Colorado's Mountain Lion Habitat and Population Estimates
The state of Colorado encompasses 103,717 square miles of land. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW) estimates that 58,822 square miles, roughly 57 percent of the state is suitable mountain lion habitat. This habitat is found essentially from the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains westward to the Utah border, and in parts of the southeast corner of the state.

A 2003 Colorado Division of Wildlife report notes that Colorado does not regularly estimate puma populations because no reliable, cost effective sample based population estimation technique currently exist. Instead, CDOW developed its official estimate of 3,000 to 7,000 mountain lions by first extrapolating population projection models provided by studies completed in other states, and then by using information provided annually from Hunter harvest, non-hunter mortality, game damage conflicts, and human-lion conflicts . . . for crude indicators of population change.

While CDOW officials may use these broad numbers in explaining cougar management policies and hunting quotas, the Departments status report also stated that a range of 3,500 to 4,500 mountain lions was more probable.

These conflicting numbers underscore the fact that, like most state game agencies, CDOW is just guessing about how many mountain lions reside in the state. In their 2004 report, The State of Pumas in the West, the Colorado-based conservation organization WildEarth Guardians (formerly known as Sinapu) noted that over a fifteen-month period CDOW presented five divergent estimates on Colorado's mountain lion population thereby indicating the lion quota numbers were based more on personal guess than any scientific data.



Colorado's History of Mountain Lion Management
Colorado classified mountain lions as a predator in 1881, with a bounty offered for every mountain lion killed until 1965 when the species was reclassified as a Big Game animal. Between 1917 (the first year records are available) and 1965, 1,754 mountain lions were killed and turned in to government agents for a reward.

Depredation of commercial livestock by mountain lions (the justification for instating the bounty) has long been a concern in Colorado. Starting in 1931, CDOW was required to compensate landowners for damage to livestock by mountain lions or other predators. This changed in 1996, when the Colorado legislature granted the Colorado Department of Agriculture exclusive jurisdiction over the control of depredating animals that pose a threat to an agricultural product or resource. Despite losing jurisdiction over depredation related incidents, the Colorado Division of Wildlife retained authority to manage Colorado's lion population, for all forms of recreational or scientific use, and for the resolution of all human-lion conflicts.

Since 1972, the Colorado Division of Wildlife's mountain lion hunting quotas have been set for the stated purpose of limiting and distributing the overall effects of hunting. In order to accomplish this distribution, CDOW established 19 Data Analysis Units (DAUs) composed of those Colorado Game Management Units (GMUs) which have viable mountain lion populations.

Over the past several years, there has been considerable debate over mountain lion management policies in Colorado, and specifically about increases in hunting quotas for mountain lions. In 2003, a coalition of conservation groups petitioned the Colorado Wildlife Commission to significantly reduce the mountain lion hunting quota, arguing that there was insufficient information on mountain lion populations to warrant higher hunting quotas. At the time, Colorado Division of Wildlife's mountain lion manager, Jerry Apker, also recommended reducing the quota by at least 250, but that recommendation was not followed. The mountain lion quota for Colorado's 2004-05 hunting season was set at 790.

During the 2009-10 season, hunters were allowed to kill one lion per season of either sex. Though Colorado does not currently use female hunting limit sub-quotas, CDOW did experiment for a few years (2005-2008) with statewide voluntary female hunting restrictions. Reductions in overall mountain lion hunting levels and complaints from hunters during those seasons forced the Department to revise its original plans. Starting with the 2007-08 hunting season, voluntary female hunting limits are now strongly encouraged only in those Data Management Units where CDOW has concerns over mountain lion population sustainability.

Colorado's 2009-10 mountain lion hunting quota was set at 598.

While the Colorado Wildlife Commission appears unwilling to protect female mountain lions or significantly reduce the overall hunting quotas, they did approve one regulation in 2004 which required those hunters who actually kill a mountain lion to be part of the hunting party that pursued the animal. This regulation was intended to ban the practice some hunting outfitters had of calling in clients only after conducting the frequently lengthy pursuit.



Human-Caused Mountain Lion Mortalities in Colorado
Since 1917 at least 11,130 mountain lions have been reported killed by humans in Colorado. This figure does not include:

      •  lion deaths from road accidents,
      •  secondary poisoning,
      •  kittens or injured adults euthanized by CDOW,
      •  death by unknown causes, and
      •  poaching.

Eighty-four percent of these deaths occurred after mountain lions were classified as Big Game animals in 1965.

Based on a lion-mortality density model developed by the Mountain Lion Foundation, Colorado averages 0.65 mountain lions reported killed by humans for every 100 square miles of habitat. This equals the eleven western state average of 0.65. Using MLFs mortality ranking system, Colorado ranks 4th (# 1 being the most deadly) amongst the 11 states studied by MLF in reported human-caused mountain lion mortalities.

During MLFs 10-year study period (1992-2001), sport hunting accounted for 92 percent of all reported human caused mountain lion mortalities in Colorado, with the remainder split between depredation kills and unspecified mortality causes.

In 2001, sport hunting related mountain lion mortalities exceeded the previous years take by 121 lions and 1992s sport hunting kills by 144.

In 2003, Colorado provided a gender breakdown of its mountain lion harvests for the years 1998 through 2001. During this four-year period 51 percent (765) of the total mountain lions killed for recreational purposes were female cougars.



Colorado's Killing Fields
According to MLFs 11 western state study of human-caused mountain lion mortalities (1992-2001), the Colorado DAUs where most of the mountain lion deaths occurred were L-7,   L-8,   L-9,   L-16, and  L-22.

From 1997 to 2001, these five DAUs accounted for 995 human-caused mountain lion mortalities. During this time period, these DAUs were responsible for 48 percent of human-caused mountain lion mortalities in Colorado while encompassing only 26 percent of the identified mountain lion habitat.

MLFs study ranked DAU  L-7 as Colorado's number one killing field with an average mortality density rating of 1.7 mountain lions killed by humans for every 100 square miles of habitat. From 1997 to 2001, L-7 averaged 87 human-caused mountain lion mortalities per year and accounted for 21 percent of all the states human-caused mountain lion mortalities.

Preliminary data on Colorado's 2009-10 mountain lion hunting season shows that DAU L-7 was once again the leader in mortalities with a hunting harvest of 83 lions.



Mountain Lion Studies in Colorado
In 2003, partly do to efforts on the part of Colorado-based conservationists, CDOW hired one of the nations preeminent mountain lion researchers, Dr. Ken Logan, to design and undertake a comprehensive study of mountain lions in Colorado. One of the problems Dr. Logan faced was the high mortality rate of the study's base-line (mountain lions). For example, as part of Dr. Logan's study, the Umcompahgre Plateau Area was closed to hunting. Despite this precaution, out of the original 41 mountain lions collared with radio monitors, 50 percent were killed within the first 5 years. Eleven of these died as a result of illegal activities.

The following are mountain lion research projects listed on the Colorado Division of Wildlife's website as of May 2010:

Puma Population Structure and Vital Rates on the Uncompahgre Plateau
Dr. Ken Logan.

"This project was initiated in 2004 to assess the impacts of hunting on puma. During the first 5 years of the project, hunting of puma will not be allowed within a large portion of the Uncompahgre Plateau located in western Colorado near the city of Montrose. During this non-hunting period, cougars will be captured and collared with GPS or VHF radio-collars to establish sex and age structure of the population and basic patterns of puma movements, distribution, habitat use, survival, reproduction, and sources of mortality. Additionally, techniques to estimate population density in localized areas will be evaluated. Similar monitoring of population status is projected to continue after hunting of puma resumes in 2009."



Cougar Demographics and Human Interaction along the Urban-Exurban Front Range of Colorado
Dr. Mat Alldredge.

"This project was initiated in 2007 to better understand the interactions between humans and cougars along the highly urbanized Front Range of Colorado and to develop and evaluate effective management prescriptions that may help sustain cougars in this human dominated landscape. The initial phase of this project concentrated on capturing cougars and placing GPS telemetry collars on adult cougars to document basic movements of cougars and their use of prey. Additionally, collared cougars that become involved in interactions with humans will potentially be subjected to a variety of aversive conditioning techniques to evaluate whether the behavior of such cougars could be changed to encourage cougars to avoid conflicts with humans. The project is anticipated to span several years and reach full-scale efforts in 2009."



Cougar DNA Technique Evaluation
Dr. Mat Alldredge in cooperation Jerry Apker, Statewide Carnivore Manager, and Chuck Anderson.

"This project was initiated in 2007 to evaluate field techniques to use microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA to assess the meta-population status of cougars through out Colorado and to use DNA as a marker in capture-recapture efforts to estimate cougar densities in localized areas. A tooth will be obtained from all cougars harvested in Colorado. The tooth will provide estimates of cougar ages and provide a source of high quality DNA. DNA will be analyzed to assess whether several or few genetic subpopulations of cougars exist across Colorado and to establish genetic relationships between Colorado's cougars and cougars in adjacent states. To date, based on 2-years of data, analysis of DNA characteristics suggest cougars are comprised of one large meta-population across the western 2/3 of the state and appear to display less genetic statewide genetic variation than bears, indicating considerable mixing of cougar DNA across large geographic areas, presumably by male cougars dispersing when young. Additionally, captive cougars are providing the experimental opportunity to assess whether the quality and persistence of useable DNA in cougar fecal samples subjected to the variances of temperature and moisture in the field will allow using DNA to identify individual cougars for potential field applications of genetic mark/recapture. Further DNA sampling is planned for 1 or 2 more years to confirm statewide meta-population results."

Food for Thought
Records show that Colorado's human population is currently growing by about one million people every decade (275 people per day). Because many of these new resident will end up living on or near the Front Range of the Rockies the following comments are poignantly appropriate.

According to Bob Davies, senior terrestrial biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife, "It's up to people to decide [how] to manage our lives to accommodate these wild beings," he said. "In the West, the bulk of their habitat is probably relatively secure, in the public domain--national forests, BLM lands, state parks, state wildlife areas, etcetera. . . . However, there is a lot of development that tends to perforate and fragment that habitat that puts people in close proximity with those large carnivores. We will continue to impact them because more people will be living in puma habitat than ever before in the history of humanity."