Montezuma County

Last weekend, a community group held its second annual suicide awareness walk in downtown Cortez. The organization, RISE Southwest, was founded by Cortez residents Derek Streeter and Corin Wolf, who decided to start a suicide awareness walk in Montezuma County after the death of Streeter’s brother. According to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Montezuma County has a higher rate of suicide than the state average, with 10 suicide deaths reported in 2022. Streeter says events like the walk on Saturday – which comes during National Suicide Prevention Month – can help remind people that they’re not alone. And ahead of next week’s 2023 United Nations summit on climate solutions, youth in New Mexico will call attention to the state’s challenges related to fossil fuels.

A new seed store and bakery is opening its doors in Cortez for the first time on Saturday. Pueblo Seed & Food Company sells seeds that originated in and are adapted to the desert Southwest, as well as curated seeds from different arid regions all over the world. The company’s farm is located in McElmo Canyon on land protected by a Montezuma Land Conservancy easement, and grows crops like heritage wheat, rye and barley. Nanna Meyer, a baker and co-owner of Pueblo Seed & Food Company, says that she hopes the store will help provide a return to food culture for the residents of Montezuma County after years of isolation during the pandemic. And a new Colorado gun-control law that’s on hold due to a court challenge won’t be going into effect anytime soon.

The Montezuma County Homelessness Prevention Coalition is a collaboration between groups like The Bridge emergency shelter, Sih Hasin Street Medicine and the city of Cortez to help homeless friends and relatives living in Montezuma County, Colorado. One problem the coalition faces is a lack of available information on homeless people who have lived in the community in the past.

Montezuma Land Conservancy, or MLC, announced the conservation of two new parcels of land in Montezuma County on Monday, including one bordering Mesa Verde National Park. The other parcel is located near the Boggy Draw trail system. MLC is a nonprofit trust that works to protect land in southwest Colorado for its wildlife habitat, agricultural potential or public trails. Travis Custer, executive director of MLC, says that the addition of the conserved private land near Mesa Verde to an already existing public lands corridor in the area means more habitat protection for mule deer and certain species of birds listed on the state’s threatened and endangered list. And Colorado state lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and their caucuses have more time to respond to alleged violations of open meeting laws.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality recently granted an aquifer protection permit for a uranium mine near from a tribal community in the Grand Canyon, but the Havasupai Tribe still has concerns about the quality of its water. And avian influenza is suspected in Montezuma County.

Research shows that LGBTQ+ youth have higher rates of anxiety, depression and suicide than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. On this week’s health and prevention report, KSJD’s Lucas Brady Woods talked to Liz Filas, a mental health therapist with the Four Corners Child Advocacy Center, to break down what that correlation means and why it's important to understand.

COVID-19 cases are increasing once again in Southwest Colorado, but the spread is different this time around. For one, the cases are more difficult to track. But people here in Montezuma County are still getting sick, and dying.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having ripple effects across the globe, including right here in Southwest Colorado. Natasha Erlandson is originally from Ukraine, but now lives with her husband Todd here in Montezuma County. Until a few days ago, her parents were still living in one of the cities hardest hit by Russian forces.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is having ripple effects across the globe, including right here in Southwest Colorado. Natasha Erlandson is originally from Ukraine, but now lives with her husband Todd here in Montezuma County. Until a few days ago, her parents were still living in one of the cities hardest hit by Russian forces. Now, they're refugees, and with the help Natasha and Todd, they're working their way across Europe and eventually to Southwest Colorado.

On this week's Health and Prevention Report, we're replaying an important interview about the status of the Covid-19 pandemic in Montezuma County. The Delta Variant is now making up the vast majority of the COVID-19 cases both locally and nationally, and we may be seeing the beginning of a surge in the virus. KSJD News spoke with Marc Meyer, head of infection control and vaccinations at Southwest Health System, about the situation.