Eagle County Wildlife Roundtable
Editor’s note: The Eagle County Community Wildlife Roundtable is a collaborative partnership with the White River National Forest, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Bureau of Land Management, local government entities, community members, and citizen scientists.
Bighorn sheep are generally not dangerous, but could be when provoked. A bigger problem is that the encounter may stress the sheep, which reduces their ability to obtain all the nutrition they need. (Rick Spitzer, Special to the Daily)
Calling all backcountry enthusiasts! This winter has delivered less snow so far, along with COVID-19 which means that there is increased participation in the backcountry. Therefore, there is no time like the present to remind ourselves of who we are sharing the backcountry with, and what is required of us to keep on enjoying our wonderful backcountry adventures.
Editor’s note:
If you set out bird feeders, you are not alone. estimates that there are 50-60 million people who feed birds. That is around 50% of households. They spend a total of around $4 billion on bird food annually. That buys 1 billion pounds (500,000 tons) of seeds, suet and other types of bird food.
Why do people get into bird feeding? Most people say they enjoy watching nature and enjoy the sound of birds in their yard. Some do it because they want to help birds. Others wish to learn bird behavior and also learn how to identify them. Some parents want to provide an educational experience for their children. I have also spent a lot of time photographing birds at my feeders. To date I have photographed 32 different species of birds.
It used to be a more common site to spot a herd of elk in Eagle County, but the population numbers have drastically declined in recent years. The newly formed Eagle County Wildlife Roundtable aims to provide a voice for animals as development plans are reviewed in the future.
Rick Spitzer/Special to the Daily
Eagle County’s wild animals inevitably pay a high price when new development happens.
Because deer, elk and other animals are unable to speak for themselves when projects are presented, a new group of Eagle County residents has organized to formally speak for them.
This week, representatives from the Eagle County Wildlife Roundtable met with the Eagle County Board of Commissioners to present a summary of the work they have completed in the past year. They also presented their vision of how their advocacy can evolve in the future.