By Shannon Lukens.
There is now a map that Colorado Parks and Wildlife says you can see the general areas inhabited by gray wolves in Colorado. It includes the City of Steamboat Springs and all of South Routt, over east of Walden, up to Wyoming, and south to I-70. CPW says it will only be updated once a month. They say it will only show the “watershed” areas where the 12 collared wolves have been. The watershed that includes Steamboat Springs is 289 square miles. CPW was very careful to say that just because the map indicates wolf activity in an area, it doesn’t mean wolves are in the entire watershed area or they are there right now. Link to map
Elected officials with the Joint Senate and House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee were very harsh with the Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife at a hearing at the state capitol Wednesday. It started off with Senator Dylan Roberts.
“In our communities where this has now happened, there seems to be an extreme loss of trust and collaboration that used to exist between residents and CPW. And of course this is controversial, and I agree with your comments about keeping your staff safe. That is not anything that I think is invalid. But there does seem to be a disconnect with what was promised and what happened, and when that happens, people lose trust. I’ve heard from constituents of mine across my district and I know others on the panel have as well that they are going to close their gates. They don’t want to work with CPW officers anymore. They feel that there was a directive sent from higher up that those CPW officers couldn’t talk to anybody about this, they can’t talk to them about what the state is doing moving forward and that’s a concern. We need that local collaboration between private landowners, between outfitters, between both elected and non-elected officials and your department. Do you agree that there has been a huge loss of trust as a result of what happened on Dec. 18 both leading up to and after, and if so, what is your department doing to fix that?”
Representative Meghan Lukens added about the frustration in House District 26 which includes Routt, Moffat, Eagle and Rio Blanco counties.
“The video of the wolves being released, seen across the Western Slope, was very hard and a very scary video for folks to see in my district.”
Representative Richard Holtorf from the eastern plains didn’t hold back.
“A wolf is an apex predator that wants to kill. And cattle and calves are an easy target. The fact that you have to remind us that a wolf is a carnivore is laughable. We saw the pictures of the wolf that was released and it’s exactly what we’re getting — a vicious animal that kills, in some cases for sport.”
Here’s Department of Natural Resources Director Dan Gibbs.
“We recognize that we have a lot of work to do to work with stakeholders to repair relationships.” He said, “We need to have trust. We need to be responsive, and we’re learning.”
Gibbs also said no depredations have occurred from the reintroduced wolves.
FULL STORY – ELECTED OFFICIALS GRILL DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CPW AT HEARING WEDNESDAY
The Moffat County Sheriff’s Office is still trying to find 70-year-old Craig resident Thomas Ray Velasquez. He was last seen on Dec. 18. However, sheriff officers have found the Polaris Ranger that was missing with Velasquez, thanks to a tip. It was near his home. They have done a grid search of the area for Velasquez and have not yet found him.
The Early Childhood Center in the Moffat County School District is closed today because of a gastrointestinal virus outbreak in one of its classrooms. School staff will be cleaning and sanitizing today.
Huge amounts of snow were hauled away from the Steamboat Springs Post Office Wednesday morning. Snow had been piled up in parking spaces, including the handicap spots. People complained to Steamboat Radio so we reached out to the corporate office and the parking lot was cleaned up the next day.
Video of Post Office Wednesday morning
Steamboat Orthopaedic & Spine Institute is welcoming Ryan Albrecht as its new Chief Executive Officer. Albrecht comes from Nebraska and a radiology group that operated in 38 states.
Albrecht started in his new position at SOSI on January 8, 2024. He commented, “I am looking forward to collaborating with the physician partners and SOSI support staff to continue to bring the highest level of quality patient care to Steamboat and the surrounding communities. My wife and I are excited to raise our family in Yampa Valley because of the endless outdoor activities. Skiing, golfing, tennis, hiking, etc… we also enjoy being “foodies” so we are excited to explore the local food scene.”
Women United with United Way of the Yampa Valley is hosting the very popular Sip & Paint Fundraiser Thursday at Bud Werner Library. Proceeds benefit local families through the Communty Baby Shower.
Howelsen Hill is hosting six high school ski teams today for slalom races. The racing is hosted by Steamboat Springs High School which has 28 athletes competing.
Two Steamboat Skiers had big wins recently in Moguls. Mia Satkiewicz and Liam Seifken both won the Rocky Mountain Freestyle Dual Moguls at Aspen Highlands.
Check out what’s happening in the Yampa Valley on the Community Calendar on our website.
For the KRAI Time, Temp, and Weather Hotline, call 970-824-1918.