The public is invited to attend the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting June 7 at the Cortez Conference Center from 11:15 a.m. to 5 p.m.
A full agenda includes presentations from recreation and wildlife specialists on a variety of topics that the commission is involved with.
The commission will discuss finalizing regulations to freeze hunting and fishing license fees currently in place through the remainder of 2018, options for annual license setting timing, and CPW’s use of drones.
The commission will also hear final herd management plans for the West Elk Mountains and Buffalo Peaks. There will be a presentation on the science behind big game management recommendations, and there will be information about nonmotorized recreational trail grant applications.
Other agenda items include updates from Great Outdoors Colorado, Department of Natural Resources and Department of Agriculture. Officials from the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute tribes will also give remarks.
“The wildlife commission meetings are held in different parts of the state for the public’s benefit so people see how the commission operates and the issues they act on,” said CPW spokesman Joe Lewandowski.
A public comment session is planned for 4 p.m. Those interested must sign up to speak at the meeting and are limited to three minutes.
At the end of the meeting there will be an executive session closed to the public to discuss the pending litigation between WildEarth Guardians and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The environmental group filed a lawsuit in April 2017, to stop a three-year plan by CPW to kill 120 mountain lions and bears as a way to stabilize declining mule deer populations.
The predator control effort is focused on the Upper Arkansas Basin and northwest Colorado and does not include Southwest Colorado.
Before the meeting begins, the wildlife commission will take a private tour of the Lone Dome State Wildlife Area located along the Dolores River below McPhee Reservoir.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
