Last year, as people searched for COVID-safe activities and alternatives to public transportation, the popularity of biking skyrocketed. That was especially true in the West, where biking levels increased 243% last April, according to Eco-Counter, a cycling analysis company. With much of the country re-opening this Memorial Day, driving expectations for record crowds, western states are leveraging the popularity of biking to spur local economies. 

Travel Oregon, the state’s tourism commission, just announced $2.4 million in economic recovery grants to create tourism opportunities after seeing travel spending in the Beaver State decline 50% between 2019 and 2020. Among the 60 recipients, nearly $350,000 is earmarked for bike-specific projects to improve cycling trails and riding destinations in the state. In Utah, the Office of Outdoor Recreation awarded a $500,000 grant to the Zion National Park Forever Project, to fund 24.5 miles of mountain biking trails in Kane County, just outside the east entrance of the park. “Part of the intention is to create a Zion-like experience, but outside the boundaries of the park,” Mark Preiss, the director of the Zion Forever Project, told KUER. “So it takes pressure off of Zion Canyon and extends those opportunities beyond the gates and into adjacent public and private land.”

While Black Hawk in Colorado is mostly known as a gambling destination, it’s hoping to attract more I-70 drivers to town and diversify its economy with a new bike trail called Hard Money, which opens to the public on May 29. One of just two bike-only trails along the Front Range, (the other is called the Sluice in Clear Creek’s Floyd Hill Open Space) Hard Money is just the beginning of Black Hawk’s bike-centric vision for Maryland Mountain. The master plan calls for three more bike-only trails to be built in the near future. Similarly, just four hours east in the state on I-70, riders will soon be able to roll on the first phase of a 32-mile (mostly) downhill single track from the top of the Grand Mesa National Forest into the town of Palisade on the valley floor. Dubbed the Palisade Plunge thanks to some backcountry terrain with sections of extreme exposure, the hiking and biking trail opens to the public on May 29. 

One anonymous biker in Washington was so excited for more bike trails, they donated $1 million to The Bainbridge Island Parks Foundation to purchase 10 acres of land in Grand Forest North for mountain bike use. Not even a wildfire could derail plans for a new mountain bike park at Soldier Mountain in Idaho, which will host its grand opening Memorial Day weekend. Last year, the Phillips Fire prevented the park from opening its 7.7-miles of lift served trails and its skills park. Once opened, it will be 11th Idaho ski resort to offer lift-served mountain biking.

RECYCLED SNOW: The Yellowstone Club in Montana is looking to make snow using 25 million gallons of recycled water from its treatment plant, as well as the Big Sky County sewer district. And no, it won’t be yellow. In fact, the snow could even end up being cleaner than snow made from other sources of water because of rigorous state regulations. The club’s been working on a plan to safely re-use their wastewater for over a decade and now believes it will begin the new process for the 2022-23 ski season. “It’s the right thing to do,” Rich Chandler, the club’s environmental manager, told McClatchy News. “We have a phenomenal resource with this reclaimed water, and if we don’t start doing this now, who’s going to do it?”

BIRD RADAR: Migratory birds travel nightly in the spring and fall using the stars and the earth’s magnetic field to guide them. The light pollution from cities, however, can throw those senses off, resulting in one billion birds dying from building collisions in the U.S. each year. Researchers at Oklahoma State University believe they’ve figured out a way to save many of our pollinating and seed-dispersing friends by using weather radar technology to track migrations and alert cities when large flocks are nearing so that they can dim nonessential lights – a tactic Oklahoma State University wildlife ecology professor Scott Loss has already convinced several major cities to embrace. 

HYDROGEN HUB: A team of energy developers is building the foundations to potentially convert San Juan County in New Mexico into a "hydrogen hub" to supply clean electricity to western utilities, plus non-carbon fuel for vehicles and industrial processes. Libertad Power Project LLC says it could have its first hydrogen-fueled generating station running in the Farmington area by 2024. Big Navajo Energy has proposed to capture methane emissions from a local refinery run by the Navajo National Oil and Gas Co. The project would convert the gas into hydrogen for electric generation and as fuel for vehicles. New Point Gas LLC and Brooks Energy Co. are also pursuing a joint project to transform the recently closed coal-fired Escalante Generating Station into a hydrogen production and generating facility.

EAGLE WRANGLER: The small town of Unalaska in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands has a new bald eagle wrangler. “One of the craziest things I’ve ever signed up for,” Megan Dean said. Over the past three years, more than 50 eagles have been rescued in Unalaska. To rescue an injured eagle, Dean throws a heavy blanket over the wounded or trapped raptor and cradles the large bird, making sure to hold on tight to the raptor’s strong legs, “so they can’t talon your face or the artery in your arm.” From there, the bird is crated for transport to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage. Those not able to be healed by treatment are euthanized and sent to Colorado’s National Eagle Repository, where Native Americans across the country may apply for their parts and their feathers to be used for ceremonial and religious purposes. 

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