More visitors came to Colorado last year than ever before -- almost 78 million people -- and that brought more than 19 billion dollars to the economy. Trails and hot springs are overflowing with people. Formerly pristine ecosystems are being damaged by people who don鈥檛 understand how fragile they are.
How did we get here? And what can we do to change course? We examine the problems, and possible solutions, in a 30 minute special presentation.
PART ONE:
To understand how Colorado鈥檚 natural areas lure millions of people each year, we turned to Patty Limerick. She鈥檚 the state historian and with the University of Colorado Boulder鈥檚 Center of the American West. We talked about Stephen Mather, the first Director of the National Parks Service, and someone who predicted this very problem 100 years ago, upon their founding.
PART TWO:
Picture this: You're in a warm pool of water, elbow to elbow with dozens of other people. There's music, drinking, general mayhem. Oh, and maybe you鈥檙e naked. If you鈥檙e picturing a Spring Break party, you鈥檙e wrong. Try Conundrum Hot Springs outside Aspen, Colorado. .
PART THREE:
Rocky Mountain National Park is a short drive from the booming population centers of the Front Range - meaning it鈥檚 especially vulnerable. Nearly 7,000 people go to RMNP every day, which means visitors looking for the solitude of the great outdoors need to work even harder to find it in the park, and officials have few solutions. .
PART FOUR:
Hanging Lake is one of Colorado鈥檚 most-visited mountain jewels. A search of Instagram yields 44,000 photos with the hashtag. But attention on social media may do more harm than good to this unique ecosystem. .
EPILOGUE:
KUNC reporters Ann Marie Awad, Jackie Fortier, and Luke Runyon spoke about some of the big takeaways and things they learned during their reporting. .
The conversation continues on and on . Use to find even more photos and listener reactions.
The summit of one of Colorado's 14ers, packed with well-meaning outdoor enthusiasts
— Audrey Wheeler (@aud_whee)
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