https://coloradosun.com/2021/0...lorado-judge-ruling/



ENVIRONMENT
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally paid for Colorado predator hunt, judge rules

Concerned about declining populations of mule deer, Colorado Parks and Wildlife decided in 2016 to conduct an experiment to see if limited killing of mountain lions and black bears would have an impact on deer numbers


The Associated Press
7:16 PM MDT on Mar 31, 2021


By James Anderson, The Associated Press

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service illegally helped pay for a Colorado program to kill dozens of mountain lions and black bears in an experiment to determine if the predators were partly responsible for declining mule deer populations, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge Marcia Krieger in Denver found that Fish and Wildlife failed to do a required analysis of the program’s environmental effects, possibly so it could fast-track federal funding for most of the $4 million program.


Tuesday’s decision stops that funding for state-authorized kills of mountain lions and black bears in southern Colorado’s Upper Arkansas River Valley. A second Colorado Parks and Wildlife program in northwestern Colorado’s Piceance Basin has been completed.

Concerned about declining populations of mule deer, which help sustain Colorado’s nearly $1 billion hunting industry, Colorado Parks and Wildlife decided in 2016 to conduct an experiment to see if limited killing of mountain lions and black bears would have an impact on deer numbers.

The plan would test whether removing some lions and bears, which also prey on deer, would produce higher deer survival rates. As many as 15 lions and 25 black bears would be killed each year for three years in one area near Rifle, in northwestern Colorado. About 60 lions could be killed over three years in southern Colorado in a study lasting nine years.

To help fund the experiment, Fish and Wildlife largely relied on an environmental analysis by the U.S. Agriculture Department that didn’t specifically address the Colorado plan, according to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and the Humane Society of the United States. That analysis was required for any federal funding.


The lawsuit also argued that declining deer populations stemmed from human development, including oil and gas leasing, and that killing those predators would damage local ecosystems. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says its research is ongoing and that other factors could include maternal and fetal conditions and changes in the availability of forage.

“Fish and Wildlife really didn’t go into the environmental impact that removing mountain lions and black bears would have on those areas,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The mule deer are suffering mostly from a reduction in habitat.”

Actual numbers of predators killed under the program weren’t immediately available. Colorado’s Division of Natural Resources, which oversees Colorado Parks and Wildlife, referred a query for comment to Fish and Wildlife. That agency didn’t immediately respond to a telephone message and email seeking comment on Tuesday’s ruling.

Krieger ordered the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct a more complete and focused environmental analysis of the program.

Really they had to do a study to determine.

That less predators mean more game.

wow

And some here think fish and game department need more money.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
Really they had to do a study to determine.

That less predators mean more game.

wow

And some here think fish and game department need more money.

At one time I thought like you. Then I got involved. Calling it a studdy sometimes gets you on project sooner and with less public comment. Also gives you options to a varity of funding not available otherwise You still generally are breaking some rules, but hope things get worked out back at office or public is distracted by pending policy. If not, lose fast track 4 mil and do more analysis. Those that filed lawsuit are who to be annoyed with, they are what stops stuff from happening, the agency has to do what judge says.
Ill stop talking now

I agree it is about getting money.

It is about trying to convince the anti's.

Common sense has been left behind.

Where do they get these idiots, Texas considers LIons, bobcats, coyotes preditors, and texas ranchers know that trapping and killing preditors produces more deer and antelope, at the same time all this does not effect the numbers of preditors but it serves only to control them..I shot 45 Mule deer bucks a year on my ranch in Texas, and half that many Coues, If a female Lion moved in with cubs, damn near all the deer would leave going to neighboring rancher until we killed her or ran her off..A male would kill a deer on us every couple of weeks as he made his 125 mile circle, the females kill every third day..This applies only in texas and probably southern NM and Arizona perhaps..Northern cats apparently hang in a area most of their life Im told, and kill in the winter feed grounds, something souther Muleys don't have to deal with..I had an uncle who was a govt trapper for many years and the state and colleges used much of his knowledge, my dad also had a world of knowledge on the big cats..They handed that down much to me, but like most kids that knowledge went in one ear and out the other. but some of it stuck in spite of my ignorance. but you can make book a Lion will kill 3 times a week or every third day, southern lions generally do not return to a kill, they cover it up piss all over it leave it. Ive been told NOrthern Lions return to kills a few times..Lions are the easiest preditor in the world to trap if you know how, coyotes and bobcats are more trap smart by nature but thats another book..