Colorado Division of Wildlife Habitat Stamp and Paddling

Wed - May 10, 2006

Colorado Division of Wildlife Habitat Stamp and Paddling

It was winter time, a couple of years ago. I was paddling South Platte River near Greeley. I launched my Sea Wind canoe from Mitani-Tokuyasu State Wilderness Area above Kersey and paddled upstream for several hours. When I returned back in the afternoon there were a lot of goose hunters and there was a ranger (game warden?) from the Department of Wildlife. He was friendly, but obviously felt it was his duty to lecture me how I should behave on the river: no trespassing, no touching shores or river bottom, etc. It was somewhat funny because at that time we could see hunters everywhere wading across and along the one-foot deep river.

He also told me something like that: "The other officer may question if you have a right to be here and launch your boat since this area is supported and maintained through the hunting money".

Starting January 1, 2006 you cannot enter state wildlife areas for free. Colorado Division of Wildlife has introduced a habitat stamp . It is required for everybody (except children and seniors) even if you are not fishing or hunting and you just want to walk or watch birds. It applies to several public access points to the South Platte River and also to many of my local paddling waters near Fort Collins, e.g., Lonetree Reservoir or Dowdy Lake. The Division of Wildlife has 241 designated state wildlife areas, covering 493,400 acres and 216 state trust lands totaling 533,733 acres of land statewide.

OK, I've bought the habitat stamp on-line for $10.25. I hope that my money will really go to wildlife protection and not just to maintenance of boat ramps for fishermen. I also hope that the "other officer" will not question my right to paddle a kayak or canoe. The Division of Wildlife boating regulations are quite standard for all larger bodies of water: no white water wake, no sailboats or sailboards, no staying overnight unless you are fishing. Of course, there are some lakes where boating is not allowed. The regulations for each SWA are available on-line.

There were some discussions about the popular paddling trip on Colorado River from Loma through Ruby and Horsethief Canyons to Westwater. This river stretch is mainly on the BLM land but the Loma boat ramp is within SWA. The recent posting on MountainBuzz indicate that the Loma access is excluded from the habitat stamp requirement.