NEWS Thursday, September 4, 2025“The mushroom guy” Greg Sanchez motivates his high school students to push for official state fungiPlus: Keep Colorado Wild Pass delivers for CPW, coexisting with carnivores, how the jury verdict against Vail Resorts might impact Colorado skiing
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Sneak Peek of the Week
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A teacher fuels fungi fervor among students
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Greg Sanchez, a teacher at Horizon High School in Thornton and a three-time president of the Colorado Mycological Society, leads a mushroom foray at the Telluride Mushroom Festival last month. Sanchez this year motivated his students to lobby lawmakers to designate the first official state mushroom: Agaricus julius. (Courtesy photo)
“Most adults don’t ask kids for help.”
— Horizon High sophomore Delilah Viano When Greg Sanchez was a fourth grader in Thornton, he and his classmates worked for two years to convince Colorado leaders to make the stegosaurus the official state fossil, which Gov. Dick Lamm did in 1982.
This year, as a Horizon High School teacher with an avowed fungi fixation, Sanchez motivated his students to join Colorado mycologists in a push to designate Agaricus julius — or the emperor — as the state’s official mushroom, which happened in March.
For Sanchez, the mushroom campaign and legislation creating the first state mushroom was about more than fungi. It was about showing his students how to be engaged citizens.
“We talk about how bills become laws, but the civic engagement piece is usually more local — city council or school board,” Sanchez told Sun freelancer Betsy Welch. “This was a way to show them: Here’s how you can change the government, make a difference. If you don’t like something, do something about it.”
That was a lesson Delilah Viano, a Horizon sophomore, took to heart.
“I learned a lot about the legislative process. Mr. Sanchez showed our class how the whole legislative branch worked, and that you can contact your house representative and ask for them to present an idea in the State Capitol,” Viano said. “People have to testify for or against it, giving good reasons why. I didn’t even know that before.”
>> Click over to The Sun on Friday to read Betsy’s story
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Next week is The Sun’s official seven-year anniversary. Like any 7-year-old, we are celebrating our birthday all week long — and you’re invited.
- Monday, Sept. 8 – Donors-only brunch. Join us for pancakes, coffee and an inside look at where The Sun is heading. GET TICKETS
- Tuesday, Sept. 9 – Member-appreciation party at Ratio Beerworks. We’ll buy your first round. RSVP
- Saturday, Sept. 13 – Statewide volunteer day! Pick a charity in your community and give back to make Colorado even better. SIGN UP
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In Their Words
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“Compassionate conservation” with Marlon Reis
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Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, speaks Wednesday to an audience in the Governor's Residence at Boettcher Mansion about wolf and human coexistence as first gentleman Marlon Reis and Rebecca Niemiec, co-director of Colorado State University’s Animal Human Policy Center, look on. (Tracy Ross, The Colorado Sun)
“These animals are sentient, feeling beings who really care about how they’re treated, how their families are treated, and how their friends are treated.”
— Marc Bekoff, CU professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology The intent of the evening wasn’t to criticize ranchers, but some attendees at Wednesday’s talk did.
In the crowd of around 100 gathered in the Governor’s Residence at Boettcher Mansion (not actually where Gov. Jared Polis, his husband, Marlon Reis, and their two children live), they wanted to know why ranchers don’t do a better job of protecting their calves when wolves are around, like you would a car with a computer inside in the middle of a city.
They wanted to know why ranchers don’t adjust the time they breed their cows to coincide with the time elk drop their calves, to deter wolves from eating the cow calves.
And they wanted to know why ranchers deserve the public’s sympathy if a wolf kills one of their cows, when they raise cattle to slaughter them for money.
But the reason Reis had invited the crowd to the mansion, for the fourth event in his new speaker series on animal issues, was to give them an opportunity “to listen, to learn, to question, to challenge and hopefully be more inspired than ever to appreciate carnivores and why they are so important,” he said, from a podium with the seal of Colorado on it positioned in front of the U.S. and Colorado flags.
It was also because he’d become frustrated by stories in the media that portray animals “as unthinking or unfeeling and perpetuate negative stereotypes that are dangerous and destructive.”
And because “stories matter,” along with how and why we tell them, he said.
Then he introduced the evening’s speakers on the topic of wolves and wolf reintroduction: Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado in Boulder and Rebecca Niemiec, a researcher on human and animal behavior and co-director of Colorado State University’s Animal Human Policy Center.
Bekoff is deeply involved in the study of compassionate conservation, which argues all conservationists should respect the rights of individual sentient animals and implement practices that avoid direct harm to them. Before asking him to kick off the conversation Wednesday evening, Reis presented him with a proclamation by Polis declaring Sept. 6 Marc Bekoff Day, for his 50 years of “groundbreaking research revealing that carnivores are highly sentient, emotional and intelligent beings with unique personalities.”
Currently, wolves in Colorado are up against ranchers who want to kill them and a media establishment that has been unfriendly to wolves, which Bekoff called “the primary stakeholders” of Colorado’s reintroduction.
“We brought them here. We're responsible for that, and it's all part of redecorating nature, moving animals around,” he said. “But the one big difference, of course, is unlike couches and dining room tables and TVs, these animals are sentient, feeling beings who really care about how they're treated, how their families are treated, and how their friends are treated.”
>> Click over to The Sun on Friday to read Tracy’s story
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The Outsider has a podcast! Veteran reporter Jason Blevins covers the industry from the inside out, plus indulges in the fun side of being outdoors in our beautiful state.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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The Guide
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Keep Colorado Wild delivers $41 million to CPW and increasing support for search and rescue teams
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Eleven Mile State Park seen in 2024. Last year more than 1.5 million Colorado drivers paid the $29 cost of the Keep Colorado Wild state parks pass included in their vehicle registration, delivering more than $41 million to CPW. (Olivia Sun, The Colorado Sun via Report for America)
“It’s more than a state park pass.”
— Bridget O’Rourke with CPW |
| 73% |
Percentage of Colorado drivers who opt out of paying $29 for a Keep Colorado Wild pass included with their vehicle registration |
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For a second year in a row, sales of the Keep Colorado Wild Pass have surpassed initial projections.
Sales of the pass in its second year exceeded $41 million, with an estimated 1.5 million Colorado drivers choosing not to opt out of the $29 fee included in their vehicle registrations. That is about 203,000 more drivers than the debut year of Keep Colorado Wild Pass sales in 2023, which generated $39.7 million for Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
When CPW first planned the Keep Colorado Wild Pass, the agency set a goal to raise at least $36 million a year. The plan was to funnel $32.5 million a year into Colorado’s 42 state parks while directing $2.5 million toward the Colorado Search and Rescue Fund as well as individual county rescue teams and $1 million for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center. Revenue beyond $36 million supports new state parks, outdoor recreation beyond parks, state trails, wildlife, equity and diversity and regional outdoor partnerships.
A fiscal note that accompanied the 2021 Senate Bill 249 that created the pass estimated 75% to 85% of Colorado drivers would opt out of the $29 fee. Before the Keep Colorado Wild Pass, CPW collected about $22.9 million a year from selling its $80 park passes.
In the first two years of sales, more than 70% of drivers who register some 5.5 million eligible vehicles opted out of paying the $29 parks pass fee. They check a box and manually deduct the cost from the registration fee mailed every year.
A 2022 CPW survey of 2,217 residents determined that annual pass revenue would grow if the pass was priced between $14 and $29 but would stagnate or decline if it was priced higher. That survey included a comparison to Montana, where lawmakers launched a $4 parks pass as part of all vehicle registration fees in 2003. That parks pass is now $9 and about 20% of drivers opt out of paying that fee.
Michigan has a $12 pass that drivers can choose to pay — versus choosing to not pay, like Colorado and Montana — and about 67% of drivers opt out. Similarly, about 63% of Washington’s drivers choose to not pay for a $30 annual parks pass as part of their annual registration.
There has been no suggestion that CPW should lower the price of the pass to persuade more drivers to keep the fee as part of their vehicle registration.
“We hope that more Coloradans will continue to opt in and take advantage of this pass, which is an exclusive offer for residents to save 60% on a traditional $80 annual state park pass,” CPW spokeswoman Bridget O’Rourke said in an email. “But it’s more than a state park pass; the money generated from the pass also helps fund our local search and rescue volunteers, avalanche forecasters and community outdoor education.”
The two-year bump in funds for Colorado search and rescue teams has supported increased training and improved equipment.
“Our next task is to figure out how this funding can better support the needs of individual volunteers, who pay out of pocket for their personal gear and transportation costs,” said Anna DeBattiste with the Colorado Search and Rescue Association.
More search and rescue support could be coming as CPW commissioners consider a $1 increase to the 25-cent Backcountry Search and Rescue fee that is part of all registrations for snowmobiles, boats and off-road vehicles as well as hunting and fishing licenses. That fee was set in 1987 and has not changed.
Last year the 25-cent backcountry search and rescue surcharge raised $77,000 from vehicle registrations, $149,000 from wildlife licenses and $100,000 from the sale of Colorado Search and Rescue cards. It’s estimated the $1 increase in the fee could deliver an additional $2 million a year to the state Backcountry Search and Rescue Fund.
The fee increase proposal would help volunteer rescue teams respond to increasing numbers of calls for help and climbing costs for training and equipment.
“I think this is overdue. The people who do this work are truly heroes. We are all just a bad-luck incident away from needing this,” CPW Commissioner Jay Tutchton said at the Aug. 21 board meeting in Pueblo. “I think this is both equitable and wise, and I’m glad you brought this to us.”
CPW commissioners are expected to vote on the search and rescue surcharge increase next month.
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Is Oregon a resort roadmap for what happens when ski area liability waivers wane?
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The four-pack high-speed Paradise Express chairlift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort was installed in 1994. (Jason Blevins, The Colorado Sun)
“It is important to respect the very human fact that no amount of general liability coverage, litigation, dramatic plaintiff testimony or financial award will ever overcome the inherent risk generated from the pursuit of recreation activities.”
— Safehold insurance executive William Curtis The ripple effects of the $12.4 million jury verdict last week for a skier paralyzed after she fell from a Vail Resorts lift could be huge. A near identical scene has unfolded in Oregon, where ski areas this summer unsuccessfully
pleaded with lawmakers to approve legislation that would protect the state’s resorts from a threatening swell of lawsuits and large awards.
The Vail Resorts case was the first time a Colorado resort has not successfully defended itself from a lawsuit based on the liability waivers that every skier in Colorado must sign to ride chairlifts. And following a Colorado Supreme Court decision in 2024 that weakened the long invincible waivers, it’s likely that more lawsuits will follow.
For decades, Colorado resorts have used the Ski Safety Act to deflect lawsuits from injured skiers or the families of skiers who died on ski slopes. That venerable legislation — enacted in 1979 after lobbying from resorts burdened by soaring insurance costs — protects ski area operators from lawsuits from accidents involving the many inherent dangers and risks of skiing.
More recently, resorts have further immunized themselves from lawsuits with liability waivers, the fine-print, scroll-and-click agreements that are now part of every lift ticket and season pass transaction in the state. Many state and federal courts have dismissed skier lawsuits accusing resorts of negligence when ski area operators wave those signed waivers.
Except last week, when a Broomfield jury awarded Annie Miller $12.4 million. She was 16 in 2022 when a fall from a Crested Butte Mountain Resort chairlift left her paralyzed. The Oklahoma teen and her parents sued the ski area owner Vail Resorts, arguing the lift attendants failed to follow state-enforced, industry-scripted safety regulations for chairlifts. Vail Resorts tried to dismiss the case with the liability waiver Miller and her family signed to get lift tickets. The Colorado Supreme Court in 2024 heard her case and ruled that ski areas can’t use liability waivers to avoid all negligence lawsuits.
That landmark ruling set the stage for the first multimillion-dollar award against a Colorado ski area accused of not following chairlift safety standards. But the award was not unprecedented nationally.
In 2014, the Oregon Supreme Court heard arguments in a case involving a teenager who was paralyzed following a 2006 crash in Mt. Bachelor’s terrain park. The court overturned a lower court decision, ruling that the liability waiver signed by the teenager was unethical and not enforceable. The lawsuits followed, including a 2022 $11 million award for an injured mountain biker that shut down summer mountain biking at Mt. Hood Skibowl in Oregon.
This summer Safehold Special Risk, which insures resorts in 37 states, announced it would no longer underwrite policies for Oregon ski areas, saying the state accounted for half the company’s high-dollar payouts.
“Not recognizing the validity of a release of liability is a disservice to both the entity providing the activity and venue, but also the public who benefit from being made aware of those inherent risks and acknowledging them,” Safehold executive Eric Morgan told Oregon lawmakers this summer in support of legislation that would have strengthened recreational liability waivers.
Oregon lawmakers failed to approve Senate Bill 1196, despite support from a diverse collection of the state’s recreational businesses who argued the lack of liability waivers was an existential crisis.
Since that 2014 Oregon Supreme Court decision, “not a single release … has been upheld by an Oregon court,” wrote attorneys for Protect Oregon Recreation in testimony submitted to Oregon lawmakers supporting Senate Bill 1196. “This is a dramatic change in Oregon law.”
Even the feds are getting onboard with liability waivers. The federal EXPLORE Act signed into law in January directs federal land managers to update liability waiver policies for concessioners operating on public land. The new law allows commercial operators to ask visitors to sign liability waivers that protect against simple negligence claims in states where waivers are allowed.
The Vail Resorts case could be an outlier. (The largest resort operator in North America could appeal the jury award. A spokesperson for the company said the decision “was inconsistent with Colorado law.”) Or it could be a harbinger. If Oregon is an example of what follows a weakening of liability waivers, expect more lawsuits, soaring insurance costs and increased burdens for smaller operators even as the industry doubles down on chairlift safety education campaigns.
“It is important to respect the very human fact that no amount of general liability coverage, litigation, dramatic plaintiff testimony or financial award will ever overcome the inherent risk generated from the pursuit of recreation activities,” reads a letter written by Safehold Senior Vice President William Curtis to Mt. Hood president Matthew Drake in May informing him that the insurer could no longer cover the Oregon resort. “It remains the right and responsibility of an individual to evaluate and decide recreation choices that best suit their interests and abilities and be accountable for their choices.”
— j
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