Annually, Emily Spencer of Dinosaur National Monument, produces this excellent information all about wildlife in and near the monument. It’s also great advice for outside of the monument.
Please read carefully and make sure you know where to find this information. There are several attachments. We will make those accessible to you over the next week or so.
PLEASE SHARE WITH ALL STAFF, INCLUDING VOLUNTEERS, INTERNS, AND THOSE WITHOUT ACCESS TO EMAIL
Emily here with the first of two annual PSAs on Dinosaur NM wildlife.
This PSA delivers guidance on what to do with sightings and reports of very much alive wildlife… particularly wolves, mountain lions, black bears, bighorn sheep, and maybe even a mountain goat!
Wolves
On the scene again in Northwest Colorado, a gray wolf pack of up to 6-7 animals was confirmed in 2020 in the greater Browns Park area by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. First seen by hunters in the fall of 2019, they were spending enough time in the area in 2020 to indicate they may be breeding. However, most of the pack was reported to have been hunted in WY 3 years where shooting wolves is legal, but there may be an individual or two still remaining in the area. In December 2023 Colorado Parks and Wildlife released an additional 10 gray wolves in Grand and Summit Counties to fulfill a voter approved initiative to re-establish gray wolves in Colorado. Collared data from that pack is available monthly by CPW and the most recent map shows pack activity continues to push westward into eastern Moffat County.
Individual wolves have been reported for years in Northwest CO, but packs returning to the area is new, exciting, and also very controversial. Please immediately report any sign or sighting of a wolf in or near the monument to Resource Stewardship & Science (RSS). Get coordinates and a photo or video if possible. We will pass along the information to our state agency partners.
Lions and Bears
While I’m always up for a good wildlife sighting story, I am especially interested in getting specific details on bears and lions. Every year we get multiple reports of bear and lion sightings from around the monument and we are interested in all of them. Most of these are from excited visitors who are lucky to see a bear or a lion from a safe distance and then report the sighting to the closest person in a green & grey uniform. This could be you. Having copies of the bear and lion sighting forms (attached) handy in your vehicle, backpack, or raft will help guide you on what to ask the reporting party to make these reports as informative as possible. Reports of tracks are not as useful to me, so no need to fill out a form just for tracks someone saw.
Please then send these forms to me as soon as you can. You can text a picture of the completed form, scan and email it, or drop it in interoffice mail. If there is a report or active situation of a bear or lion (or a fresh kill) in close proximity to people (housing, campgrounds, river camps), please notify a ranger right away. A sighting form can (and must) be completed at a later time.
Also attached is guidance on when, where, and how employees are to use bear spray. Please become familiar with these documents (especially if your job takes you into the backcountry regularly) and get with your supervisor or RSS if you have questions or want to discuss it further.
Sheep and Goats. Goats and Sheep
Bighorn sheep are always a treat to see but are not often viewed outside of the river canyons here at Dinosaur. The best chance most will have to see bighorn sheep is at the mouth of Split Mountain Canyon across from the Green River and Split Mountain campgrounds or along Jones Hole Creek.
There is a sighting form for bighorn sheep too (see attached) and I am interested in receiving them. Visitors have fun reporting sheep and these forms are being used to support sheep population/density estimates, so feel free to hand these out liberally, especially to boaters at the put-in boat ramps at Deerlodge and Lodore. If you witness a sheep coughing, listless, or wobbly please let me know as soon as you can because this is not good (refer to forthcoming companion guidance on dead, dying, and sick animals).
There is a rare but real chance that you or a visitor could see a mountain goat at Dinosaur. Sightings in the past have been along the Harpers Corner Road, Canyon Overlook, Echo Park, Whirlpool, and Split Mountain Canyon area. If seen, please report the location, direction of travel, and time seen to RSS ASAP. Any photos are highly desirable too.
Need a refresher on how to tell the difference between bighorn sheep and mountain goats? Watch this catchy little video:
(115) GOat Sheep GOat – YouTube
| https://www.youtube.com/embed/FJyseYPX2IM | GOat Sheep GOatAn educational video from Banff National Park.www.youtube.com |
I guarantee you will be humming it all summer.
Don’t have a GPS unit handy? Turn on the geolocate feature on your phone and it will record the XY coordinates when you take a photo.
I will be talking about all things animal at the May 21 All Employee Training Day this year. Come prepared with any questions you may have on both dead and alive wildlife!
Have a great summer!
Emily
Emily Spencer
Natural Resource Specialist
National Park Service
Dinosaur National Monument
4545 Highway 40
Dinosaur, CO 81610