1-Color
June 5, 2014 Douglas County, Colorado | Volume 27, Issue 29 A publication of
highlandsranchherald.net
Recovery continues for local woman
‘WHEN OCEANS RISE’
Highlands Ranch mother keeps hope in tomorrow By Hannah Garcia
hgarcia@coloradocommunitymedia.
Austin Woodruff and Meagan Thwaites were among a group of graduates to perform the song, “Oceans,” by Hillsong UNITED at the May 30 Valor Christian commencement ceremony at Cherry Hills Community Church. For more on the school’s largest graduation to date, please turn to page 14. Photo by Ryan Boldrey
Golden eagle egg hatches in Ranch Event is first in three years By Hannah Garcia
hgarcia @coloradocommunitymedia.com For the first time in three years, a golden eagle hatchling is calling Highlands Ranch home. “The fact that we have an active golden eagle nest in the Backcountry is a good sign that our conservation efforts and planning have paid off,” Giebel said, claiming that the eagles have nested in the area for the past four years. “The first year is the only other year an egg hatched,” Giebel said. Giebel and a team of conservationists and Douglas County Search and Rescue volunteers ventured into Highlands Ranch’s Backcountry Wilderness Area on May 18 to band and observe the eaglet. After asking Facebook fans to name the bird, Giebel said the golden eagle hatchling now goes by “Talon.” Tony Head, a registered raptor bander and a paramedic captain with Littleton Fire Rescue, banded the bird, which will help the federal Bird Banding Laboratory, based in Maryland, collect data. “The database currently has over 4 million band encounter records that document movement, longevity and sources of mortality for North America’s migratory birds,” Head said. “Similar efforts (were) performed last year on Cooper hawks in the Backcountry.” Golden eagles are common to Colorado with 600-900 active nests, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Golden eagles rarely defend their nests, but merely fly a half mile or more away and perch and watch, which can result in chilling and overheating of eggs or starvation of nestlings. Two segments of trails in the backcountry are closed due to the eagle nest, Geibel said. The Highlands Ranch Community Association trail that goes to the top of Wildcat Mountain, near where the eagle nest is located, and the Douglas County East-West Trail along the east side of Monarch, below
Tony Head bands a baby eagle in the Highlands Ranch Backcountry Wilderness Area on May 18. Courtesy photos
This golden eaglet is the first to hatch in the Highlands Ranch Backcountry Wilderness Area since 2010. the location of the nest, will both reopen once the eagle chick leaves the nest. “Douglas County Parks and Trails has been great to work with to coordinate the closure of their trails,” Giebel said. Anne Price, curator of raptors and a licensed falconer for the Raptor Education Foundation, was part of the team. Since 1980, REF has been educating the public about the lives of wild raptors, and their im-
portant roles in various ecosystems. Price said she observed the remains of prairie dogs and cottontail rabbits in the nest, indicative of the pest management role that the golden eagles serve in close proximity to their human neighbors in Highlands Ranch. “It was gratifying to be able to put our expertise in handling adult eagles to use in banding the wild eaglet,” Price said. Giebel said it only took a few phone calls to pull the team together to band the eaglet. “Douglas County Search and Rescue is terrific at what they do and their assistance was critical. We’re lucky to have such a professional group of volunteers in Douglas County,” Giebel said. Zach Jump, a volunteer with Douglas County Search and Rescue, said he was “fortunate to have opportunities to work in various aspects of our community.” “It was exciting to get a brief glimpse into the natural wildlife we have in Highlands Ranch,” he said. Wes Go, another DCSAR volunteer, said to “directly contribute to (the community’s) conservation is priceless.” “I’m fortunate to live in a place that abounds with so much open space and wildlife. To be able to share my back yard with fellow community members who also value it is rich,” he said.
Kristin Hopkins says she only remembers “bits and pieces” of the week she spent cocooned in the ruins of her red Chevrolet Malibu after it careened and crashed off of U.S. 285. Now, the Highlands Ranch mother of four, who lost both feet after the accident, is hopeful she’ll walk again soon with the help of prosthetics and physical therapy. “I was there for six days,” Hopkins said in a phone interview. “I think the total amount of time I was awake was three to four hours when I was conscious. I remember writing on the umbrella. I remember trying to start the car, but I don’t know where I was going to go.” Hopkins crashed her car some time after April 27, two days before her parents reported her missing to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, off of U.S. 285 near Fairplay. She was discovered by a couple driving by on May 4. In the time she spent trapped and upside down, Hopkins said she also remembered trying to push out her shattered windows with a snow scraper and thinking about picking up her children from school. When she reached for her umbrella, scrawling “Need Dr! Hurt & Bleeding” and “Thirsty and hungry, six days with no food or water,” she called it her “glory moment.” “I totally thought someone would see my little umbrella,” she said. “When I came to, I was like, `what the heck happened’ and I looked around and realized I was in an accident. I never freaked out, never had a thought like, you know, `this is the end,’ ” Hopkins said. “ `It will be tomorrow.’ I never had a bad thought. `Tomorrow will be the day.’ ” In the days after she was found, Hopkins continues on Page 12
Kristin Hopkins goes through a series of exercises during a rehabilitation session May 21 at St. Anthony Hospital. Courtesy photo
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