On Oct. 25, the Southwest Region of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) published its proposed Herd Management Plans (HMPs) for 14 mule deer herds in southwest Colorado. The draft plans are open to public review and comment now through Dec. 15.
Photo image behind the Colorado Parks and Wildlife logo courtesy of Rio Blanco Herald Times
“Public feedback on our herd management plans is critical, as we manage these herds in the best interests of all Coloradans,” said CPW Senior Wildlife Biologist Jamin Grigg. “Our Herd Management Plans dictate how our deer herds in the region will be managed for a 10-year period, so it’s crucial for us to hear if people prefer specific alternatives or if their experience of what they see on the ground differs from that of our biologists.”
While the Southwest Region includes 14 areas spanning a wide land mass, areas nearest to Chaffee County include Saguache and the Upper Rio Grande. There, CPW is proposing extensions of previously approved management objectives. In the Sand Dunes and Gunnison Basin areas, CPW proposes new management objectives. The Executive Summary of the draft HMP is here, and the complete text is here.
The public asked to email comments to Jamin Grigg at jamin.grigg@state.co.us by December 15, 2023.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff note “Traditionally, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff have presented one Herd Management Plan at a time for approval to the Parks and Wildlife Commission. In order to address the large numbers of HMPS that need to be updated, staff have taken a new approach to develop a Regional roll-up of all HMPs in a CPW region for a single big game species to update or establish new population and sex ration objectives.
The Regional plans also describe the significant management issue for herds within each Region, what public input was used to develop proposed objectives, and the individual HMPs for each herd.”
Recent Comments