Colorado Avalanche Monitor Expanding Service

Colorado avalanche forecasters are expanding their services.

The Friends of the Colorado Avalanche Information Center organization is raising funds to keep forecasters focused on forecasting and providing avalanche education for backcountry users.

According to the Denver Post, one of the country’s oldest public avalanche-forecasting programs relies heavily on donations and fundraising programs.

About half of the center’s $850,000 annual budget comes from the Colorado Department of Transportation, which relies on forecasts to help direct its avalanche-control program checking mountain areas that threaten the state’s roads in winter.