Welcome to the June 2024 Keep Routt Wild Newsletter!

Hello, Keep Routt Wild followers!

For those unfamiliar with Keep Routt Wild, we are 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 opportunities for recreational development with the habitat needs of wildlife. We do this through education, engagement, and practicing conservation through informed science.

Articles for this month’s newsletter are:

·       Mad Rabbit Trails Project Update – No construction in 2024

·       Map shows calving elk near Mad Rabbit and US40

·       Wildlife organizations oppose big cat hunting ban initiative

·       Volunteer Opportunity: Howe Ranch Fence Pull

·       What we’ve been reading and watching

·       Quote of the Day

To find out more about Keep Routt Wild, go to our website, or follow our nearly daily postings on Facebook.

Mad Rabbit Trails Project Update

As the article above by Steamboat Pilot environmental reporter Suzie Romig states, there will be no construction of any Mad Rabbit trails in 2024. This is due to no final decision being made until the 15 instructions issued by Forest Supervisor Russel Bacon are complete. Chief among the instructions is the completion of an Adaptive Management Plan to be jointly developed between the US Forest Service, the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

We’ve reported on these instructions in our January and May newsletters.

As we reported last month, a well written and implemented adaptive management plan would, in theory, monitor and keep project impacts from exceeding the “no significant impact” levels assumed in the final approval document for Mad Rabbit. Chief among these are the stated insignificant wildlife impacts and retaining Colorado roadless values. In practice, adaptive management plans may fail to deliver the protections promised if they are not structured with appropriate monitoring, resource metrics, and thresholds for management response and enforcement. They also need to be adequately funded.

The Adaptive Management Plan, along with the modifications due to the other instructions, represent significant changes to the overall Mad Rabbit project. We suggest the Forest Service share the newly created plan and all other changes due to the instructions with the objectors and other key stakeholders before proceeding with final approval of the project.

Since these changes are significant, we will review the entire updated set of documents before determining our next steps with regards to Mad Rabbit.

You can review the entire record of the Mad Rabbit Trails Project in reverse chronological order on our Mad Rabbit webpage to see the latest breaking news.

Map Shows Calving Elk Near Mad Rabbit and US40

The image above is courtesy of the US Forest Service responding to a Freedom of Information Act request. The map was created by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

One of the controversies surrounding Mad Rabbit was the Forest Service’s assertion that constraining the proposed trails to within one mile of US40 minimized the project’s impact to elk. The draft FEA (Final Environmental Assessment) states, “Recommendations from Wisdom et al. (2018) were also followed to keep trail development within one mile of open roads to maintain habitat effectiveness within large, undisturbed blocks including habitats within the Long Park Colorado Roadless Area ... Wisdom and Johnson (2019) found this type of trail planning reduces habitat compression by maximizing large undisturbed areas with high habitat value.”

We pointed out in our objections that neither study includes that recommendation, or any recommendation, regarding placing trails near open roads or at what distance. The subject simply was not brought up in either document. We have an ongoing challenge on social media for anybody to find that recommendation in either document.

Furthermore, we have documented that the weight of the scientific evidence is that elk and deer are significantly more disturbed by humans recreating, and at further distances, than by highway traffic. You can read our summary here.

Now we find out that the Forest Service has had a map of the locations of radio collared elk during elk calving season (May 15 – June 30) for nearly three years that validates our point. The map, shown above, was initially acquired by another conservation group from the Forest Service through a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) request they submitted. It was generated by CPW from radio collared elk that showed their GPS locations during calving season for the years 2020 and 2021, and was sent to the Forest Service on July 22, 2021. This means the Forest Service had this data while creating the EA.

The map not only shows elk locations practically on top of Highway 40 during calving season, but also marks one-half mile and one mile buffer distances from the highway. Those areas are in the dark and lighter turquoise shaded areas along US40 respectively. Those areas contain numerous concentrations of calving elk. The map indicates no avoidance by elk of areas near US40.

We are a science-based organization, so we appreciate being able to see actual locations of elk to settle this controversy. We recall a statement from the Wyoming Migration Initiative that there is no substitute to putting a GPS collar on a critter to actually see where it goes. That said, only a very small percentage of elk actually get collared, so it is unknown from collar data alone where the rest of them go. In other words, radio collar data only detects a subset of the calving areas. Biologists depend on historical sightings and matching habitat and topology with known nearby calving areas to complete the map.

Have no doubt about it. The “one-mile buffer” around highways was never supported by the scientific evidence. Now we find out that the Forest Service had evidence to the contrary all along. It would have been nice if they had shared it with the public.

Wildlife Organizations Oppose Big Cat Hunting Ban Initiative

As we reported in our March newsletter, signatures are being collected for a ballot initiative that would ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats, and lynx across Colorado. Currently labeled as Initiative 91 (that number will change if it makes it to the ballot), it would remove authority from CPW (Colorado Parks and Wildlife) to manage feline populations through hunting. We stated our opposition to the proposal there.

“Simply put, we support science-based wildlife management by the biologists at CPW and oppose ‘ballot box’ biology. We are particularly concerned that out-of-state actors seem to be targeting Colorado, exploiting its initiative process to remove wildlife management authority from this important state agency piece by piece.”

Since that time, the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project, which comprises a coalition of 20 wildlife organizations including Keep Routt Wild, has publicly come out in opposition to the ban. You can view KDVR’s coverage of the issue here.

“The future of Colorado’s wildlife management is at a crossroads, frankly, and the underpinnings of 125 years of sound, science-based wildlife management is on the ballot this November,” said Gaspar Perricone, chair of Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project and former Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioner,” according to KDVR. We’d also note that Gaspar is a Board member of Keep Routt Wild.

There will be a final push by the initiative supporters to gather signatures over the July 4th weekend. We love these big cats, but Initiative 91 is misguided and counter to modern science-based wildlife management. We ask our followers not to sign the ballot petitions and, if it makes it to the ballot in November, to vote against it.

What we’ve been reading and watching

Here is an opportunity to help out wildlife and a local ranch, while enjoying great scenery and food. BHA (Backcountry Hunters and Anglers) contacted us to spread the word of a planned “fence pull” on Howe Ranch approximately 17 miles north of Hayden. We are happy to oblige. Howe Ranch overlaps with mapped elk migration corridors, severe winter range, and calving areas. Howe Ranch is held in a conservation easement and removing obsolete interior fencing aligns with the management priorities of the ranch while improving important habitat for deer and elk. BHA is supplying coffee and lunch Saturday and Sunday, while Howe Ranch will treat the volunteers to a BBQ dinner Saturday evening. The ranch will be set up for camping, including space for camper trailers and an onsite restroom. You can show up Friday evening and chat the evening away while listening to the history of the ranch from the Howe family.

More details and the RSVP instructions can be found here

What we’ve been reading and watching

(Click on any title to read the article.)

Why Wilderness: 1964 to Today

Friday, June 28, 2024 – 7pm

Bud Werner Library Hall, Steamboat Springs

Join this Friends of Wilderness sponsored presentation with Ralph Swain, retired USFS Wilderness Ranger, as part of his 38 years managing wildernesses in Colorado, California and Montana. Ralph will guide us through the significance of 60 years of wilderness beginning with why it was important to designate wilderness areas with the signing of the Wilderness Act of 1964. 

Tread of Pioneers Museum opens new Ute exhibit

The “Ute Knowledge: Colorado’s Original Science Technology, Engineering, and Math” exhibit opened June 20 and tells the story of how the Ute Indians have used science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) to survive and thrive in the Rocky Mountains. The Ute people are Colorado’s longest continuous residents, and prospered here through their deep understanding of, and connection to, the Colorado landscape and environment. The exhibit will be on display at the Tread of Pioneers Museum through May 2025. The museum also uses Ute STEM educational kits, developed and distributed by History Colorado, to teach local youth about Ute heritage. 

Commissioners approve deal to conserve 8,000 acres in Routt County
Kudos to everyone involved.

"The vote for final approval for the agreement between the county and the Colorado Cattlemen’s Agricultural Land Trust means 3,978 acres of the Chance Ranch and 4,192 acres of the Camilletti Ranch will be conserved under the deal."

First Gray Wolf Pup Confirmed

“Because these wolves have successfully reproduced, they are officially considered a pack. The pack name is the Copper Creek Pack. This is the first confirmed Colorado-born wolf pup since the voter-approved wolf reintroduction in December.”

CPW Confirms First Routt County Wolf Kill

“After conducting a field investigation, which included a necropsy of the calf, we have determined the depredation to be caused by a wolf.”

Longtime Steamboat bear euthanized, too comfortable around humans

“An older bear sow that survived a roughly 46-mile walk back to Steamboat Springs in fall 2022 — after being relocated to northern Colorado and having three cubs in spring 2023 — was euthanized last week.”

Colorado resort communities want more focus on residents, less emphasis on tourism, survey shows

“Routt County residents were the least likely among the five counties to support tourism-centered policies and were more willing “to dip into personal finances if the investment helped lessen tourism visitation to the area.” 

Quote of the Day

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