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WEEK OF JULY 3, 2025
VOLUME 159 | ISSUE 27
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New policy goals for public land discussed Extractive uses in, protection out for federal lands BY HANK LACEY NEWSLINE COLORADO
One way to do that is by bringing in new attendees, such as Golden’s Annelise Loevlie and her family. Loevlie said she and her family members hadn’t been to Summer Jam before, but heard about it through their friends in the Rapidgrass band, who played at the June 25 event.
The Trump administration’s revised Department of the Interior strategic plan calls for expanded fossil fuel development across federal lands, while omitting any reference to public land sales first raised in an earlier draft. Required under a 1993 statute and in 2010 amendments to that law, the draft plan outlines high-level goals for the Interior’s management of 480 million acres of federal land, including approximately 24 million acres in Colorado. Language emphasizing a commitment to extraction is particularly stark. In a break from contemporary descriptions of the natural resources under federal management, the Trump administration declared in a proposed introduction to the plan that the department “is the U.S. balance sheet, and natural resources are the country’s assets.” “These lands — rich in energy, minerals, biodiversity, and recreational value — are worth trillions of dollars to current and future generations,” the draft introduction continues. Chris Winter, executive director of the University of Colorado Law School’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment, said the draft plan confirms what many in the environmental community have feared: a shift away from conservation in favor of extractive industries. “The administration is going to emphasize extractive industries and fossil fuels on federal public lands and is going to move away from conservation and renewable energy,” he said. The plan makes no mention of renewable energy or even of climate change, a sharp contrast from Interior’s current guiding template. The Biden-era 2022–2026 strategic planemphasized climate resilience and a transition to clean energy. The new draft, by contrast, omits the subject of climate entirely. That is one of several breakpoints critics say reflects a reversal in federal priorities.
SEE SUMMER JAM, P4
SEE PUBLIC LAND, P27
The setting sun illuminates a section of South Table Mountain as people leave the June 25 Summer Jam event at the Colorado Railroad Museum. PHOTO BY CORINNE WESTEMAN
Record attendance for Golden Summer Jam Golden Civic Foundation fundraiser celebrates city with trains, music and fun
and visiting with their neighbors. And that’s exactly what organizers from the Golden Civic Foundation were hoping for. “It’s everything we love about Golden,” GCF Board President Joel Christman said of the annual Summer Jam. “Local, music and friends.”
BY CORINNE WESTEMAN CORINNE@COTLN.ORG
Even before engaged couple Annie Wilcox and Christian Parker moved to Golden, they heard about the annual Summer Jam fundraiser from their friends’ parents. Golden Civic Foundation hosts bands and food trucks at the Colorado Railroad Museum for a summertime celebration. Wilcox and Parker said they like trains and live music, so they thought they’d check it out. They had so much fun that they’ve now been to four or five Summer Jams in a row, they said at this year’s event. Wilcox and Parker said attending and supporting Summer Jam also means more now that they live in Golden, describing how they love supporting the community
Trains and rain
On June 25, more than 600 people spent their partly rainy evening on the Colorado Railroad Museum campus, drinking beer, listening to local bands jam out and taking rides on the train. As an added thrill, many of those rides were interrupted by a gang of train robbers – performers from the Miners Alley Performing Arts. Christman and other organizers confirmed the eighth annual Summer Jam had record ticket sales, which on its own raised $12,000 for its community grant program. Last month, GCF awarded almost $125,000 to 47 local nonprofits and causes for its 2025 grant cycle. It is now fundraising for the 2026 grant cycle, which Summer Jam helped with.
Christman and the new Executive Director Catherine Withers explained how GCF has received more and bigger grant requests in recent years, with Christman saying, “There’s more need for our grants than we’re able to fund.” GCF tries to fund at least a portion of every grant application, which is why Summer Jam and the fall gala — GCF’s two big fundraisers — are so important, he continued. “The more we get people involved (at these fundraisers), the more it helps go back into the Golden community,” Christman said.
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VOICES: 8 | COMMUNITY NEWS: 9 | SPORTS: 12
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‘Local, music and friends’
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