The San Miguel Basin Forum has updates to announce to the community. Montrose Press, now owned by Grand Junction Media, has changed the print date. In the past, the Forum always printed on Tuesday afternoons and was distributed on Wednesday mornings.
The Forum’s e-edition will still be up on Wednesdays, but the press cannot print our publication until Wednesday evening now.
“This change is due to recent staffing cutbacks and is necessary to help us better manage our production schedule,” a May 3 email stated.
The change started last week, June 3. As such, Tanner Nelson, advertising manager who also handles distribution, will deliver papers on Thursday mornings now, rather than Wednesday mornings. Staff hope this causes no stress and appreciate the readership’s patience.
Additionally, Brock Benson, of WECast, is taking a hiatus from the Forum podcast, because of his various community roles and work; the podcast will not be available this summer, but the Forum is still available in print, online, on social media and maintains a segment with KOTO radio for the West End Round-Up. That radio segment is now running weekly, rather than twice a month.
Additionally, the Forum is organizing a newsletter through the platform Substack, and that is in the process of being set up. Any user who’s subscribed to the Forum’s website, sanmiguelbasinforum.com, is already included in the newsletter.
This means Forum news will be delivered directly to a user’s email at no charge. For anyone who’d like to receive the newsletter, they should send a message or sign up as a user online.
The Forum’s website is still free online. All stories and the e-editon are available at no charge. While many online news sources are creating paywalls, representatives of the Forum believe local news must be free and accessible, especially in a place like rural Colorado. At the same time, in local newsstands the paper is available for 25 cents, so there is a minimal charge. While the business model might seem to make no sense, the print costs are tough every month.
Additionally, the Forum has agreed to take on two interns from the Ridgway area. The young writers are high school age and have already experienced interning and news writing with the Ouray Plaindealer. The aspiring journalists aim to build their resumes and prepare for college. The’ve agreed to write stories about water, rodeo, bike trails and more, from the perceptive of their watershed. Readership should look for their work this year.
Finally, the Forum was notified that it’s been awarded a sizeable grant for 2026-27, and staff will say more later this summer about the project that’s been created.
The Forum still welcomes donations, however, despite stories being basically free. Anyone who’d like to donate is welcome to. A small, woman-owned business, the Forum relies on advertising and grants to keep going.
Staff remain grateful for readership, subscribers, advertisers, grant-funders and those who call with story ideas and send in photos.
Last week, the Forum turned 77 years old.
