Boulder County reauthorizes Rabbit Mountain and Red Hill elk management plans, extends program oversight to five years

The Boulder County Board of County Commissioners voted May 20 to reauthorize elk management plans for the Ron Stewart Preserve at Rabbit Mountain and for Red Hill, extending program authorization to five years and delegating routine operational decisions to county staff in consultation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

John DeCoste, the elk management coordinator and wildlife biologist with Boulder County Parks and Open Space, gave an eight-year status update on both plans and urged reauthorization. DeCoste said the Rabbit Mountain program, first approved by commissioners in 2017, aimed to reestablish seasonal migration and reduce impacts to high-biodiversity areas, with a target of 30 resident elk year-round and up to 70 including seasonal migrants. He told the commissioners the program has reduced concentrated use and vegetation damage: “The program is not a calling program. We're not trying to remove, you know, 300 elk from the landscape using lethal control,” DeCoste said, adding that targeted hunting has been used to influence elk behavior and reduce resource damage.

DeCoste said the Rabbit Mountain program has been effective enough that staff plan to pause hunting there for the foreseeable future unless objectives fall outside targets. He described continuing issues at Red Hill, where the 2020 plan set a summer target of no more than 25 resident elk; summer counts in 2024 recorded a high of 57 individuals and staff estimated the true number could be nearer 80, with continued damage to crops, fences and increased vehicle collisions. DeCoste said CPW paid nearly $36,000 in game-damage claims last year for producers largely east of Diagonal Highway.

CPW staff said tools to address bull (male) elk — which are not the primary target of the existing cow-only tag — include nonlethal measures, targeted bull hunting where possible, and landowner-focused measures such as sprays, fencing and stack-yard protections. Joe Padilla, district wildlife manager with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the hearing that county open-space hunts require participants to meet state hunter education standards and an additional local shooting proficiency test: “In order to hunt in the state, anyone born after 01/01/1949 is required to pass a hunter safety course in Colorado,” Padilla said, and he described the county’s additional shooting-proficiency and orientation requirements for open-space hunts.

Staff presented two authorization options. The one the county’s Parks & Open Space Advisory Committee recommended was a three-year extension with a pause in Rabbit Mountain hunting and return to hunting if objectives fall outside targets. County staff recommended a five-year reauthorization to simplify operations and, if approved, asked commissioners to allow staff in consultation with CPW to pause or resume hunting, make small boundary adjustments (including the proposed removal of roughly 500 acres from the northern end of the Red Hill hunt to exclude the North Pointe neighborhood), and change hunt dates and seasons without separate BOCC approval; any changes that would dramatically alter the size or scope of the plans would still be brought to the board.

Commissioners Stoltzmann and Levy both said they supported staff recommendations. Commissioner Stoltzmann moved approval as discussed; the motion passed with the two commissioners present voting in favor and one excused.

The reauthorization will be for five years, staff will pause hunting at Rabbit Mountain for the foreseeable future, and staff were authorized to make operational adjustments in consultation with CPW and to bring any major changes back to the board.