Southern Colorado from Aspen to Alamosa and Telluride to Trinidad is often overshadowed by the much larger, bustling communities in and around the Denver-and Colorado Springs metro areas. While the front range has its charms, Southern Colorado offers visitors, tourists, small business entrepreneurs, and home seekers a special way of life, often at a much slower pace. The scenery and sunset vistas enchant — cities and towns have individual character and beat to their own rustic rhythm. Here, visitors and residents find their own special sense of place. Mountain and valley parks, forests, wilderness, roadless regions, and historic communities are more numerous  — with the remote backcountry just outside your door. The scenery, skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, rafting, fishing, and hunting are world class, with exciting cultural events to entertain every interest. Home prices are often lower and range from tiny in-town bungalows, mountain cabins, historic mansions, rural retreats, unique Rocky Mountain planned communities, and exclusive world class resorts.

All this with less crowds and without the pollution and traffic found in Colorado’s front range urban corridor. Discover the secret what Colorado residents have known for years — Southern Colorado is truly a destination of choice and an amazing place to live, work, recreate, and thrive.

Water Rights, Access, and Availability: 

Water is Southern Colorado’s most valuable and crucial natural resource. The South Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande Rivers all originate here from high mountain winter snowpack. These watersheds recharge the critically important aquifers found in the valley and basin alluvial sand, gravel, and fractured bedrock deposits.

Water rights in Southern Colorado vary widely based upon access to rivers, streams, and groundwater sources. Older historic-era water rights are generally more reliable for continued urban expansion and irrigation. Cities like Gunnison, Walsenburg, and Pueblo have some of the best and well-established historic water rights in the state, while places like Aspen, Pagosa Springs, Buena Vista, and Durango have fewer or less reliable water resources. Rural areas have varying water availability, with most water rights used for farming and ranching, necessitating well digging that may need to be supplemented to maintain surface water flow rates to downstream customers.

In the past, Colorado front range communities have sought to purchase and transfer privately-owned historic Southern Colorado water rights to help supply their increasing municipal water needs. This trend continues, though recently Southern Colorado communities have begun obtaining more equitable and beneficial water sharing transfer agreements with their front range neighbors.

Community Plans, Codes, and Regulations:

Buena Vista and Alamosa are nearing completion of their 10-year comprehensive plans. Southern Colorado communities are nearly all enacting voluntary water conservation rules, while cities like Cortez have mandatory summer water use restrictions. Aspen may soon transition to mandatory water restrictions. Sustainability and climate action plans are becoming common across Southern Colorado, with Telluride, Gunnison, Aspen, Crested Butte, Pueblo, Chaffee, Lake, Durango, and the San Luis Valley region leading the way in setting climate-smart goals.

Unique Southern Colorado Events:

The July through August 76th annual triple crown pack burro race, a southern Colorado tradition, takes place in Fairplay, Leadville, and Buena Vista. Racers from around the country and Colorado participate in this great historic tradition. A year-round pack burro museum has recently opened in Fairplay, and summer rock and mineral shows at Buena Vista and Creede are always crowd-pleasers. Fremont County’s Spring Apple Blossom Festival and the September Colorado State Fair in Pueblo enchants visitors and locals alike.

Creede’s Underground Mining Museum provides an immersive gold and silver mine experience. The Walsenburg Mining Museum brings coal mining to life. And the National Mining Hall of Fame and Museum at Leadville is a must see for mineral collectors and historic mining buffs.

The Southern Colorado summer music scene delights music lovers with Jazz and bluegrass in Telluride, classical concerts in Aspen, and rock music at the base of the Collegiate Peaks. Also experience Apogaea, Colorado’s Burning Man Festival, near Trinidad. Sundays at Six in Alamosa make for diverse eclectic mix of live music. And Westcliffe’s High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival is not to be missed.

Medical and Health:

Gunnison Valley Health’s new strategic plan focuses on organizational excellence, staff synergy, clinical services, and community health. Aspen Valley Health has committed to whole-person health, coordinated care, and expanded access to services, solidifying its role as a community wellness hub in the Roaring Fork Valley. Pueblo’s Parkview Medical Center has partnered with Denver’s UC Health to transform healthcare across Southern Colorado. Salida’s Heart of the Rockies Medical Center continues to enhance services and looks to new facility growth opportunities.

Climate Change:

Southwestern and South-central Colorado have experienced the most significant warming in the state. Southwest Colorado’s spring precipitation has decreased by 22% since 1951. Annual precipitation totals in the San Luis Valley are less than 10 inches, while the Southern Colorado high mountain ranges typically receive over 40 inches of liquid precipitation, mostly in the form of snow. While climate change is occurring, Southern Colorado’s distinct four-season climate, moderating winter temperatures, elevation-induced cooling, and considerable daytime-nighttime temperature transitions helps to mitigate some of the more extreme summer climate effects. However, increased  drying and desertification of basin grasslands such as South Park, the San Luis Valley, the Upper Arkansas Valley, and the Four Corners region continues.

Uncontrolled wildfires have become the single greatest natural disaster risk for all of Southern Colorado’s mountains and basins. Federal and State officials and local community leaders increasingly rely upon traditional forest and grassland fire suppression controlled-burn programs. Though recently, community leaders and elected officials are developing more innovative strategies to help reduce the risk of a catastrophic wildfire in their county, city, or town. These include increasing the number and size of local Winter-Spring controlled burns, performing deadfall and diseased tree removals, establishing wildfire-smart building codes, creating wildland-urban interface defensive barriers, installing indications and warnings fire detection technologies, conducting citizen wildfire-smart education and training, and publishing of wildfire community evacuation policies and procedures. Due to funding availability and some local community resistance, not all Southern Colorado communities have fully implemented these proven wildfire risk reduction strategies. Unfortunately, the catastrophic wildfire risk to these communities increases with each passing year.

Small Business Opportunities:

Pueblo stands alone as a community in Colorado that offers incentives to encourage the expansion or relocation of businesses. The city provides financial assistance in the form of cash for capital improvements, infrastructure, equipment, and team development. Notably, in 2020, Alamosa was recognized with the Governor’s Award for Downtown Excellence for its exceptional downtown business revitalization plan. Furthermore, in 2024, Cañon City unveiled a comprehensive multi-modal master plan aimed at enhancing business accessibility by optimizing bike, pedestrian, and public transportation options. Various local economic development corporations, chambers of commerce and state-sponsored rural business opportunities have been established to assist in making informed business decisions. Many Southern Colorado cities and towns have relaxed and adjusted zoning to attract more year round business growth, though local resistance to new development concepts does still occur.

Education, Demographics, and Diversity:

Adam’s State University in Alamosa, Colorado State University Pueblo, and Fort Lewis College in Durango are all predominantly minority-serving institutions. The University of Colorado Denver is the sole other majority minority campus within the state. This diversity is attributed to the robust Hispanic, Latino, and Native American populations that inhabit this region. While the Black-African American and Asian/Pacific Islander populations are smaller, they are experiencing steady growth, particularly in more urbanized areas. Population density, in comparison to the northern front range, remains relatively low and this trend is projected to persist in the future.

Historic Mine and Smelter Hazardous Waste:

Southern Colorado, like much of the Rocky Mountains has experienced extensive historic and modern mining and smelting operations, resulting in numerous  localized toxic waste impacts. Mine-related waste has  contaminated ground and surface waters with heavy metals in many areas, causing significant environmental damage and posing serious health risks to residents and visitors.

Across the region, federal and state government agencies, counties, cities, and towns have adopted diverse and effective  strategies to help mitigate this risk. These include designating superfund sites (when necessary), conducting state funded or local community brownfield cleanups, and in some cases restricting development in mine waste-contaminated areas. Often, these areas are transformed into parks, off-road vehicle routes, open space, trails, and wildlife habitats.

Some Southern Colorado communities have demonstrated exceptional effectiveness in responding to the mine waste challenge. Communities such as Creede, Silverton, Telluride, Durango, Ouray, Crested Butte, Cañon City, Trinidad, and Aspen have especially embraced their historic mining culture. These communities have identified and requested necessary remediation measures, established reasonable mine waste land use regulations, and made concerted efforts to inform the public about local historic mining-related health risks — through public health departments and official community websites.

About Shavano Intelligence:

This product is an informational and educational resource produced by Shavano Intelligence Consultant LLC. The author’s views and opinions are his own and not necessarily associated with any other organizations. For more information, visit our website at www.shavanointelligence.com. There you will find information about Southern Colorado’s vibrant, diverse, welcoming communities and the unparalleled opportunities found across this unique and special geographic region. Visitors to the site may also wish to receive unbiased and specialized expert intelligence information and personalized consultation services. Shavano believes in providing useful, fact based information — enabling clients to make better informed decisions and to create their own uniquely Southern Colorado living experience.