Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge surrounds a stretch of the Green River adjacent to Dinosaur National Monument in northwest Colorado. The 20-square-mile refuge was created to provide high-quality nesting and migration habitat for the 20,000 waterbirds that migrate through the refuge in spring and fall. In addition to the mallards, redheads, teal, canvasbacks, other ducks, and Canada geese that nest on the refuge, Browns Park's cottonwood forests provide critical migration habitat for hundreds of thousands of songbirds. Species that inhabit the area include golden and bald eagles, sandhill crane, sage grouse, and sage sparrow. The Green River attracts nesting osprey, river otters, beaver, and the endangered Colorado pikeminnow, while in hard winters, several hundred elk and mule deer rely on the Refuge's open grasslands.
What's at Stake
Moffat County's Board of County Commissioners recently approved a resolution to claim more than 2,000 miles of routes in northwest Colorado, including 53 miles of potential roadway within the Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge. The county's resolution admits that the its right-of-way claims include hiking trails, cow paths, and horse trails. It includes paths that are not maintained, not currently used, and not even visible on the ground. In Browns Park, the county's claims include a two-track through a sensitive marsh, cattle trails so faint that they are impossible to find, and a non-existent river crossing that was apparently once used by boats.
If these highway claims are approved, Moffat County could argue that each of these routes must be "maintained" as two-lane gravel roads for public highway use. In that case, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would have limited authority to deny bulldozing across pristine or sensitive lands owned by all Americans that are now protected for waterfowl and other wildlife.
How You Can Help
Write elected officials and the US Fish and Wildlife Service staff and tell them to protect the Refuge by opposing the RS 2477 claims there. Contact the Regional Director of the Fish and Wildlife Service: Ralph Morgenweck, Director US Fish & Wildlife Service-Regional Mountain - Prairie Office Denver Federal Center, P.O. Box 25486 Denver, CO 80225-0286. Tel: 303 236-7920 Fax: 303 236-8295 Email: Ralph_Morgenweck@fws.gov.
For More Information
- Jen Seidenberg, Colorado Wilderness Network, PO Box 771045, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477. Tel & fax: 970-871-1786.
.jpg "Moffat County's (CO) RS 2477 map identifies a \"constructed highway\" crossing this meadow at this spot. The alleged route does not appear on maps of the area from the 1950s or 1970s. Colorado Environmental Coalition.")
