CPW reassures public about elk
For about three weeks now, elk have been seen on the hillside alongside Interstate 70 near Dowd Junction.
The elk, which have varied in number from two to seven over the course of the past few weeks, entered the area through a broken section of the wildlife fence that is designed to keep animals a safe distance from the highway.
The close proximity of the animals, and their seeming inability to leave the area, has generated concern among community members and drivers, causing an uptick in reports to Eagle County police and wildlife controllers.
Matt Yamashita is the Area 8 wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, responsible for overseeing all wildlife officers and activity in the Eagle and Roaring Fork valleys. Yamashita said his team has been monitoring the situation closely since late January, and have confirmed through observation that the elk are not trapped in the area and are able to come and go as they please.
“We’ve observed tracks going back and forth, so they’re both coming in and exiting,” Yamashita said. “It’s something where if they want, they have the ability to leave that stretch of highway and go and find other habitat elsewhere.”
Yamashita said that contrary to concerns being vocalized by the community about a lack of food and water sources, the elk are choosing to continue occupying the space because of the abundance of forage in that area.
“We’ve received calls from people concerned that they’re going to run out of food over time, but you know, animals are very resilient,” Yamashita said. “They have an uncanny way of finding forage, and right now, honestly, the reason why they’re there is that is the forage that they’re seeking. That’s the best stuff in town for groceries. So they are intentionally loitering in that area because of the feed that’s available.”
The heavy snowfall in December and early January has caused elk and other wildlife populations to migrate to lower elevations in search of food. The increase of elk populations in the valley has led to more highway crossings and, subsequently, more animalvehicle accidents.
The wildlife fence surrounding the highway, which is maintained by the Colorado Department of Transportation, is designed to keep animals away from dangerous interactions with motor vehicles, but Yamashita said that new holes are constantly being created by drivers during winter storms.
“I believe at one point there were six holes in that section of fence along that stretch of highway,” Yamashita said. “The minute they repair one hole, it seems like two more show up. It’s a never-ending task. They are definitely trying, and have been working with us in order to attempt to remedy some of these issues. But there are priorities, and fixing fence isn’t always the highest.”
Now that his team has confirmed that the elk are able to move freely in and out of the area, and that they have access to sufficient food and water, Yamashita said that the plan is to continue monitoring the situation on a daily basis and hope that the elk vacate the area on their own accord.
He said that although active intervention remains an option for moving them out of the area, it is an option of last resort because of the dangerous nature of the procedure.
“Actually trying to move the animals or encourage the animals to move is something that we don’t frequently attempt,” Yamashita said. “A large part of that is that they are wild animals, and they’re fairly unpredictable in nature. So as great as we think we may be able to plan something — a strategy to get them to leave that highway corridor — it rarely works out like we planned, and the last thing we want to do is make a bad situation worse.”
With the elk population so close to the highway, there is a risk of them interacting with traffic and potentially being struck by passing vehicles. Yamashita said that he and his department are very aware of this risk, and are working closely with CDOT and the local police to monitor the situation in case risk levels increase.
He said that unless certain factors change — such as the elk population notably increasing in that area or an animal making contact with the highway — the safest course of action for both the elk and the drivers is to allow the animals to leave when they choose to.
“It’s a dangerous stretch of highway, even without wildlife in the area, so trying to manipulate traffic and control animal movement becomes very complex, and it’s something that there are more ways to create an incident by doing something than leaving it alone. So that’s currently where we’re at,” Yamashita said.