Colorado Parks and Wildlife briefs Ouray County on safety, funding and recent wildlife developments

Rachel Grama, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the Ouray County Board of County Commissioners on April 9 that CPW is giving local officials contact lists, maps and regular updates as part of a broader push to coordinate on public-safety and wildlife issues.

Grama said CPW’s Southwest Region remains funded as an enterprise agency largely by hunting and fishing license sales and park passes, and that the Keep Colorado Wild vehicle pass has provided a significant boost to park maintenance funds. “I just wanted to come and give some general updates about what's going on in the agency right now and some of the big things that we're working on,” Grama said.

Why it matters: The briefing covered public-safety work (boat and life-jacket enforcement, a new West Slope recovery vessel and a marine/dive team), wildlife management (license-setting changes and disease surveillance) and natural-resource topics that affect local recreation and the county’s fall hunting economy.

Grama described several operational items for the county: staffing changes in neighboring districts (a Norwood-area vacancy covered by Kelly Crane), a district contact list for commissioners, and a note that CPW is monitoring statewide revenue and position growth even though the agency is not facing the state’s budget shortfall.

Water safety and recovery assets CPW officials told the commissioners they will continue stepped-up education and enforcement for personal flotation devices (PFDs) on small craft and on paddleboards, kayaks and other nonmotorized vessels, and they encouraged communities to identify sites for PFD ‘loaner’ boxes. Commissioners suggested the South Side of Silverjack Reservoir and Buckhorn Lakes as loaner-station candidates; Grama said Ridgeway State Park’s program is already popular but sometimes runs out of jackets. She said CPW’s boating-safety program can help build and restock loaner stations and supply signage.

Grama also said CPW has purchased a vessel with sonar and scanning capability that will be staged on the West Slope—likely in the Grand Junction area—to reduce deployment time for marine evidence and recovery operations. Previously, CPW had to mobilize crews from Denver for many Western Slope recoveries.

Herd management and license changes CPW set license numbers earlier this year and limited nonresident archery elk licenses for the first time, distributing available tags proportionally based on reported hunt locations and last year’s demand. Grama said limits were set conservatively and that managers expect a transition period while hunters adjust to the new limited model.

Disease surveillance CPW confirmed a new chronic wasting disease (CWD) positive in a unit at the edge of the Gunnison Basin; Grama said she would follow up with the exact GMU number (she named it as either 53 or 63 during the meeting). For 2025 the agency has moved to mandatory testing of harvested deer in the region to produce updated prevalence estimates; CPW staff will collect lymph-node samples at offices and substations.

Avian influenza and public guidance Grama said CPW is tracking avian influenza outbreaks and will test clusters of waterfowl or unexplained mortalities; the agency’s usual trigger for collecting carcasses is three or more deaths in a localized area. She urged the public not to handle dead wildlife with bare hands and to double-bag carcasses for disposal if testing is not requested.

Wolves and producer outreach Grama reported that a collared female wolf recently crossed multiple ranges and was detected in Montrose County before appearing near Ouray County. CPW staff said they are in active contact with livestock producers, offering on-site vulnerability assessments and assistance from a wildlife-damage specialist (Bridal Dolbar, based in the Montrose office). She explained that collar data are delayed and that, because wolves are federally listed, CPW cannot publish exact point locations; CPW shares broader watershed-level summaries and works directly with producers and local officials.

Species-of-concern and collaboration requests Commissioners asked about pinyon jay declines and effects of fuel treatments for wildfire mitigation. Grama said CPW is discussing pinyon-jay concerns with the Colorado State Forest Service, the West Region Wildfire Council and BLM, and she recommended bringing CPW species specialists (for example, Amy Seglund, who works on alpine and small-species conservation locally) to a future public briefing.

Human mobility data project The county announced it submitted a proposal with MIT and other partners to a NASA grant to acquire anonymized cell‑mobility and remote-sensor data; commissioners were told the county’s request sought roughly $300,000 in mobility data and dashboard work to analyze trailhead and recreation use patterns. Grama said such data could help prioritize patrols and trailhead management; the county expects to learn whether the proposal is selected in September, with dashboards built later if awarded.

What commissioners asked for and next steps Commissioners requested annual updates on license issuance and herd-trend statistics because hunting is an important local economic driver; they also asked for follow-up details on the new CWD-positive unit and for CPW to coordinate its asset inventory with the county’s emergency manager and sheriff. Grama agreed to provide contact information, to connect CPW’s emergency manager with county emergency staff and to follow up with requested data.

Ending note: Grama left contact lists and district maps with county staff and said CPW would provide follow-up materials and coordinate on loaner PFD stations, disaster-resource listings and species briefings.