. The district court found his prior methamphetamine possession felony put him among people who pose a special danger of misusing firearms. The panel said his appeal never addressed that finding, and that was fatal to it.
