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Notes from March 2 & 3 CPW Sportspersons' Roundtable meetings

elkduds

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CPW Sportspersons’ Roundtable Virtual Meeting 3/1 & 2/21

Notes from 3/1/21 meeting. Outline below, view the entire recorded meetings on Youtube for full discussion.

Director Prenzlow reported the Humane Society’s petition to ban trapping has likely been delayed until 9/21. A very similar petition was declined by the CPW Board of Commissioners 2 years ago. Commissioners are considering whether decoys mounted on a gun or bow are safe and ethical under the standards of fair chase. Commission is due to consider whether to convert certain sheep and goat licenses to Once-in-a-Lifetime status.

Another 200K acres of state property has been opened to public access. That totals over 1 million acres of state property newly opened to public access in the last 2 years.

The new Fisher’s Peak State Park will be open to very limited hunting in 2021. The entire park will be open to hunting, except for safety zones around buildings and parking areas. Applications for the drawing for spring turkey licenses close in about a week. In the fall there will be one license each for lion, bear, and deer, and 3 elk licenses. To apply for any of these licenses visit their website, https://cpw.state.co.us/placestogo/parks/FishersPeak

Habitat stamp sales generated $152 million for landscape level habitat preservation in 2020.

Wolf reintroduction: No surprise, wolf reintroduction dominates every public conversation w CPW. Chief Planner Reid DeWalt reported the new laws require CPW to develop a plan to report and manage the reintroduction. CPW has detailed coverage on their website. One consideration is the development of Public Comment Groups of stakeholders, including landowners, local government officials, sportspersons. Applicants willing to make the significant time commitment of at least one meeting/month can apply online. There will be public education sessions scheduled in each region of the state, meaning most meetings will be in Front Range urban areas. Expect these to address topics including livestock depredation and impacts to game populations. Cost of administering wolf introduction is projected @ $1 million/year for 5 years. The wolf legislation did not create any funding for this cost. A bill (HB 1040 is in the state legislation now, allowing wolf costs to be funded from the General Fund rather than CPW budget. If wolves remain delisted as endangered species, they are managed solely by the state. If relisted (which appears @ least somewhat likely w new presidential administration), US Fish & Wildlife Service is the managing agency. Hunting of wolves in CO would require delisting, followed by state approval.

Wildfires impacted large areas of the Northeast and Northwest regions. Firefighters saved the Poudre Canyon fish hatchery while everything around it burned. Many elk, deer and moose hunters returned their 2020 licenses. They will have preference in the 2021 draw. While actual #s of game animals killed by fires is unknown, biologists reported minimal overall mortality. GPS collared elk were tracked sidestepping advancing fire, and returning to burnt areas almost immediately. IN and near burned areas, bridges, roads, trails and culverts may be impacted by flooding, so there may be closures at and near the 2020 burns. In the Troublesome burn, a stream that was critical habitat for native cutthroat trout was severely impacted. Aerial reseeding is underway on the Pine Gulch burn near Grand Junction.

The predator research project in the Piceance area is completed. The findings are being submitted for peer review, after which the report will be posted for the public.

Since there is an application opportunity deadline very soon in bold above, I wanted to post this ASAP. I will summarize the 3/2/21 meeting as time permits. As noted above, the full recordings of both these virtual meetings are available on Youtube now.
 
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