After a three-year hiatus, the Durango Wildlife Museum celebrated its reopening on Sunday, while also marking the 125th anniversary of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife agency. Members of the community gathered to enjoy a day in the sun with outdoor activities and informational facts about Colorado wildlife.
The Durango Wildlife Museum had been shut down because of COVID-19 regulations.
“We’re happy that we’re able to share our reopening with the celebration of CPW’s 125th anniversary,” said Gail Lovell, a volunteer at the museum. “I think it was something the community missed.”
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4031 helped by serving hot dogs with sides for $5 as a fundraiser for the museum, and helped with the fishing derby at Huck Finn Pond behind the Hatchery.
“Their help just shows how close of a community Durango is and how so many people come together to support community events like this,” Lovell said. “We’re the only wildlife museum in the state of Colorado, and this is the oldest fish hatchery in the state.”
Booths set up around the museum and fish hatchery provided information about CPW careers and offered games for kids.
The volunteers hope reopening the museum will create educational opportunities for youths to better understand how to treat wildlife and what their impact can be on ecosystems.
“We want to give to the community information that they need in order to enjoy wildlife,” Lovell said. “Keep wildlife wild and not to feed the deer as well as support CPW’s mission to reach out to the community and make the community a part of the education.”
Before the museum’s closure, people from across the country and around the world would stop in to visit the museum.
Lovell said 17 new volunteers have signed up to help the museum and support its mission.
The museum layout represents the different ecosystems in Southwest Colorado. The front part of the museum features animals that are seen in high desert areas like parts of Durango. The backroom features animals found in mountainous areas north of Durango. The shift from room to room is supposed to represent an increase in elevation.
When the museum was first established, many of the animal mounts were placed on card tables. In 1999, the museum received a grant that allowed it to purchase cases, displays and murals. During this time, the museum also started to gain more participation from volunteers, which helped it flourish into the attraction it is today.
“I started here 22 years ago, so I’ve seen them come and go,” Derek Snyder said. “When I started, there was only seven of us volunteers and we just had card tables around with mounts on them.”
Snyder also said the museum mounts have been compiled through donations from hunters, businesses and roadkill.
The museum had more than 17,000 visitors in 2019 before shutting down for COVID-19.
“When you’ve got every state in the union represented by visitors and however many countries, they don’t really know anything about these animals in our area,” Snyder said. “Everything here is indigenous to this area, and I get joy from just showing them these animals.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
