Guest opinion: The unsung heroes in Colorado’s wildlife management story

Wolf reintroduction and management issues, threats to lynx habitat, and mountain lion harvest limit reductions have all been newsworthy in recent weeks. Citizens hold such diverse perspectives and some lay at polar opposites.

You may wonder: How can any sense be made of these controversial matters? We suggest that you have confidence that Colorado Parks and Wildlife is the best place for these difficult decisions to be made. Its employees have the professional expertise, nationally recognized credibility, and conscientious public involvement processes to arrive at foresighted decisions that are in the best interest of wildlife and the citizens of Colorado.

We are three retired Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees who collectively have nearly 100 years of experience managing Colorado’s wildlife. We wholeheartedly thank the nearly 2 million Coloradans who voted to support CPW’s scientific and professional wildlife management this past election when Proposition 127 was soundly defeated.

Sportsmen and sportswomen and CPW and its employees are too often unsung heroes in the wildlife management story. During the November ballot issue campaign, Prop 127 proponents tried to characterize sportsmen and women and CPW as being filled with barbaric bloodlust. It is a sad commentary on the extremes that well-funded, out-of-state, anti-hunting groups will go in creating bizarrely twisted storylines in attempts to appeal to the mainstream and level-headed voters in Colorado.

Here are a few examples of what CPW and sportsmen and sportswomen have achieved in just the past 50 to 100 years: restored river otters, lynx, and peregrine falcons; worked with CDOT to construct over 40 underpasses and three overpasses for wildlife; recovered the state mammal, bighorn sheep, from near extinction in Colorado to occupancy in nearly all available habitat; and expanded the abundance, ranges and habitat quality for pronghorn, mule deer, elk, and moose.

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CPW has ongoing partnerships with private landowners, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management, the Ute tribes, and Colorado’s Trust Lands to conserve and protect natural habitats for all wildlife, from moths and butterflies to boreal toads, native big river fish in the Colorado River, bats, black-footed ferrets, and even genetically rare native cutthroat trout. We could go on for pages, but we know you understand that science, research, and sound management have made these achievements possible. Sportsmen, sportswomen, CPW, and its employees are dedicated to benefiting all wildlife and conserving wild habitats.

We each actively opposed Proposition 127, which attempted to criminalize responsible hunters and strike down science-based wildlife management. Proponents used deceptive messages and emotional appeals to advance arguments against legal hunting methods. Anti-hunting radicals continue to use these same tactics. They will return to ballot box biology to further their special interests.

Wildlife management requires knowledge and skill in biology, ecology, sociology, and political science. The science is complex and at times confounding. You would never ask your eye doctor to repair your HVAC system or your plumber to repair your torn shoulder joint. Wildlife management needs to remain in the hands of trained professionals who possess the expertise, knowledge, and scientific background necessary to make informed decisions.

We hope Coloradans will continue to recognize, oppose, and ultimately defeat this type of behavior. Additionally, we encourage Coloradans to demand legislative, perhaps even constitutional, changes to the citizen initiative process, ensuring that initiatives truly represent Colorado’s geographic and demographic diversity. Doing so is the only way to put an end to the harmful practice of ballot box biology.

Crystal Chick has a biology degree from Western Colorado University and worked for the Colorado Division of Wildlife/Colorado Parks and Wildlife for 18 years. She was a district wildlife manager for most of those years but spent a couple of years serving as the statewide hunter outreach coordinator.

Lyle Sidener is a native Coloradan who grew up in Salida. He received his BS degree in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University. Shortly after graduation, he realized his lifelong goal and, in 1990, was hired by the Colorado Division of Wildlife as a district wildlife manager. He served the people and wildlife of Colorado in two different Districts, Colorado Springs Northeast and Palisade. 

Jerry Apker is a retired wildlife biologist. During his 38-year career with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, he served as a wildlife officer, wildlife officer supervisor, and, for 17 years of his career, he was Colorado’s carnivore biologist, the lead person on the management of large and small carnivores in Colorado.