Yuki Tanabe

Environment reporter

Air, wildlife, climate policy, conservation

Stories by Yuki Tanabe

An American black bear. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says bears are in hyperphagia in October, trying to eat as many as 20,000 calories a day before hibernating, and pumpkins make a prime high-calorie target.

Mountains

Wildlife officials: put the pumpkins in the window, hungry bears are already at the door

Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Oct. 2 reminder asks Coloradans to display pumpkins indoors through Halloween after reports of bears devouring porch pumpkins and feasting on gourds outside grocery stores.

Yuki Tanabe · 2026-10-03

An American black bear in a tree. Grants announced Sept. 29 aim to keep bears wild by locking away the human food that draws them into Colorado towns.

Mountains

State sends $1 million to 17 towns and groups to keep bears out of the trash

Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced the 2026 Human-Bear Conflict Reduction Grant recipients on Sept. 29. Twelve projects got their full request and five got partial awards; the 17 awards total exactly $1 million, most of it for bear-resistant cans and dumpsters.

Yuki Tanabe · 2026-09-30

The Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Proposition 137 asks voters to redirect existing sporting-goods sales tax revenue to conservation and wildfire programs.

Statehouse

Proposition 137 makes Colorado's November ballot with $175 million conservation and wildfire plan

The measure would redirect about $175 million a year in existing sporting-goods sales tax revenue to wildfire prevention, water, and land conservation without raising taxes. Backers announced its ballot qualification on September 28; opponents warn of logging and smaller TABOR refunds.

Yuki Tanabe · 2026-09-29