CPW baiting program focused along Hwy 50 near Gunnison

“We’re not anticipating a need for assistance, but want to be prepared if we do.”

By Crystal Kotowski

Nearly 100 Gunnison area residents filled the Gunnison County Fairgrounds to discuss the Colorado Parks and Wildlife deer and elk baiting program on January 19.

CPW area wildlife manager for Gunnison County J Wenum’s presentation to the community delved deeper into the history and challenges of winter emergency feeding operations and concluded with potential volunteer opportunities and long-term strategies to better protect critical winter habitat for wildlife.

On January 17, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced that it would start a big-game baiting operation to counter some of the effects of significant snowfall in the Gunnison Basin, opening areas for access to forage and pulling big game away from the highway for the safety of animals and motorists.

The focus area for baiting is the Highway 50 corridor from Middle Bridge to Doyleville. The CPW will initially use alfalfa to pull deer and elk half a mile away from Highway 50. CPW is unsure of the number of baiting sites needed.

“We’re not doing anything on 135 because there are no concentrations of animals near the highway. Most deer have moved farther south along Highway 50,” confirmed Southwest region public information officer Joe Lewandowski.

“We need the ability to either expand or contract… So much hangs on what happens in the next two to four weeks in the weather,” said Wenum. He said they also need to be conscious of the budget as other parts of the state are looking into similar programs.

As of now, plans do not include a feeding operation, which CPW does not conduct unless winter-related mortality is expected to exceed 30 percent of the adult does.

Monitoring and baiting logistics

CPW has been monitoring the deer and elk weekly since December 15, but particularly since the heavy snowfall beginning January 2. The CPW marks 90 doe and 60 fawns every year to monitor the population, and the current survival rate is 99 percent for does and 93 percent for fawns. “We do have good, current data,” Wenum said.

He noted that, unlike previous winters, elk moved to lower elevations around Christmastime, and the deer dropped down two to three weeks behind. This intermingling of elk and deer, which wasn’t seen in the last severe storm of 2007-08, could be a challenge if the CPW does decide to engage in feeding operations, as the animals’ dietary needs are different.

One of CPW’s concerns in initiating feeding operations is the spread of disease among concentrated animals. Wenum noted that AHD, or adenovirus hemorrhagic disease, was seen in northwest Colorado in 2016. Chronic wasting disease has been detected in game management units near Montrose—another new development since 2007-08. “It’s knocking on the door of the Gunnison Basin to the west,” Wenum noted. CWD is a brain-wasting ailment similar to mad cow disease.

Long-term approaches to better wildlife management

Wenum heard concerns from the audience of the scale of CPW’s intervention—if more extensive feeding operations would limit wildlife deaths; the geographic diversity of the tagged animals CPW utilizes as a sample population to determine intervention measures; the quality of alfalfa wafers used to bait; and more comprehensive financial planning to account for such one-in-a-decade severe winters.

One salient question from the community questioned the extent of human development on critical winter habitat and the steps that could be taken to better protect such areas.

Wenum agreed with the historic encroachments, recalling the history of western development. Transportation corridors were developed along rivers and around water. Railroads largely opened the West, and roads piggybacked off railroad routes. As such, modern infrastructure has created natural barriers to migrating animals. 

According to the High Country News, from 1980 to 2010, 2.5 million acres of mule deer Colorado habitat were lost to housing development and oil and gas fields.

“Go out and look at the habitat that is being used currently. That’s critical winter range. That’s the stuff that needs to be conserved and protected. So those are the areas in the long term that we could use your assistance in terms of finding ways to allow appropriate activities, but have some limits, realizing those areas are essential for deer and elk and other big game populations. If those areas are reduced in size or quality, it’s going to directly impact big game populations in the basin,” said Wenum. He asked the community to critically assess housing, road, trail, and energy development in these areas.

Volunteer preparation 

Although the CPW is still in the logistics and planning phase of the operation, it would like to have a dedicated volunteer group organized with myriad skills. Wenum noted that they are looking for general or specialized skills, including schedule coordination, mapping, phone and customer service, mechanical skills, and information/ education outreach.

“We’re not anticipating a need for assistance, but want to be prepared if we do,” said CPW’s Southwest region volunteer coordinator Cathy Brons.

In a related decision, it was announced Tuesday that the National Park Service (NPS) will be closing the Beaver Creek Picnic Area, the East Elk Creek area, and the Dry Gulch Campground area to public use in order to support CPW efforts to bait deer and elk away from Highway 50. These areas allow CPW staff and volunteers the most efficient access to baiting sites that are beyond the boundaries of Curecanti National Recreation Area.

For more information about the Gunnison Basin 2017 Winter Big Game Baiting Operation, visit http://cpw.state.co.us/gunnwinter2017. 

For more information about potential volunteer opportunities, e-mail Cathy Brons at [email protected].