Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Photo courtesy Division of Wildlife

By JOSHUA GORDON, CRAIG DAILY PRESS

CRAIG - More than 70 people crowded into a Rio Blanco County Fairgrounds building Monday night to hear Colorado Division of Wildlife managers and biologists discuss the decline in the White River deer herd.

Biologist Darby Finley told those in attendance that the White River deer herd has declined between 30 and 40 percent since 2000. The DOW is in the process of instituting a few studies to fix this problem, Finley said, but nothing will be instant.

“There are problems with habitats, predators, oil exploration and other things to take into consideration,” he said. “A lot of what we are going to do will require monitoring and time to see trends.”

DOW manager Bailey Franklin discussed different types of habitat manipulation the DOW is experimenting with. The changes in habitat, he said, are to provide better forage for deer.

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