Welcome to the February 2021 Keep Routt Wild Newsletter!

In this newsletter we will give you breaking news on the Mad Rabbit Trails Project, talk about elk calving areas, and share some interesting articles regarding conservation in Colorado.

As a reminder, Keep Routt Wild is a community organization dedicated to preserving wildlife and wild places in Routt County. Our mission is to promote policies and practices for the benefit of conserving the Yampa Valley for future generations of outdoor enthusiasts by balancing the opportunities for recreational development with the habitat needs of wildlife.

To find out more about Keep Routt Wild, go to our website, or follow our nearly daily postings on Facebook. There we play dual roles, as a celebrant of local wildlife and as a conservation watchdog. See who’s on our Board of Directors here.

Mad Rabbit trails are delayed

The Mad Rabbit Trails EA (environmental assessment), planned to be released by the Forest Service this month, has been delayed until at least May. Brendan Kelly, Forest Service recreation specialist, announced the delay at the February 10 meeting of the Steamboat Springs 2A Trails committee. Kelly also announced that Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) has been named a cooperating agency for the environmental analysis on the project.

We applaud both decisions. As we alerted the Forest Service last month, new maps of elk calving areas where Mad Rabbit trails were planned make it imperative that the Forest Service afford time to analyze the impacts to the Bears Ears elk herd and explore alternate routes that avoid these critical areas. The addition of CPW onto the Mad Rabbit team is welcomed as well. They will be able to lend their considerable expertise to ensure wildlife are taken into consideration when creating the trail plan. Since many of the trails are in Colorado Roadless Areas, it’s also the law.

The delay until May likely pushes any Mad Rabbit trail construction out until at least summer of 2022. There simply is not enough time this year for the required comment and objection period, followed by an open bidding process to let construction begin. However, the construction schedule doesn’t matter if the EA is released in May or October; the seasons are determining the schedule. So why not take this extra time to do the EA right? We have requested that the Forest Service use this time to investigate alternative routes that would not be so detrimental to wildlife. We also note that there are on-going studies in the area that can lead to better knowledge of the precise location of sensitive habitat. We expect new information from those studies this summer.

New elk calving maps show impact from Mad Rabbit trails

The latest CPW wildlife maps show that many Mad Rabbit trails are routed through CPW-identified elk calving areas in the Rabbit Ears / US 40 region. A map is posted below:

CPW periodically updates maps of critical wildlife and habitat areas across the state of Colorado. These were updated recently, using GPS data from radiocollared cow elk, courtesy of the local scientific studies. Keep Routt Wild is a science-based organization and has long advocated for this more accurate technique of determining deer and elk seasonal ranges. Kudos to the local CPW team for embracing the best available science.

These new maps show that many trails are proposed in elk calving areas, particularly to the north of US40. This is problematic for many reasons. Human disturbance in elk calving areas has been shown to have a severe impact on elk calf survival rates. A CSU study performed in the Vail area observed that elk calf/cow ratio plummeted by nearly 40% as a result of simulated recreation use in elk calving areas. Reproduction levels during the treatment period were determined insufficient to maintain a stable elk population. With just over 8 disturbances per cow elk resulting in nearly 40% fewer surviving calves, each disturbance averaged nearly 5% probability of the death of a calf. Subsequently, CPW guidelines of elk calving areas include “no permitted or authorized human activities from May 15 to June 30” and recommend avoiding calving areas altogether whenever possible. That last point is important, as birthdates of northwest Colorado elk show that even with a July 1 opening, 19% of elk calves are still impacted by recreational use.

For the above reasons, we have requested that the Forest Service use this extra time in the Mad Rabbit schedule to investigate re-routing of trails to avoid elk production areas. Specifically, consideration should be given to moving proposed trails from the north side of US40 to the south side. We also note that CPW has fitted more elk with GPS radiocollars this January. We should use this data for a final update of the maps before committing to any trail locations.

Photo of elk calf from local studies

The photo above shows the calf of Elk R190. (Image courtesy of CPW, Steamboat Springs). Elk R190 was collared just west of Maybell in March of 2019. She walked over 250 miles before giving birth to this female calf in the area of Mexican Ridge in North Park on June 13. For the next two weeks the calf, scentless, hides in place from predators while her mother forages for food and returns to nurse her. Human disturbance will cause the mother and calf to change locations, making the calf susceptible to predators, such as bears and lions. This is why it’s critical to avoid calving areas during this time. “This little calf right here is going to potentially walk all the way back this year, if she survives the summer and fall,” CPW Area Wildlife Manager Kris Middledorf added.

What we’ve been reading

This month we wish to highlight several local articles from the Steamboat Pilot highlighting wildlife conservation and (sometimes) Keep Routt Wild.

CPW collaring, netting elk to study recreation and conservation in Routt County covers the elk collaring operations performed by CPW this past January. “We’re trying to collect information to inform decision making, so that we can balance wildlife safety with human recreation,” said Nathaniel Rayl, the wildlife researcher at Parks and Wildlife leading the project.

Keep Routt Wild submits proposal to refine Mad Rabbit Trails project reports on KRW’s compromise proposal to add recreational trails while protecting wildlife and habitat. “We want to prevent these trails from fragmenting the current habitat areas,” said Larry Desjardin, Keep Routt Wild President.

Forest Service delays construction start on Mad Rabbit trails project summarizes the delays to Mad Rabbit and the addition of CPW as a cooperating agency. “Desjardin said while the delay may be frustrating to some, he hopes the Forest Service takes this as an opportunity to rethink the location of certain trails using new digital elk calving maps. Desjardin hopes the Forest Service places more trails south of U.S. Highway 40 rather than north to minimize disturbance of elk.”

Local recreation committee considers new tech for planning trails, roads is an update on the Routt Recreational Roundtable, a committee of city, county, state and federal representatives, as well as wildlife experts and recreational enthusiasts, with a goal of balancing recreation and conservation. “We’re one of the first to develop this kind of conservation and recreation plan,” said Matthew Mulica, the roundtable’s mediator and a senior project director with the Keystone Policy Center. “We’re asking how do you allow land managers to make more informed decisions based on the public land users and wildlife.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

“Atop a mountain, one feels as close to the heavens as a bird soaring through the sky.”

-Jessica Marie Baumgartner

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