{"id":2451824,"date":"2019-12-04T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=317037"},"modified":"2019-12-04T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T12:00:00","slug":"park-closure-gives-wildlife-own-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/park-closure-gives-wildlife-own-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Park closure gives wildlife own space"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Footprints lead on the trails in Sky Mountain Park in Snowmass on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun)<\/strong>
Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Since it was established in 2012, the 2,500-acre Sky Mountain Park has been off-limits to Roaring Fork recreationists for the roughly five-month stretch from Dec. 1 to mid-May to protect the area\u2019s wintering wildlife.<\/p>\n

And for some of that wildlife, the months-long break from people in the park between the Owl Creek and Brush Creek valleys can make all of the difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cSky Mountain Park is definitely a wintering place and production area for elk, so when they\u2019re getting ready to calve it\u2019s important they don\u2019t have that disturbance pushing them,\u201d said Kurtis Tesch, district wildlife manager with Colorado Parks and Wildlife for the Aspen-Snowmass area.<\/p>\n

VALLEY ELK POPULATIONS IN DECLINE<\/p>\n

Tesch has worked in the Aspen-Snowmass district for the past four years. Over that time period, he said elk herd populations in the valley, which are part of what\u2019s known as the Avalanche Creek herd, have been on the decline.<\/p>\n

According to the most recent Sky Mountain Park wildlife monitoring report, 245 elk and 582 mule deer were detected in the park in 2017.<\/p>\n

To help Tesch and CPW researchers better understand the factors contributing to the area\u2019s elk population decline, the state wildlife management agency launched a six-year study of the Avalanche Creek cow elk birth rates and calf survival rates last January, as previously reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tesch said it\u2019s too early to disclose what the study\u2019s data show so far, but said it\u2019s safe to say that the valley\u2019s elk don\u2019t get much of a break from disturbances to their habitat, which can cause detrimental effects to the herd, especially in the winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust because you see a lot of elk on the valley floor during the winter doesn\u2019t mean that across the landscape they\u2019re doing that great,\u201d Tesch said. \u201cThe Sky Mountain Park closure gives animals a chance to avoid disturbances, build up caloric reserves in the winter time and save them for when they give birth so they can provide nutrition to their young throughout the spring.\u201d<\/p>\n

If a cow elk is disturbed while calving, Tesch explained, it has to make the decision to sacrifice calories by fleeing the area or by staying put, which can cause it to burn nearly as many calories due to nervousness and anxiety.<\/p>\n

Tesch said if the cow experiences too many disturbances and burns too many calories, it could abort its calf to save itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cEither way it\u2019s a lose-lose for that animal and it can ultimately lead to the demise of their young,\u201d Tesch said, which he noted is why it\u2019s important disturbance-free wintering areas like Sky Mountain Park exist.<\/p>\n

PARK A REFUGE FOR WILDLIFE, RECREATION AREA FOR PEOPLE<\/p>\n

Since 1990, Snowmass Village, Pitkin County Open Space, city of Aspen, Great Outdoors Colorado and the Aspen Valley Land Trust have worked to acquire and dedicate the then separate parcels of land that now make up today\u2019s Sky Mountain Park to preserve the landscape and protect wildlife, like elk.<\/p>\n

Pitkin County Open Space oversees the management of the open space park \u2014 which includes the winter season closure \u2014 wildlife and vegetation monitoring and surveys, and the small lottery cow elk hunt.<\/p>\n

According to Gary Tennenbaum, director of Pitkin County Open Space and Trails, the Sky Mountain Park habitat has greatly improved over the past seven years and the goal is to keep the similar management strategies in place to ensure wildlife is protected and great recreational opportunities are accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cOver the next year, year and a half, we will update our management plan, but overall keeping the park a great recreational resource and healthy wildlife habitat is critically important,\u201d Tennenbaum said.<\/p>\n

Part of that overarching goal is met through the annual fourth rifle season lottery hunt, which Tennenbaum and Tesch see as both a unique opportunity for hunters and a way to protect the area\u2019s habitat, as the five-person cow elk hunt is the only opportunity to harvest big game in Sky Mountain Park.<\/p>\n

This year, John Sobieralski, part of the city of Aspen information technology staff, was the only hunter to fill his cow tag.<\/p>\n

Sobieralski said he\u2019s been putting his name in the lottery for the Sky Mountain Park hunt for a few years, but this season was his lucky one in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to quit and call it a day when I saw the elk, slowly walked in its direction and was able to get a shot off,\u201d Sobieralski said. \u201cIt was luck and a real privilege to get picked, but you do have to go out there and put in the work to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Tesch said the annual Sky Mountain Park hunt is a big benefit to valley hunters, he also said it is not being used as a population management strategy, because of the valley\u2019s elk herd declines. In fact, he said some area hunting district elk tag numbers were decreased this hunting season because of lower elk numbers.<\/p>\n

Once CPW gathers more data and a better understanding of the Avalanche Creek elk population dynamics, Tesch said new management strategies can be implemented if needed, but that the Sky Mountain Park winter closure is definitely a positive contributor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sky Mountain Park closes in the winter the elk get a much-needed break from disturbances,\u201d Tesch said. \u201cPeople just need to be aware that their actions may not have an immediate affect (on elk) but they do in the long run for sure. \u2026 Obey those winter closures, they\u2019re in place for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

The winter Sky Mountain Park closures include the Rim Trail North, Seven Star Trail and Upper North Mesa Equestrian Trail. There is a zero-tolerance policy for closure violations and fines can reach as much as $5,000.<\/p>\n

mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Footprints lead on the trails in Sky Mountain Park in Snowmass on Tuesday, December 3, 2019. (Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun)Kelsey Brunner\/Snowmass Sun Since it was established in 2012, the 2,500-acre Sky Mountain Park has been off-limits to Roaring Fork recreationists for the roughly five-month stretch from Dec. 1 to mid-May to protect the area\u2019s wintering wildlife. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 03:48:36","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451824\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}