The Animas River Valley north of Durango has long been home to two precious Colorado resources – wildlife and agriculture.
Ranchers and farmers in the valley thrive thanks to the rich, deep sandy-loam soils and the reliable irrigation water. Wildlife, most notably big game animals, descends into the valley in the winter to find safe haven along the river and to forage in the agricultural fields. In some years, more than 700 deer and elk can be found in herds throughout the valley.
Like anyone else, the valley’s agricultural producers love to see the wildlife. But many times deer and elk cause problems – they knock down fences, eat more than their fair share of ranchers’ hay stacks, they nibble relentlessly on riparian willows and cottonwoods affecting the river corridor, and they trample pasture land.
Of course, we can’t blame the animals – they’re just doing what animals do. Fortunately, we have an important and effective program that helps us maintain a balance in which wildlife and agricultural producers can thrive: the Colorado Habitat Partnership Program, also known as HPP.
Authorized by the state in 1990, the program works through local committees to resolve or reduce conflicts that big game animals cause agricultural producers. Colorado Parks and Wildlife administers the program and works cooperatively with 19 local HPP committees across the state. The program’s budget is about $2 million, and those funds are generated by license fees paid by Colorado’s big game hunters. No general tax dollars are used.
The local San Juan Basin HPP committee was formed in 1994 and considers projects in La Plata and Archuleta counties, an area that encompasses 3,700 square miles. Serving on the San Juan committee are livestock growers, federal land managers, hunters and Parks and Wildlife representatives who meet throughout the year to review and fund local projects
HPP takes a two-pronged approach. First, through a cost-sharing program, HPP provides funding to producers for fence repair, construction of wildlife-friendly fencing, seed for restoration, and weed and brush control. Helping with these types of project improves the agricultural producers’ tolerance for big game when they endure fence damage and forage losses on their private land.
The second part of the program funds the design and implementation of projects aimed at improving big game habitat, and keeping big game on public lands away from agricultural areas. The more deer and elk are able to use public land rather than private land, the better. By enticing big game to stay in their natural habitat, there’s less chance they’ll be a hazard on highways, less chance they’ll cause damage on private property, and the animals will be more available to the public for viewing opportunities and for hunting.
To design these projects, HPP works with Parks and Wildlife staff, farmers, ranchers, the U.S. Forest Service, the BLM, other land management agencies and conservation organizations. While HPP contributes some funding, it also expects applicants to contribute to the project. Forming partnerships is integral to HPP’s philosophy. That is why the word “partnership” is part of the program’s name.
Over the years, the San Juan Basin HPP committee has accomplished many projects to enhance big game habitat on public lands. These habitat treatments are especially important to help deer and elk make it through the difficult winter months.
In 1995, aerial fertilizing was done to improve forage on Carson Creek in the Missionary Ridge area on the east side of the Animas Valley. This work helped to improve oak brush habitat which is an important food source for big game.
In 2004, HPP funded a project to chop and shred decadent oak brush stands on 315 acres in the lower Hermosa Creek area. This allowed more grasses and understory plants to grow, which are especially nutritious for big game, small mammals and birds.
In 2008, the local HPP committee partnered with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the U.S. Forest Service to conduct a prescribed burn on 11,330 acres about 10 miles north of Hermosa. The burn encouraged new growth of vegetation that provides summer and winter forage for deer and elk and it significantly decreased the amount of forest fuels, thus reducing the risk of wildfire.
In Archuleta County, for the past two years, HPP has been working with the Forest Service and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to improve wildlife habitat and reduce forest fuels on 577 acres in the Chris Mountain area north of Turkey Springs. The work will open up areas of the forest that have become overgrown.
The severity of the long-term drought in this region became particularly apparent in 2013. In the lower Hermosa Creek area, little water was available for wildlife or livestock. Local grazing permit holders knew of old springs that hadn’t been maintained, and consequently, no longer provided enough water for large animals to use. So HPP formed a partnership with permit holders in the Dutch Creek grazing allotment area, and with approval from the Forest Service devised a plan to restore 13 springs and bring these small but crucial sources of backcountry water back to life.
Last spring, four of the springs were cleaned out with a track hoe, and the other nine were cleared by blasting. We could not have accomplished the blasting work without the skill of ranchers and their horses accustomed to working in rough country. The work transformed weak springs into usable drinking-water catchments for wildlife and livestock.
The local HPP committee receives, on average, just over $160,000 per year. Through our cooperative partnerships and cost-sharing with land owners, ranchers, farmers, land management agencies and conservation groups, we make sure that money goes a long way. Agriculture and wildlife have always been cherished by Coloradans, and the mission of the Habitat Partnership Program is to assure those resources continue on the path of sustainability.
For general program information or to learn about local project opportunities, please contact the Durango Parks and Wildlife office at 247-0855, or visit the HPP website at www.cpw.state.co.us/aboutus/pages/habitatpartnershipprogram.aspx.
Sandy Young is a long-time HPP committee member, rancher and outfitter in the Animas Valley.
