September 11, 2024

How Moose Came to Colorado and How They Expanded

A bull moose in Colorado (Photo: Backcountry Hunters and Anglers)

I personally never saw a Colorado moose until 2019 -- in North Park, of course -- although I had looked for them before, both there and around Lake City in southwestern Colorado.

Since their introduction in the late 1970s, they have spread out from North Park both on their own and with human help. 

Here is an interesting long read about that process, "Of Moose and Men."  I had not idea that Marlin Perkins' Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom was still being broadcast in 1978 and that the old nature-faker managed to insert himself into the moose transfers.

4 comments:

  1. Introducing moose to Colorado was an incredibly stupid thing to do, ecologically. Here's a clear case of why:

    Newfoundland has very good moose territory but, until they were introduced, no moose. It's an island too far at sea. It also had no wolves.

    Moose were introduced and the island's subsequent attraction as a hunting mecca has brought in lots of money and hunters. But it also has national parks, and in Gros Morne Park, a fabulous place I have visited, the moose got so out of control they were destroying the ecosystem while often starving themselves. It was lose-lose for both.

    Hunters were finally brought into the park to reduce the population. While I was there i'd see helicopters overhead occasionally. Helicopters were used to take hunters into very remote regions to reduce moose populations. It has helped, though last I checked the population there far from a desirable number.

    There is too much ecological stupidity for hunting to be allowed in RMNP. The elk over-population problem proved that. Now moose will destroy the willows in the Colorado River valley and elsewhere. I doubt the wolf population will rise to the level to make a difference.

    Just stupid.

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    1. Plus wolves have plenty of livestock freely available at the nearest ranch.

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  2. Moose were first in North Park ("park" in the geographical sense), which is a mixture of private ranch land, national forest, and one large state park. Lots and lots of willow habitat there, which they like, plus forests and irrigated pastures and river bottoms. Similar habitat was indentified elsewhere -- and in other cases, the moose have just showed up on their own.

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  3. A moose took up residence in a large city park just west of downtown in the Springs years ago. It was surprisingly patient with all the lookee loos trying to get pics with it. It eventually wandered back up into the high country.

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Play nice, now.