STATUS AND MANAGEMENT OF MOOSE IN COLORADO

Abstract

Prior to 1978 moose (Alces alces shirasi) were rare in Colorado. To augment to population moose were transplanted into North Park near Rand, Colorado, in 1978 and 79, the Laramie River area north of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1987, and southwestern Colorado near Creede in 1991-93. The present population in Colorado is estimated at 740. Preferred habitat is primarily willow bottoms (Salix spp.) surrounded by lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), Englemann spruce (Picea englemannii) and aspen (Populus tremuloides) forests. Moose hunting was initiated on a very limited scale in 1985, and the number of licenses issued was substantially increased from 7 in 1991, to 62 in 1992, and 114 in 1993, to control a growing population. Poaching is a major management problem. At the present time management plants to allow the moose population in southwestern Colorado to grow to 350, and maintain the North Park herd, the largest in the state, at current levels (450 to 525) until completion of a cooperatively funded state and federal land management agency study to evaluate impacts of moose and livestock browsing on willow habitat.