craigdailypress.com

rahampto (Randy Hampton) says…

A couple of clarifications from the DOW.

1. We do relocate bears quite frequently for this kind of behavior. So far this year we have relocated dozens of bears in northwest Colorado and we have euthanized at least 6 bears as either dangerous or repeat offenders.

2. The spring bear hunt can't just be re-instated as one poster suggested. Voters did away with the spring hunt by amending the Colorado constitution. Re-instatement would require voters to re-amend the constitution.

3. DOW cannot at this time comment on this specific case as we are finalizing our investigation.

thanks,
Randy Hampton
Public Information Officer, DOW

rahampto (Randy Hampton) says…

“The Hunt for H. Neal Glanville”… Neal, sorry for the direct post here, but there is no e-mail address for you on the website and, ironically, you don't appear in the phone book. Anyways, three quick points:

1. love your column. Last week's story about you and your friend Roy was great.
2. phone books are a challenge. If you pay for an ad, they'll put you where you should be but otherwise it's kind of a crap shoot. And no prior planning on earth can see us listing ourselves as 'game and fish'. We're still the Colorado Division of Wildlife.
3. We know we've got a bit of a service void in Craig. That's why we pay the Chamber to help provide Terry Carwhile's services over at the Sportman's Information Center. In fact, we were the only funding provider that agreed to triple our payment this past year. We're happy to help provide that service and we'll sure try and continue it. Just so you know, Craig is the ONLY community in the state where we pay a third-party to provide customer service. We've gotten requests from other places, but Craig is the only one. We don't have offices in Rifle or Vail or Silverthorne or Greeley or Canon City. We try to run a lean operation.

Anyways, thanks again for the column. We'll work on that phone book thing and see if we can't get a bit more prominent, but we'll have to find a way to convince them to do it for free. Meanwhile, don't hold your breath for a full-blown Craig office… we agree that Terry and the gang at the Chamber are doing a great job.

Randy Hampton, DOW, GJ (p.s. my direct line is 970-255-6162)

rahampto (Randy Hampton) says…

 Grannyrett,

There is considerable debate about whether moose are native to Colorado or not. Some scholars have suggested that moose were probably quite common in higher-elevation willow habitats (like the Flattops) when there were few people in these areas. They believe that moose were likely hunted out by early tribes and settlers because moose are large animals that don't run from people (like deer and elk) and provide a lot of meat. So those individuals state that moose were likely here in larger numbers but eventually only survived in inhospitable places like Canada and northern Minnesota where the mosquitoes are as big as the moose (and people don't spend much time). Our knowledge of moose is limited by historical record and unfortunately early tribes didn't keep extensive wildlife records other than some cave drawings (which do depict moose-like critters). We do have a photo from the Denver Historic Society of the 1896 “Festival of Mountain and Plain” in Denver which clearly shows a moose on a parade float with an elk, a fox, a coyote, etc. Diaries from early land managers like the first Superintendant of the Battlement Reserve (now Grand Mesa National Forest) also make mention of “a very few moose” around 1900.

The removal of non-native fish is a different topic, but is done so that endangered fish species (found in the Colorado River Basin and nowhere else on earth) can recover while we continue to develop water resources for agricultural use and human population growth. The debate around endangered fish recovery could continue for a long time, but I don't want to get too far off the moose topic on this page. I'm always happy to have that discussion, but should probably do that one outside of the moose story.

Thanks for the additional comments. I hope my responses are helpful.

rahampto (Randy Hampton) says…

 Harkner,

1. No, we haven't 'forgotten'. There are three major moose populations in Colorado: North Park (est. 1978)(population appx. 1,000-1,200), Creede (est. 1991)(pop. appx. 400) and Grand Mesa (est. 2005)(pop. appx. 120-150). There are also numerous straggler populations including moose that wonder onto the Flattops and moose that are frequently seen in the Cold Springs Mountain area of Moffat County (wandering in from WY).

2. If moose wander into populated areas and cause problems, the DOW will deal with them. Moose that behave aggressively towards people will be put down.

3. Moose provide additional hunting opportunity (benefitting the economy) and provide tourism opportunity (benefitting the economy during times outside of hunting seasons). And, the DOW doesn't receive tax funding for these projects. Moose projects like the one on the Flattops are funded using sportsmen's dollars plus money from moose funds, which come from the annual raffle of moose licenses by Safari Club International.

Thanks for your questions. I hope this helps clarify the project.

Randy Hampton
Spokesman, DOW NW Region

rahampto (Randy Hampton) says…

WileyWapiti - this is a petition to the Wildlife Commission and anyone has a right to submit a petition to the Commission. IF (it's their discretion) the Commission chooses to act on the petition, it would become a three-step process for regulation. Such a process would mean that the issue would be heard at the April worksession in Estes Park and at the May meeting in Grand Junction. So, the public will have plenty of additional opportunity to comment. And, if my feel for these things is correct, I suspect the media will do more than a fine job of keeping this issue very much in the public eye… IF it moves forward. For now, this is nothing more than a suggestion from a part of the public to the Wildlife Commission.
Randy Hampton, DOW