Keep Routt Wild has more than 4,000 followers

Keep Routt Wild recently exceeded 4,000 followers on Facebook, a milestone making it one of the largest conservation forums in northwest Colorado. We are humbled by the enthusiastic response we’ve received from the local community. A further analysis shows a majority of our followers are located in the Yampa Valley, and 58% are women. We post local and regional conservation news nearly daily on our page. Check it out here!

Keep Routt Wild Supports Hunting License Reductions in Response to Severe Winter

Keep Routt Wild joined 10 other groups, all part of the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project, in calling for substantial hunting license reductions in light of the historic winterkill experienced by ungulates in northwest Colorado. In a joint letter the organizations wrote, ”In response to these concerning factors, we strongly support and appreciate CPW’s recommended license reductions for the 2023 season, especially in the northwest part of the state. As conservationists, we are willing to take further measures to protect the resource until herds are restored to typical historical levels. In the short term, aggressive cuts to license allocations for the 2023 season in the northwest part of the state might be necessary.”

You can read more about this letter in this Denver Post article. We note that the letter was also signed by numerous hunting organizations. Kudos to them. There are not many public land user groups willing to cut their access by over 50% to benefit wildlife, but these groups are proposing exactly that.

Keep Routt Wild Supports Wolf Bills

Keep Routt Wild publicly supported two bipartisan Colorado bills concerning gray wolf reintroduction and testified at the House and Senate committees considering them. Both bills were co-sponsored by local Colorado legislators, Representative Meghan Lukens and Senator Dylan Roberts. SB23-255 creates a wolf depredation compensation fund to compensate agricultural producers in the event of depredation of livestock or working animals by wolves.

Senate Bill 256, sponsored by Senator’s Will and Roberts as well as Representatives Lukens and Soper, and co-sponsored by every western slope legislator in the state, precludes the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission from conducting a reintroduction of wolves until U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) issues a 10(j) rule to the state designating the wolves as a “nonessential experimental population.”

The 10(j) rule is a provision of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) which allows for the reintroduction of a federally listed species of wildlife into suitable habitat as an “nonessential experimental population” as opposed to a federally “endangered or threatened species.” 

The value of a reintroduction under a 10(j) rule is that the rule provides for state management authority of the reintroduced population and gives additional management prescriptions and tools to CPW and landowners to address wolves with a propensity for livestock depredation. Notably this includes the ability to more aggressively haze wolves from livestock herds and, under certain circumstances and with a permit issued by CPW, the possibility of lethal take of wolves with a history of livestock killing.

Unfortunately, there is also an alternative option available to the state for reintroduction.  That approach would be to release wolves without a 10(j), but rather under a Section 6 Agreement with USFWS.  Under this alternative scenario, the reintroduced wolves would be considered “endangered” and the state would concede any and all management authority of the wolves to the federal government.  It would also preclude the flexibility available under a 10(j), leaving our state’s agricultural producers and wildlife professionals with virtually no tools or protection from livestock depredation. It would also preclude a management scheme that takes into consideration the state’s investments in all other wildlife species they manage. 

With the passage of Proposition 114, Colorado voters directed the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to take the steps necessary to begin the reintroduction of wolves by December 31st of 2023.  So what happens if, for any reason, USFWS is unable to deliver on the issuance of a 10(j) by that deadline?

According to testimony provided by the Department of Natural Resources before the General Assembly, the state would likely move forward with a reintroduction without a 10(j).  Senate Bill 256, seeks to provide a safety net to that alternative by providing the state the ability to both introduce wolves in a timely fashion and in a manner that is consistent with the Wolf Restoration and Management Plan that was just approved by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, which expressly states their preferred alternative is to conduct a reintroduction under a 10(j).

Both wolf bills passed with large majorities. The compensation bill is expected to be signed by Governor Polis, but the governor has signaled he may veto the 10(j) bill. We believe the governor should reconsider and sign them both. Governor Polis has a unique opportunity to bridge the urban/rural divide by signing the legislation. It would show that the state of Colorado is committed to the plan as published and that the stakeholder process has real meaning. We thank the bill sponsors for their dedicated efforts on this legislation.

We hope that you will join us in our request that Governor Polis sign SB-256, protecting our state’s agricultural producers and ensuring a successful wolf reintroduction.

Governor Polis can be emailed at Governorpolis@state.co.us

Monthly Mad Rabbit Trails Project Update

Each month we report on the status of the Mad Rabbit Trails Project. Similar to last month, we have no new news to report by way of formal action by the Forest Service in response to recent public comment.

That said, two other Forest Service trail proposals demonstrate that the USFS need not pursue trail projects to the bitter end when faced with public opposition. One comes from Colorado, the other from Oregon.

The Colorado example concerns a proposal to build 40 miles of mountain bike and multiuse trails near Pagosa Springs in the Pagosa Ranger District of the San Juan National Forest. In late April the USFS announced the trail portion of the Jackson Mountain Landscape Project would be canceled, “…input submitted by the public contained some serious concerns over the impact the proposed trails could have on the imperiled elk population, which ultimately led to the decision not to pursue that element of the project.” District Ranger Josh Peck penned a letter in the Pagosa Sun, detailing further why the trail project was canceled. Included in the reasoning was, “Current Forest Service research related to impacts to elk from nonmotorized and motorized recreation on elk dispersion.”

Nearly simultaneously, Ochoco National Forest in Oregon pulled the plug on the Lemon Gulch Trails Project, comprising 27 miles of proposed non-motorized trails. According to KTVZ, “The Ochoco National Forest has issued a final Environmental Assessment and identified a Preferred Alternative for the Lemon Gulch Trails Project. However, the Deciding Official, District Ranger Slater Turner, has chosen to withdraw the project from consideration, citing the "social divisions" the proposal generated. This action indefinitely suspends the planning process for the proposed mountain bike trail system 20 miles east of Prineville. The Forest said it has no plans to issue a Draft Decision, which would typically be the next step in the planning process.”

Process and timing wise, the Ochoco NF decision is the most similar to Mad Rabbit. It was made after public comment on a draft EA (Environmental Assessment), similar to the public comment process for Mad Rabbit initiated last October and November.

In both of these cases, concerns for wildlife trumped the desire for these specific recreational trails. We support the Forest Service reconsidering a proposal when the community and the science both indicate that a proposal has serious impacts.

What we’ve been reading and watching

(Click on any title to read the article.)

CPW Commission Approves Final Wolf Restoration Plan

“The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has approved the final Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, at their meeting in Glenwood Springs today. There have been more than two years of extensive statewide stakeholder meetings and public hearings, and 4,000 comments submitted online. The final approval of the plan clears the way for CPW biologists to introduce wolves in the Western Slope and to meet the voter-approved deadline of reintroduction by Dec. 31, 2023.”

Wolf Video from Gittleson Ranch

This game video was forwarded to us from David Gittleson. Note how good wolves are in following the tracks of each other. This takes less energy than if each were breaking trail. You’d hardly know that there were two wolves if you saw the tracks later. This was captured before the black wolf moved to the Kremlin area.

Crane camera captures crane defending nest from raccoon

Video courtesy of Colorado Crane Conservation Coalition. (Sound on)

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