D
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@Sytes and @oswald2581 people erroneously comparing RMNP to Yellowstone is a huge pet peeve of mine.
Other fun facts that will make you do a double take there are estimated to be only 20-24 black bears living in the park. Yellowstone by comparison has 575 black bears and 640 grizzlies, denoting that not only is Rocky smaller it also doesn't have great habitat. Which is readily apparent to anyone who has left the Kawuneeche Valley. You don't see shit for animals in the park, the elk herd is small and localized (only 600-800 animals in the park year round with summer populations reaching maybe 3,000, the population is below objective and a cull hasn't been warranted in almost a decade) there are very few deer, decent number of sheep, etc. A large % of the park is above timberline ~11,000ft. It's a completely apples to oranges comparison.
The other park in the state Great Sand Dunes is equally as poor a comparison. "While wolves are important components of management of healthy ecosystems where they currently occur in units of the national park system, their reintroduction to GRSA for the purpose of elk and bison management has been considered and dismissed from further consideration because the home range size of a viable population of wolves would exceed the habitat available on GRSA." -National Park Service
There is also Dinosaur NM... and the emergent wolf pack is 5-10 miles from the boundary. Also for NR who have stumbled on this thread 201,2,1 and 10 which are the units in the NW corner of the state and where these wolves have been found are the premier elk units in the state, this year it took a NR 25 points to draw an archery tag in any of them.
I will now step off my soap box, apologies
Other fun facts that will make you do a double take there are estimated to be only 20-24 black bears living in the park. Yellowstone by comparison has 575 black bears and 640 grizzlies, denoting that not only is Rocky smaller it also doesn't have great habitat. Which is readily apparent to anyone who has left the Kawuneeche Valley. You don't see shit for animals in the park, the elk herd is small and localized (only 600-800 animals in the park year round with summer populations reaching maybe 3,000, the population is below objective and a cull hasn't been warranted in almost a decade) there are very few deer, decent number of sheep, etc. A large % of the park is above timberline ~11,000ft. It's a completely apples to oranges comparison.
The other park in the state Great Sand Dunes is equally as poor a comparison. "While wolves are important components of management of healthy ecosystems where they currently occur in units of the national park system, their reintroduction to GRSA for the purpose of elk and bison management has been considered and dismissed from further consideration because the home range size of a viable population of wolves would exceed the habitat available on GRSA." -National Park Service
There is also Dinosaur NM... and the emergent wolf pack is 5-10 miles from the boundary. Also for NR who have stumbled on this thread 201,2,1 and 10 which are the units in the NW corner of the state and where these wolves have been found are the premier elk units in the state, this year it took a NR 25 points to draw an archery tag in any of them.
I will now step off my soap box, apologies
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