Letter: Protect Sweetwater’s raptors before the 2026 season
Colorado’s reputation for conservation is at risk as Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) relaxes raptor protections to favor development at Sweetwater Lake. Despite the state’s “Keep Colorado Wild” mantra, CPW is ignoring its own Recommended Buffer Zones and Seasonal Restrictions for Colorado Raptors for the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon nests at our next state park.
We are already seeing the consequences: the Bald Eagles abandoned their nest in 2025 following a spike in recreational activity. Despite this, Sweetwater co-managers — CPW, the US Forest Service (USFS), and Eagle Valley Land Trust — have failed to implement necessary protections.
In response to this nest abandonment, the Roaring Fork Audubon Society, Sierra Club, Wilderness Workshop, and six other conservation groups formally requested application of Colorado’s raptor protections receiving no response from CPW. The response from the USFS was dismissive, labeling the nest only “intermittently successful” over five years of monitoring, with 2023 and 2025 being unsuccessful. However, this ignores the “why?”. In 2023 the nest was monitored only once. It was May, near end of nesting season, documented as “unoccupied/undetermined.” Had the young already fledged? In 2025, the nest was abandoned after 14 people and two dogs were observed in the immediate nest vicinity during the vulnerable early breeding stage.
Why are CPW and USFS applying Colorado’s raptor protections at other parks and forests but refusing to at Sweetwater? We are running out of time before the 2026 breeding season begins if it’s not already too late.
CPW, USFS and EVLT must act now to implement Colorado’s own raptor protections regardless of how inconvenient protecting these species might be to their published state park plans. If CPW truly intends to “Keep Colorado Wild,” they must start by protecting the wildlife at Sweetwater.
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Maria Summerlin
Gypsum
