Colorado Outdoors - the Podcast for Colorado Parks and Wildlife

CPW Hunter Outreach Coordinator Bryan Posthumus joins the show to discuss the 2023 hunting seasons, CPW's novice hunt program opportunities and how his work fosters the next generation of hunters who help fund CPW's conservation mission.

On May 1, 2023, Jeff Davis was appointed to the position of Director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife by Governor Jared Polis. He came to CPW from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, where he had served since 2000 in various roles including most recently as Director of Conservation.

Jeff came to CPW with extensive experience working with leadership, legislators, Tribal Nations, the hunting and fishing community and conservation groups.

Join us for a conversation about what led Director Davis to Colorado, what has driven his passion for conservation work and all the key issues facing CPW, from wolf reintroduction and the implementation of the Keep Colorado Wild pass to how we balance recreation and the needs of wildlife.

Every year, bears attracted to human food sources damage property, vehicles and even homes. Bears don’t know they’re doing anything wrong. They’re just following their super-sensitive noses to the most calories they can find. Bears that find food around homes, campgrounds and communities often lose their natural wariness of people.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is charged with protecting and preserving the state’s wildlife. Every time we must euthanize a bear, it’s not just the bear that loses. We all lose a little piece of the wildness that makes Colorado so special.

In today’s episode, we’re talking with Area Wildlife Managers from around the state about being Bear Aware. We also learn how local communities play a huge role in limiting human-bear conflict and how CPW grant opportunities can help extend the work being done in those communities. Gain a newfound appreciation for these charismatic creatures and learn how you can help keep Colorado’s wildlife wild.

Starting on Jan. 1, 2023, Colorado residents can get a $29 Keep Colorado Wild Pass during their annual vehicle registration through the Division of Motor Vehicles.

As Coloradans, we treasure our outdoor lifestyle and state’s beauty. This new state park pass gives all Coloradans an easy way to invest in Colorado’s outdoors, wildlife and local communities in a meaningful way. Your contribution shows you care about Colorado and want to keep our landscapes healthy for current and future generations. Money raised will be used to protect wildlife habitats, search and rescue programs, avalanche safety, local outdoor community projects and more. 

NoCo PLACES 2050 is a broader effort by eight agencies collaborating on ways to address the challenges of high visitation and a growing population in northern Colorado’s foothills and mountains. This collaboration is committed to sustainable solutions, equitable actions, and beneficial land management practices for the long-term conservation of public lands in Colorado and the quality of the visitor experience. Learn about NoCo PLACES 2050.

No matter the season, Highline Lake State Park is a diverse and welcome retreat. Park Manager Alan Martinez joins us on this podcast to discuss the state park thta is an oasis in the desert. Connected to miles of trails and close to communities, the park makes an ideal base camp for exploring the Grand Junction area. Whether passing through on mountain bikes, or as an end destination, the park welcomes campers, anglers, families and groups.

Rattlesnakes have a lot of misconceptions or folklore surrounding them because they are often perceived as mysterious and are generally misunderstood. Colorado Parks and Wildlife species conservation coordinator Tina Jackson has spent the last 20 years learning about snakes, and she shared her knowledge of rattlesnakes in this Colorado Outdoors podcast.

Some terms naturally go together like "Colorado Parks and Wildlife" and "world-class fishing."

Few would ever add to that list the term “Superfund sites.”

That's because Colorado Parks and Wildlife's 42 parks are recreation meccas. Its 350 wildlife areas boast some of the finest wildlife and aquatic habitat in the state. And even in the United States.

But they weren’t always so pristine. In fact, CPW's aquatic biologists and research scientists have played a key role in transforming rivers and wetlands dangerously polluted by decades of mining and milling into prime fish habitat by restoring the waterways to their historic unspoiled conditions.

They are erasing the dark legacy of gold mining and restoring gold medal fisheries that are known by anglers worldwide and home to threatened or endangered species.

And here to talk about the work that took place along the Upper Arkansas River is Eric Richer, Aquatic Research Scientist and Paul Foutz, Senior Aquatic Biologist for CPW’s Southeast Region.

Winter range is what provides those limited resources that wild animals such as deer, elk, pronghorn and sage grouse rely on to survive the harsh winter months. Ultimately it is the most limited habitat, so these animals are moving to winter range as part of their migration process because they are not able to survive in those higher elevations where the snow loads are deep and there is nothing for them to eat. Colorado Parks and Wildlife is placing a big focus on conserving Colorado’s Big Game Winter Range and Migration Corridors. We discuss just that with Area Wildlife Manager Jeromy Huntington in this Colorado Outdoors podcast episode.

Eleven Mile State Park is an expansive high-altitude grassland region of central Colorado. It is a prime location for ice fishing and anglers and writers consistently tout Eleven Mile’s large reservoir for its outstanding fishing. In this podcast episode we learn about its history, unique species and fishery management outlook for one of the great angling opportunities in the state of Colorado. We'll talk with Bryan Johnson, the hatchery manager for CPW's Mt. Shavano Hatchery along with Tyler Swarr, the aquatic biologist who oversee's management of the fishery. Then we'll close with CPW Senior Aquatic Biologist Jeff Spohn, who provides us with some of the history on Eleven Mile and how it developed over the previous decades.

Over the last three years, CPW has received over 14,000 reports of sightings and conflicts with bears. In 2022, CPW will be offering financial resources to communities in an effort to reduce conflicts with bears across Colorado. We discuss that, the sources of conflict and the behavior of bears in this episode with Area Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta.

Aquatic biologists Jim White and Dan Brauch join us for a podcast episode discussing kokanee salmon in Colorado. They provide a history of the tasty sportfish in Colorado, its role in the fishing pecking order, how Colorado Parks and Wildlife spawns the fish and the outlook for the fish moving into the future.

Daniel Brauch

Cutthroat trout with unique genetics, rescued by Colorado Parks and Wildlife aquatic biologists from the Hayden Pass Fire in 2016 - is the story of this Colorado Outdoors podcast episode. CPW is taking extraordinary steps to preserve the Hayden Creek Cuthtroat Trout because they contain genetic markers that match a museum specimen collected from the Arkansas River basin in the late 1800's.  

In a first of its kind partnership in Colorado to create a state park on U.S. Forest Service land, it was recently announced that Sweetwater Lake will become Colorado's 43rd state park. Sweetwater Lake is located in Garfield County. It is a hidden gem, both as a destination and gateway to the Flat Tops Wilderness and has great potential for even more recreational opportunities in Northwest Colorado. CPW, The White River National Forest and Eagle Valley Land Trust will now come together to modernize facilities, and provide updated and sustainable recreational services through this partnership. Joining us for this episode is Jacob Brey, the Deputy Regional Manager for CPW's Northwest Region, to talk about Sweetwater Lake and how the agencies plan to develop Colorado's newest state park.

The wildlife mitigation system is a major safety improvement element of the I-25 South Gap project, which spans 18 miles and connects Colorado’s two largest cities, Denver and Colorado Springs. On average, over 87,000 motorists drive this route daily. The I-25 South Gap project’s wildlife mitigation system includes four new and one refurbished wildlife underpasses, 28 miles of deer fencing and deer guards and jump-outs. Work on the underpasses is substantially complete, as is the installation of the majority of deer fencing, just in time to shepherd migrating wildlife safely under the interstate this fall.

In this episode, as this November 2021 marks the five-year anniversary since the agencies first came together to start planning for improvements along I-25 south.

Besides managing wildlife, overseeing hunting and fishing and providing recreational opportunities in 42 state parks and 350 state wildlife areas, Colorado Parks and Wildlife also provides habitat for animals.

If a forest is too dense, animals can’t move freely through it. Sunlight won’t reach the forest floor and grasses, forbs and shrubs won’t grow to provide food for wildlife. And a dense forest is at risk to a wildfire that burns intensely and moves rapidly through treetops that overlap.

The job of creating healthy forests and improving habitat falls to wildlife technicians and specialists like Casey Cooley, forest habitat coordinator for CPW, and Mike Smith, wildlife technician at the Spanish Peaks State Wildlife Area near Trinidad.

They are joining us today for this podcast because they just finished an exciting habitat improvement project at the Spanish Peaks State Wildlife Area 25 miles northwest of Trinidad.

In this episode of Colorado Outdoors we explain how we test for and respond to algae blooms and the presence of E. coli - both of which naturally occur - in our water system. Mindi May is CPW's Water Quality Coordinator and Scott Roush is the Deputy Regional Manager for the Northeast Region - they both share their knowledge on water quality and keeping people (and your dogs) safe while recreating on the water.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife along with numerous project partners have embarked on a four-year study to help better understand current population trends, habitat use and impacts of human disturbance on bald eagles along the state’s most densely populated corridor. The study is expected to last four years and will be the most comprehensive bald eagle monitoring project ever done by CPW. We discuss the study and how bald eagles are doing in Colorado in this episode.

Joe Lewandowski spent 16 years as a public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife out of its Durango office. He recently retired, but before he left our statewide PIO Bridget Kochel sat down with him to hear all of his adventures as a storyteller for the agency.