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WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 7, 2023
VOLUME 96 | ISSUE 40
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On the hunt for Colorado’s adorable Colorado pikas before climate change erases them revives ‘cash
for clunkers’ BY MICHAEL BOOTH THE COLORADO SUN
A pika peeks from the rocks as volunteers learn data collection methods during a Colorado Pika Project training July 24 along PHOTO BY KRISTI ODOM / COLORADO PIKA PROJECT / SPECIAL TO THE COLORADO SUN Trail Ridge Road, near Estes Park. BY OLIVIA PRENTZEL THE COLORADO SUN
As the sun rises, its rays slowly make their way down the snowcapped peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park and on to the craggy cliffs, not yet illuminating the basin. In the low light, my eyes are peeled for a brown-and-gray crit-
ter with large round ears dashing from boulder to boulder. One of Colorado’s most resilient animals looks a lot like a furry russet potato. Pikas, relatives of rabbits known for their piercing chirp, live in some of the state’s most inhospitable climates in boulder fields at elevations up to 14,000 feet along
VOICES: 8 | CALENDAR: 10 | LIFE: 16
Car buyers, fire up your internet and get your websites pre-loaded. The Colorado electric vehicle cash-for-clunkers program has begun with $6,000 in extra rebates available to the first few hundred people who sign up and are willing to turn in an older fossil-fuel powered car. Those participating in Vehicle Exchange Colorado must apply the $6,000 toward a qualifying new or leased electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, or take $4,000 off a used EV. Electrification rebates tend to go fast. (See: “e-bike rebates/crashed servers” in your search bar.) Colorado has $1.8 million for the first year of the clunkers exchange rebates, and hopes to expand the budget for the next fiscal year starting in July 2024. Colorado Energy Office program manager Ed Piersa said the state expects the exchange program to last for years and ramp up financing if it proves popular. Let’s jump right to the biggest questions about the clunkers exchange: Why is Colorado doing this, and whose money is being used?
treeless slopes of the Southern Rockies. They work for hundreds of hours across the short summer months to gather grass and wildflowers to last as fuel through harsh Alpine winters. Snowpack on top of the rocky debris insulates them through spring and winter.
The Colorado program has a few goals: Promote equity in the electrification revolution in the state by using an income-qualified exchange program to make EVs cheaper to more people, while also taking older, higher-emissions fossil fuel cars off the road.
SEE PIKAS, P6
SEE CLUNKERS, P5
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FINDING THEIR VOICE
Black teens express pent-up thoughts at summit P16