DENVER -- The Colorado Wildlife Commission will meet with the Colorado State Parks Board to discuss the potential conversion of several state parks into State Wildlife Areas during its busy March 10 meeting.
Commissioners will also begin a formal review of plans to mitigate impacts to fish and wildlife resources from planned water projects on both sides of the Continental Divide, consider establishing a user fee for two northeastern State Wildlife Areas and hear a citizen petition. The meeting is scheduled to run from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hunter Education Building on the Colorado Division of Wildlife campus at 6060 Broadway in Denver.
With the state still grappling with an unprecedented budget crisis, Gov. John Hickenlooper has announced that four state parks will be repurposed as part of a budget proposal that will trim Colorado State Parks expenditures by $3.3 million in the fiscal year beginning July 1.
During the morning session, Wildlife Commissioners will meet with the five-member Colorado State Parks board to explore the feasibility of converting these parks to State Wildlife Areas and other potential areas of cooperation.
Colorado's State Parks attract more than 11 million visitors a year and offer some of the most popular outdoor recreation destinations in the state for angling, boating, camping, hiking and other activities. State Wildlife Areas are primarily managed to benefit wildlife and wildlife related recreation. All Division real estate transactions, including leases of property, must be approved by the Wildlife Commission.
Among the topics at their joint meeting, the Commission and the Parks Board will discuss a public process to gather input on how certain State Parks might be repurposed as State Wildlife Areas given the budget decisions made by the Governor. They will also seek to define a public process that will help minimize the impact of a change in missions for those properties.
Neither the Wildlife Commission nor the Parks Board has met since the Governor's announcement, and no decisions regarding the potential conversion of parks to state wildlife areas have yet been made.
During the afternoon session, the Wildlife Commission will initiate a formal review of plans to mitigate impacts to fish and wildlife resources that would be created by two major trans-mountain water development projects. The 60-day review of mitigation plans to be presented by Denver Water and the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is required by statute as part of each project's federal permitting process.
Denver Water is proposing to firm up the yield from its existing water rights on the West Slope, primarily by enlarging Boulder's Gross Reservoir and diverting additional water from the Fraser and Williams Fork rivers. Northern is proposing to firm up the yield from its existing water rights in the Upper Colorado River by diverting additional water to the proposed new Chimney Hollow Reservoir west of Longmont.
Under state statute, the Commission's authority is limited to a review of plans to mitigate impacts from proposed projects. Restoring the river to a past condition is beyond the scope of the project approval process and Wildlife Commission authority. However, Denver and Northern are voluntarily proposing enhancements to address impacts of existing water development projects to fish and wildlife resources on both sides of the Continental Divide. Both the mitigation and enhancement plans will be presented to the Commission at the meeting.
Also on the Commission agenda is final consideration of a new regulation establishing an annual access fee for two popular northeastern State Wildlife Areas to address public safety and user conflict issues stemming from recreational activities not related to the areas' primary wildlife purpose.
The proposal would require adults who do not possess a valid annual Colorado hunting or fishing license to purchase a $36 annual permit to enter Jumbo Reservoir or Prewitt Reservoir State Wildlife Areas. Permits would be valid from April 1 to March 31 annually and could be purchased anywhere that hunting and fishing licenses are sold.
Commissioners will also consider a citizen rulemaking petition requesting that the Commission revise regulations pertaining to sponsorship requirements for wildlife rehabilitators.
Finally, on Friday the Wildlife Commission will conduct a joint meeting with the boards of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association and the Colorado Farm Bureau in the Bighorn Room at the Colorado Division of Wildlife's headquarters. The joint meeting, held annually, is scheduled to run from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The Wildlife Commission meets monthly and travels to communities around the state to facilitate public participation in its processes. In 2011, the Commission will meet in Meeker, Salida, Grand Junction, Montrose, Alamosa, Steamboat Springs, Pueblo, Yuma, and Fort Collins. The first three meetings of 2011 are being held in Denver.
The agenda for the March Wildlife Commission meeting, as well as a complete list of regulation changes for State Wildlife Areas, can be found on the Wildlife Commission
web page.
More information on Denver Water's Moffat Collection System proposal and Northern's Windy Gap Firming Project may be found here:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/LandWater/Water/MoffatWindyGapMitigationProjects/.
Members of the public who are unable to attend Commission meetings or workshops can listen to the proceedings through a link on the DOW's website. This opportunity is provided to keep constituents better informed about the development of regulations by the Commission and how they and DOW staff are resolving issues facing Colorado's wildlife.
To access the live audio feed during the meeting, click on the "listen to live audio" link at the bottom of the Commission webpage at:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/WildlifeCommission/ .
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