<\/p>\n
Elk congregate in a pasture along McLain Flats Road in late October 2023. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are focused on habitat preservation and conservation to support elk in the Roaring Fork Valley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aspen Daily News file<\/p>\n
Ever seen a herd of elk hanging out somewhere that doesn\u2019t look quite right? Maybe, the compost pile at the landfill? Or a golf course, surrounded by houses?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of these types of places that don\u2019t seem like natural settings \u2014 they\u2019re not,\u201d Colorado Parks and Wildlife\u2019s Matt Yamashita told the Pitkin County Commissioners at a work session last week. \u201cBut [wildlife are] using it by default, \u2026 because they have to find a way to assimilate.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crux of the issue is habitat loss, Yamashita explained, speaking as an area wildlife manager for the state agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of [places] where the animals would like to be,\u201d especially their winter range, \u201cthose are the developed portions of the valley.\u201d And that impact can\u2019t really be reversed. \u201cThey\u2019re adapting to what we have left.\u201d<\/p>\n
Which is why Colorado Parks and Wildlife is putting its weight behind \u201chabitat protection and conservation,\u201d a \u201chigher priority\u201d for the agency than, say, wildlife crossings over busy roads.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not because of a lack of interest,\u201d Yamashita said of the crossings, which have local advocates in the nonprofit Roaring Fork Safe Passages<\/a>. \u201cAny time there\u2019s passage across a roadway that can save motorists from vehicle collisions, save animals from becoming a carcass on the side of the road, that\u2019s a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s just that this agency is more focused on habitat \u2014 the settings that give animals the elements of survival, like food, shelter and water.\u00a0 (There\u2019s some \u201cnuance\u201d to the compost situation, though: It\u2019s warm in a way that snow-covered dirt just isn\u2019t, and the elk seem to \u201cdo well there,\u201d Yamashita said.)<\/p>\n