From bears wandering Dolores streets in daylight to burrowing beavers, officials say some wildlife in Montezuma County is increasingly becoming a burden.
The issue is big enough the county commission is planning for solutions. In a meeting April 13, court officials told the board prairie dogs have overtaken about 6 acres at the Montezuma County Combined Courts.
“They have infiltrated the sally port area in the back, so you can imagine what it sounds like for our juries, judges and staff to hear all the prairie dogs barking,” said Eric Hogue, 22nd Judicial District court executive.
“It's not an easy one, because to eradicate prairie dogs, I don’t think we’ll ever be successful anywhere, however, this has been an ongoing conversation for four to five months,” responded Commissioner Jim Candelaria.
At a workshop Monday, Candelaria also pointed to addressing vector control with prairie dogs overcrowding the landfill to comply with Colorado Public Health and Environment regulations.
“We’ve all lived in the county long enough to know that prairie dogs are prairie dogs, but we are becoming overrun,” said Chief Judge Todd Plewe.
Candelaria said Monday that beavers are pestering the road and bridge department. And while a few bears mosey around the landfill, they are known to frequent trash cans within Dolores.
“I am thinking about our sheriff and chasing bears in the town of Dolores all the time,” Candelaria said. “We have better things for our deputies to do besides chase bears.”
As a response, county officials invited employees from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service program to Monday’s meeting for a discussion on contracting services. The federal agency program specializes in wildlife management and often works alongside counties to deal with a range of animals: bears, wolves, elk, wild or loose-domestic swine, vultures, geese, and wild horses.
John Callon, eastern district supervisor for the Colorado Wildlife Services program, said the work is described as essentially a “government trapper,” with visions of improving coexistence between people and wildlife.
Strategies include non-lethal trapping, non-lethal wolf damage management, livestock protection, depredation investigations, and bear and lion management. These are done in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife using hazing tactics, ATVs, drones and hound dogs.
“I would suggest we come up with a number you are comfortable with and we can put together an agreement for you,” Callon told the commission.
Callon and another colleague, Western District Supervisor Jon Moore, provided a presentation to the board.
Cost-sharing with the program is sometimes available or funded through federal appropriations while counties are billed for labor costs, such as the specific employee hours, miles driven, and equipment or materials used.
In this case, the commissioners noted the funding will be drawn from the county budget of three different sources: the Enterprise Fund for the landfill, the General Fund for the courts and Sheriff's Office, and the Road and Bridge Fund.
Callon said paperwork can arrive sometime next week provided a number was in mind. The next step was for both supervisors to take a tour of the problem areas assessing the extent of issues. The tour will include the landfill, Sheriff’s Office, the 6-acre site at the combined courts, and a specific area dealing with active beaver problems.
“For the town, we are starting to see an increase of our four-legged hairy friends. ... They are back,” Sheriff Steve Nowlin told the Dolores Town Board about bears returning on Monday evening.
Nowlin said the seasonal bear problem is not going away and that securing trash remains the most important step.
awatson@the-journal.com
