FILING - 06/30/2008
Basis and Purpose
Chapter 9 - Division Properties

Basis and Purpose:

Basalt State Wildlife Area
Previously, there were no restrictions on caliber of firearms or full automatic firearms on the Basalt State Wildlife Area shooting range.  The range is in close proximity to the Town of Basalt and the Town is expanding around the range.  The farthest distance of the rifle range targets is 100 yards.  Most large caliber firearms are practicing at targets beyond this capability.  The Town of Basalt and the Division have received complaints from surrounding residents about the sound coming from the range, as an increasing number of homes have been built in relative close proximity to the range.  These regulations restrict the maximum size of firearms to those lower than 50 caliber, not including muzzleloaders.  Fully automatic firearms are prohibited.  In addition, previous shooting hour restrictions were from dawn to dusk on the Basalt State Wildlife Area shooting range.  To reduce conflicts, these regulations restrict the hours of the range during the summer hours to match the Town of Basalt’s ordinance for construction hours from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

Carter Creek/West Carter Mountain State Trust Lands
These regulations eliminate the outdated “physically-handicapped hunter” access provisions on Carter Creek and West Carter Mountain State Trust Lands.  Access for hunters who are mobility-impaired or otherwise possess a disability, continues to be available through the Division’s administrative process to grant Americans with Disabilities Act accommodations for State Land Board and Division properties.  This regulatory change is intended to improve consistency with the manner in which the Division processes requests for access on Division-controlled properties.
   
Bowfishing Access
Many State Wildlife Area properties across the state of Colorado have bodies of water that contain Carp species which according to current regulations can legally be taken by the use of archery equipment (bowfishing).  Many of these properties have a regulation which states: “Discharge of firearms or bows prohibited except when hunting.”  Because bowfishing is defined as “fishing,” technically the regulation bans the activity of bowfishing at State Wildlife Areas which allow discharge of archery equipment for hunting.  In many cases the intent of this regulation was to prevent target or casual shooting of firearms and bows at State Wildlife Areas.  Clarifications have been made to various Division Properties as to whether or not bowfishing is permitted.  These regulations allow bowfishing on properties where possible and practical.  On properties where bowfishing is permitted, all fishing regulations, including manner of take and legal species, remain in force.

Game Bird Release for Training/Educational Purposes
Previously, regulations restricted the Division’s Hunter Outreach Program by limiting special upland game bird youth hunts to private lands only.  Additionally, by limiting youth hunts to non-hunting seasons and 25 released birds previous regulations have resulted in turning away hundreds of hunter outreach participants, and have hindered the Division’s recruitment and retention program.  In order to facilitate Division Hunter Outreach activities, these regulations specify four specific State Wildlife Areas (Escalante, Horsethief, Wellington (Cobb Lake) and Ramah) that allow the Division and/or its agent(s) to conduct hunter outreach activities on areas that can support such activities within reasonable proximity to metropolitan areas.

Mount Ouray and Mount Shavano State Wildlife Areas
Previously, Mount Ouray and Mount Shavano State Wildlire Areas were not listed in Chapter 9 property-specific regulations or Chapter 9, Appendix B.  Therefore, general restrictions which apply to Division properties were not technically enforceable on these two properties.  Property-specific use restrictions have been added to these properties, and their inclusion in Chapter 9 makes all general Division Property regulations enforceable.  This practice is consistent with Wildlife Commission regulation of Division Properties.

Narraguinnep and Totten Reservoir State Wildlife Areas
These regulations disallow alcohol and glass containers at Narraguinnep and Totten Reservoirs.  Both Narraguinnep and Totten reservoirs are Division of Wildlife State Wildlife Areas leased from Montezuma Irrigation Company and are within 15 minutes of the town of Cortez.  Both reservoirs are low elevation reservoirs and water temperatures warm enough to be popular with swimmers and other people enjoying water contact sports.  At Narraguinnep, jet skiing and water skiing are the dominant uses of the lake during the summer.  Both reservoirs are popular party sites.  Partiers often outnumber and adversely impact other recreational users of these State Wildlife Areas.  These lakes and associated facilities are commonly vandalized and people often leave broken beer bottles and trash at the lakes.  In addition, public safety on Division Properties is of paramount concern to the Wildlife Commission.  Drownings, accidents, fights, underage drinking and injuries have occurred at these State Wildlife Areas, in addition to Driving Under the Influence citations and vehicle accidents.  These regulations are intended to protect the public interest by providing a safer environment for users of these State Wildlife Areas.  Furthermore, the intent of these regulations is to help meet the primary goal of the Division’s State Wildlife Area Access program, which is to provide wildlife habitat and wildlife-related activities such as fishing, hunting and wildlife watching.  Other recreational uses of the State Wildlife Areas are secondary uses and should not hamper or be detrimental to the area, its wildlife or those engaged in the primary uses of State Wildlife Areas.

Ramah State Wildlife Area
In 2007, 168 acres of wildlife habitat was purchased with Habitat Stamp funds, expanding the existing Ramah SWA and providing new opportunities for deer and small game hunting.  The previous regulation prohibited discharging of firearms or bows, except shotguns or bows while hunting.  With the new acquisition, Ramah can accommodate the use of muzzleloaders to hunt deer, and .22 caliber or similar small caliber rimfire rifles to hunt small game and furbearers.  Since multiple user groups frequent Ramah during deer seasons, and considering its small size and proximity to houses and Highway 24, hunting with a high power rifle is not allowed.  Adding language prohibiting the use of centerfire rifles simplifies the regulation and allows the use of all other legal methods of take on the property while hunting.  The purpose of this regulation change is to clarify which methods of take are allowed and maintain consistency with other State Wildlife Areas of small size with multiple users.

Red Lion State Wildlife Area
The intent of these regulations is to provide clarity to users and to expand angling opportunity on Red Lion State Wildlife Area.  Repeated stocking of warmwater fish in the Jumbo Annex has resulted in an exceptional fishery on the property.  Abundant numbers of black crappie, channel catfish, and smallmouth bass were identified during a 2007 net survey.  In total, sport fish comprised more than 80 percent of the catch during the survey.  Currently Jumbo Annex receives little fishing pressure, due in part, to the closure of portions of the Jumbo Annex during peak months of fish activity.  In order to provide better use of this quality fishery these regulations remove that partial closure, which was previously in place to protect artificial nesting sites for waterfowl.  Those artificial sites are no longer maintained by the Division.  In addition, these regulations clarify the use of boats on the water in order to restrict use to anglers and waterfowl hunters only, and to help minimize the potential for conflict between the two primary user groups of this State Wildlife Area.  

Stalker Lake State Wildlife Area
In 2003, land ownership changed around Stalker Lake State Wildlife Area in Wray, CO creating boundary issues which precipitated a temporary hunting closure on the property by Wildlife Commission regulation.  In 2004, a local working group comprised of landowners, sportsmen, and interested public developed a consensus proposal for hunting management on Stalker Lake State Wildlife Area. The group agreed to try a partial closure regulation through the 2007 waterfowl season.  At this time, the regulation has sunset and its future use has been re-evaluated.  The local working group proposed a continuation of the temporary partial closure in perpetuity.  These regulations permanently implement that partial closure.

Leatha Jean Stassen State Wildlife Area
Leatha Jean Stassen State Wildlife Area was acquired by the Division in 2005 through a donation.  The property is in Grand Junction along the south side of the Colorado River in the Redlands area, and borders Walter Walker State Wildlife Area on the north.  Stassen State Wildlife Area is approximately 37 acres, and consists largely of riparian and wetland communities.  Access to the property is from the Colorado River or from a small parking lot in Independence Ranch Subdivision.  Stassen State Wildlife Area is within the city limits of Grand Junction where the discharge of firearms is prohibited.  Due to the small size of the property, and its proximity to a large metro area, regulations more restrictive then the general property regulations have been enacted to help protect the property from overuse and to address public safety concerns.  Regulations on this property are similar in nature to those of adjoining Walter Walker State Wildlife Area.

Aquatic Nuisance Species Vessel/Floating Device Restrictions
These regulations permanently implement emergency regulations passed by the Wildlife Commission on March 13, 2008 in order to protect public welfare, that is, the public's interest in protecting Division controlled properties and the state’s aquatic resources located thereon from adverse impacts associated with aquatic nuisance species, including, but not limited to, zebra mussels.  In that regard, the Wildlife Commission also acknowledges and takes specific notice of the fact that the Board of Parks and Outdoor Recreation recently adopted a similar emergency aquatic nuisance species regulation to protect State Parks controlled by the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation.

Zebra mussels have just recently been discovered in Pueblo Reservoir in Lake Pueblo State Park located in Pueblo County.  This discovery is the first known occurrence of zebra mussels in Colorado.  Zebra mussels are an invasive exotic aquatic species that threatens to have a very significant and detrimental impact on Colorado’s aquatic resources.

The Pueblo State Fish Hatchery, which receives its water supply from Pueblo Reservoir, is undergoing an assessment regarding options to prevent the spread of adult mussels and veligers (the mussel’s larval form).  Sampling inspections have been conducted to determine if zebra mussels or larvae are present in the hatchery unit, to date none have been detected.  Pueblo Hatchery raises a variety of warm and cold-water species of fish (walleye, bluegill, crappie, channel catfish, smallmouth bass, wiper, rainbow, cutthroat X rainbow hybrid, and brown trout) and distributes these fish across the state each year.  No fish are planned to be stocked from the Pueblo Hatchery until April this year.  Effective water treatment options exist to eliminate adult zebra mussels and veligers prior to the fish being stocked.

The zebra mussel gets its name from the black- (or dark brown) and white-striped markings that appear on its shell.  Zebra mussels are native to the Caspian, Black, and Azov seas of Eastern Europe.  Quagga mussels, a close relative of zebra mussels that inhabit deeper water have not been detected at Pueblo Reservoir at this time. Quagga mussels are native to the Dneiper River drainage of the Ukraine.  Quagga mussels are small, freshwater bi-valve mollusks (relatives to clams and oysters) that are triangular in shape with an obvious ridge between the side and bottom and can have ecological and economic impacts similar to zebra mussels. 

These exotic mussels were first discovered in the United States in Lake Saint Clair, Michigan, in 1988 and are believed to have been introduced in 1986 through ballast water discharge from ocean-going ships.  Since their initial discovery, zebra mussels have spread rapidly throughout the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basin states and other watersheds throughout the eastern and central United States. Quagga mussels have not spread as extensively.

Zebra mussels do not pose a known threat to human health. However, biologists are concerned that zebra mussels may cause ecological shifts in the lakes they invade, with serious consequences to valuable wildlife resources.  Further, because these invasive mussels attach to hard surfaces like concrete and pipes, they will affect canals, aqueducts, water intakes and dams, resulting in greatly increased maintenance costs for those facilities. 
 
The primary method of overland dispersal of these mussels is through human-related activities.  Given their ability to attach to hard surfaces and survive out of water, many infestations have occurred by adult mussels hitching rides on watercraft.  The microscopic larvae also can be transported in bilges, ballast water, live wells, or any other equipment that holds water. 

Zebra mussels are primarily algae feeders. They feed by filtering up to a liter of water per day through a siphon.  These mussels consume large portions of the microscopic plants and animals that form the base of the food web.  The removal of significant amounts of phytoplankton from the water can cause a shift in native species and a disruption of the ecological balance of a lake or other waterway. 

These mussels can settle in massive colonies that can block water intake and affect municipal water supply and agricultural irrigation and power plant operation.  In the United States, Congressional researchers estimated that zebra mussels alone cost the power industry $3.1 billion in the 1993-1999 period, with their impact on industries, businesses, and communities being more than $5 billion. 

Zebra mussels were previously placed on the “prohibited species” list by the Wildlife Commission due in large part because of the significant threat they posed to native aquatic resources and other state resources and facilities, as was also the case for all other prohibited aquatic wildlife species, and this emergency regulation is a logical extension of that previous decision.

The Wildlife Commission FINDS that the inspection, removal and disposal, and quarantine requirements adopted for Division controlled properties are imperatively necessary to prevent the further establishment or spread of aquatic nuisance species, specifically, including zebra mussels, into other waters of the state.

These regulations are intended to permanently implement the March 13, 2008 emergency regulations to provide protection against the unintentional spread of zebra mussels in Colorado.  These regulations are a result of direction from the Wildlife Commission to notice and bring permanent regulations forward for consideration by the Wildlife Commission that will address threats posed by aquatic nuisance species on an ongoing basis.

The statutory authority for these regulations can be found in § 24-4-103, C.R.S., and the state Wildlife Act, §§ 33-1-101 to 33-6-209, C.R.S., specifically including, but not limited to: §§ 33-1-101, 102, 104, 105, 106-108, 115, and 121; §§ 33-2-104, 105, 106, and 107; § 33-3-104; §§ 33-4-101, 102, 102.5, 103, 116, 116.5, 117, and 119; § 33-5.5-102; and §§ 33-6-107, 109, 112, 113, 113.5, 114, 114.5, 117, 119, 120, 121, 124, 127, 128, 129, 131, 205, 206, 207, and 208. 

EFFECTIVE DATE - THESE REGULATIONS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE JULY 31, 2008 AND SHALL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT UNTIL REPEALED, AMENDED OR SUPERSEDED.

APPROVED AND ADOPTED BY THE WILDLIFE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO THIS 13th DAY OF JUNE, 2008.
APPROVED:
Robert W. Bray
Chairman

ATTEST:
Timothy R. Glenn
Secretary