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Colorado Parks and Wildlife briefs commissioners on landfill bear activity, habitat connectivity and wolf/wolverine plans
Summary
CPW Supervisor Matt Yamashita told the board black bears use the Pitkin County landfill, offered to have Colorado Bear Coalition research mitigation options, discussed habitat-improvement priorities and said Pitkin County was not selected for wolf releases this season.
Matt Yamashita, supervisor with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), updated the Board on several wildlife issues, focusing on human-bear conflict at the Pitkin County landfill, landscape-scale connectivity, herd health and carnivore reintroduction planning.
On bears at the landfill, Yamashita said CPW has received public concerns and engaged the Colorado Bear Coalition. He cautioned there is no silver-bullet mitigation: "Electric fencing ... it's not bulletproof by any stretch of the imagination. Bears will find their way around it. Those tend to ... fail." CPW offered to research best practices, cost and maintenance implications and to present comparative findings from other counties.
Yamashita framed CPW priorities as habitat protection and improvement to support resilient populations, rather than focusing solely on highway crossings. He described actions such as prescribed burns and mastication to improve forage and habitat quality and noted partnerships with the Roaring Fork Outdoor Coalition and federal land managers.
On large carnivores, Yamashita said CPW "is not bringing more wolves into the state this winter" and that Pitkin County was not selected as a release site during this cycle. He also described ongoing, statutory-driven planning for wolverine reintroduction and local habitat assessments.
Herd health question: On elk and deer recruitment, Yamashita said population counts alone can be misleading; calf-cow ratios are an important measure, and he reported that calf-cow ratios in local herds are below levels CPW would like to see for long-term resiliency.
Next steps: CPW will follow up with research on landfill mitigation options, continue habitat-improvement partnerships, and coordinate with county open-space and resource staff on safe-passage and habitat projects.
