Tsk, tsk
Another year, another round of bad excuses for violating wildlife closures
Winter wildlife closures are important for big game, yet every year, people come up with some bad excuses for disregarding the closures./?BLM courtesy photo
At first glance, it looks like good news: last winter, the Bureau of Land Management issued only three citations to people illegally entering areas closed off to protect critical habitat for big game to survive the tough winter months.
Don’t get too excited, however. Throughout last winter, the BLM was down a law enforcement officer, leaving just one ranger to patrol more than 635,000 acres of the agency’s public lands in Southwest Colorado, which includes Archuleta, La Plata, Montezuma, Dolores and western parts of San Miguel counties.
So, needless to say, the big drop in citations was not likely attributed to people respecting the wildlife closure areas. It was more a matter of no one was there to catch them.
“There’s only one of me, and a whole bunch of people recreating,” Tyler Fouss, the aforementioned one law enforcement ranger for the BLM’s Tres Rios office, said. “I’m not going to be able to catch everyone in there.”
Every year, select public lands around Durango critical for wildlife are closed from Dec. 1-April 15. And every year, people walk or bike around closure signs, barricades and locked gates.
With big game already struggling to survive due to habitat loss, disease and the effects of climate change (namely drought), closing off these areas is seen as at least one thing wildlife officials can do to give animals a break during the difficult winter months.
“These seasonal closures work based on the data we collect,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Area Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta said in a statement. “Animals are using these areas longer during critical periods, and it is important they are not responding to all the forms of recreation that put added pressure on them during this critical time.”
Indeed, countless studies have shown all forms of recreation disrupt wildlife, causing them to run off, expend valuable calories and lose time better spent feeding or resting.
“Outdoor recreation is increasingly recognized for its deleterious effects on wildlife,” according to a 2021 study published in Nature Conservation. “Human disturbance on wildlife … can result in altered habitat use, decreased survival and reproduction, and ultimately decreased population.”
Despite the obvious need for the closures, every year people hike, bike or do whatever cool new thing in closure areas. Or, more specifically, every day, as evidenced by foot and bike tracks, Fouss said.
One problem is there are not enough officers to patrol such a vast area. So, officers try to focus their efforts on the most used areas, such as Animas City Mountain, Grandview and Sale Barn. Last year was particularly tough, with one of the two BLM ranger positions vacant.
“Our patrols and time spent in the field were down,” he said. “We just didn’t have enough personnel to cover all the BLM public lands.”
Even at full capacity, two rangers covering more than 600,000 acres of public lands does not seem like a lot, but compared to other BLM offices in the state, it is. In fact, most BLM offices in Colorado only have one ranger for their territory, with Tres Rios, Grand Junction and Canyon City the exceptions with two.
“In a perfect world, we’d have more officers per office,” Fouss said. “But budgets are tight, and until that changes, we just have to prioritize where we patrol.”
CPW also manages wildlife closure areas in Bodo, Perins Peak and Twin Buttes. In a typical year, CPW will issue about 12-18 citations.
“While we know these areas are popular with trail users, well-researched data shows it is also necessary to close them to human activity during the winter months for the sake of wildlife,” CPW Assistant Area Wildlife Manager Steve McClung said in a statement. “There are plenty of other trails in our areas for people to recreate on during the winter months, and we ask the community to respect these closures and the wildlife that depend on these areas.”
Last year, The Durango Telegraph filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all the violations written by the BLM in 2020-21, just to see how weird the explanations got. And it delivered, including one person saying they were “one with nature” and couldn’t possibly disturb wildlife, and others just simply running away from officers when spotted.
So, for the hell of it, we did the same thing this year for citations written in 2021-22. While not as outlandish, there are some entertaining excuses. And, it should be noted, the BLM chooses to cite one ticket for an entire group and implement a reduced fine of $100 instead of $250 for first-time offenders to use it as a learning experience instead of punishment.
“Our goal is not to punish everyone,” Fouss said. “We’d rather have compliance and people doing the right thing. But the point is, this is something we take seriously.”
Without further ado:
• When one typically thinks of the quintessential college spring break, it conjures images of wild parties in Cancun or taking body shots in some gross bar in Daytona Beach. It’s probably fair to say it’s not every sexually charged college boy’s dream to enter a wildlife closure area and get ticketed on a trail in Southwest Colorado.
But, alas, that’s where three Wisconsin spring breakers found themselves March 22 around 3:30 p.m. According to the BLM’s report, an officer on patrol saw the three 19-year-old males enter the west trail on Animas City Mountain. When the officer met up with the group and asked if they had seen the chain barricade, an orange construction fencing, as well as the sign that said “Closed to All Entry” – “all three stated they had.” The group was then issued one $100 citation.
Well, that should be one hell of a story to tell their dormmates when they get back.
• Oh, to be in love and spend your days carelessly sitting underneath a tree, holding hands, kissing and dreaming of the future. What better way to spend an afternoon? Unless, of course, that tree happens to be within a wildlife closure area.
Well, on March 27, the love buzz was killed when two 19- and 18-year-old sweethearts were caught lying under a tree along the east trail within Animas City Mountain.
When the officers asked the couple whether they saw the closure signs, “they stated they did but didn’t think it was a problem, since they didn’t go that far into the closure.”
The Durango couple was issued one $100 citation, and an important life lesson: while cuddling up under a tree is undoubtedly a romantic way to spend an afternoon, it’s not cool in a wildlife closure area. According to a study conducted by The Durango Telegraph at El Rancho, nearly 100% of couples who disturb wildlife split up.
• On April 7, an officer encountered two older gentlemen from Silverton around 3 p.m. hiking in the Big Canyon area within Grandview. Upon questioning, one guy in the group told the officer he didn’t know the area was closed.
“I explained that I observed their foot tracks around the barricade,” the officer wrote in the report.
Further digging himself into a hole, the guy responded by saying, well, he thought the closure only applied to mountain bikers. To which, the officer said, “I explained the signs states ‘Closed to All Entry.’”
The guy’s friend, apparently, saw the jig was up and admitted the pair wanted to take a hike while they were having their car serviced at Durango Motor Co. (the trailhead is right behind the shop).