So if one were to live in the pueblo west area and keep a HT on listening for "chatter", to what band would one lock the receiver in order to tx/rx emergency info?
Familiar with ....488.975(?) on the repeater net (daily weather reports, bacon recipes, etc)  but what's the SHTF freq around here?

I don't know about a shtf freq, but I know 146.46 simplex w/no pl is used around town in the springs.  
4 wheelers are usually on channel 4, if you go up the hill on any weekend you'll find it in use.

Don’t know what’s on 488 frequency.  As for shtf, there’s no one frequency.  What kind of chatter are you looking for?  Its a lot more complex than just one frequency to use, as there are backup frequencies and different groups etc.  Then there’s local and regional comms, and will repeaters be working or linked still in such scenario?  If a repeater, can you correctly program it into the radio and make it work?  Some need a ctcss tone and others a dcs.  Positive and negative offsets as well.  May be easier to study for a ham license and actually learn how it all comes together.

Does state patrol still monitor channel 9 on 11 meters?

146.97 gets the most use in the Springs area.  It's a wide area machine.  448.975 is ok too, but the .97 is probably a better one.

http://pwarc.com/ares.html

http://www.coloradoares.org/forms/COPLAN.pdf