Letter: Keep it wild at Sweetwater Lake

Is Colorado Parks and Wildlife choosing to ignore its own recommended buffer zones and seasonal restrictions for Colorado Raptors at Sweetwater Lake?

These same guidelines are implemented at other Colorado parks:

• At Staunton State Park, Colorado Parks and Wildlife enforces seasonal trail closures of Lions Head loop and Mason Creek-Upper from March 15 to July 31 for raptor nesting.
• At Barr Lake State Park, there is a 1,320-foot Bald Eagle buffer zone and half of the lake was set aside as a wildlife refuge.
• Near Durango, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management enforce a half-mile buffer zone for peregrine falcons on the upper parts of Animas City Mountain and Perins Peak Wildlife Area from March 15 to July 31.
• In 2021, the manager of Fishers Peak State Park implemented an extension of the peregrine falcon half-mile buffer zone closure from July 15 to July 31 “for consistency with the CPW’s recommended (updated 2020) raptor guidelines.”

At Sweetwater Lake, following Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s own guidelines for peregrine falcons will require seasonal closures of the lake surface and most of the proposed park infrastructure as there is:

“No permitted, authorized, or human encroachment activities within ½ mile (2640 feet, 800 meters) of the nest cliff(s) from March 15 to July 31.”

Implementing CPW’s recommended protections for the bald eagles and peregrine falcons was not included in the state park plan submitted for NEPA review. Was this an oversight or does Colorado Parks and Wildlife get to pick and choose where these raptors will be protected?

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The current plan proposes more than 200 visitors/day which is exorbitantly greater than historical use averaging 32 visitors/day during peak months as per the Forest Service’s own campground data and a 2017 Colorado Department of Health public water system study at AJ Brink Outfitters.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s tagline is “Keep Colorado Wild” and that is exactly what should happen at Sweetwater Lake.

Ken Wright
Gypsum