outdoors

Conditions Report - Statewide

Rivers and Creeks

There will be fun for the whole family at many Colorado Parks and Wildlife state parks as they celebrate the Colorado Public Lands Day on Saturday, May 19, with a variety of programs and events.

All programs and events are free with a $7 per day park pass or $70 annual pass.

Based on DNA evidence, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is confirming the bear killed by wildlife officers is the same bear responsible for attacking a young girl at her home in East Orchard Mesa early in the morning on Mother's Day.

The animal is described as a two-year-old male, cinnamon-colored black bear, weighing 150 pounds. The necropsy revealed the bear was in good body condition with no signs of diseases. Rabies testing was negative.

The Kiowa County Board of Commissioners has been honored with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southeast Region Partners in the Outdoors Award for 2018.

The award was announced at the annual Partners in the Outdoors conference last week in Breckenridge. The Kiowa County Board of Commissioners was nominated by CPW's Rick Gardner, who serves as a district wildlife manager in the Lamar area. Accepting the award on behalf of the county was Commissioner Cindy McLoud.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers killed a bear overnight, believed to have been the bear responsible for injuring a young girl in an early Sunday morning attack in East Orchard Mesa.
CPW officers will transport the bear's carcass to the agency's Wildlife Health Laboratory in Fort Collins for a full necropsy.

An investigation is underway following a bear attack on a child that occurred over night near Grand Junction in Mesa County.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers interviewed the five-year-old girl's mother. She said she heard screaming around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, and discovered a black bear dragging her daughter away. The bear dropped the child when her mother started screaming at the animal. She believes her daughter went outside after hearing noises, thinking it was her dog.

The Rocky Mountain Conservancy's Field Institute is offering an course titled "Orienteering for Beginners: Map & Compass Basics in RMNP", which will be held May 19.

The half day course is designed for the recreational hiker who has little or no experience reading a topographic map or working with a compass. Participants will learn to read contour lines, recognize landforms, calculate percent and angle of slope, become familiar with compass components, compass bearings, correcting for magnetic declination, and more. 

Conditions Report - Statewide

Rivers and Creeks

Two high-profile wildlife incidents over the past weekend in Summit County - including videos and a photo showing those involved approaching or feeding moose - have been addressed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, thanks to tips from the public.

CPW officials says it is often the public's help that brings wildlife violators to justice. In these recent cases, social media not only played a role in finding those responsible, many in the public learned about the dangers of approaching and feeding moose after reading public comments about the incidents.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is asking the public for help identifying a man pictured on social media (photo below) standing within a few feet of an angry moose along a busy stretch of road in Frisco.
According to a witness, he and his passenger observed the man chase the moose onto the median Friday afternoon in the 900 block of 10 Mile Drive in Frisco. They were able to snap a photo of the incident as they drove past the man and the agitated animal.