Durango Kids

The Durango Fish Hatchery & Wildlife Museum

Spawns Fun for the Whole Family

by Kathleen O’Connor

It’s a sunny and brisk March morning as I pull into Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Durango State Fish Hatchery parking area for a tour with assistant hatchery manager Ryan Votta. As a local parent, I’ve been here many times with my son. He loves feeding the resident fish, courtesy of a fish-food dispenser placed next to the 14 outdoor raceways (artificial channels), some of which contain the various species of fish found here at the hatchery. Those species include rainbow, brown, cutbow, and cutthroat trout, as well as kokanee salmon.

Initially built in 1903, this local gem claims the honor of being the oldest stateowned fish hatchery in Colorado. It is also a significant contributor to the popular activity of recreational fishing, which contributes roughly $1.9 billion annually to the state’s economy. In 2020 alone, the hatchery raised approximately 1.3 million fish for stocking roughly 50 rivers, streams, and reservoirs in the southwest region of the state. Additionally, the hatchery provided 350,000 native cutthroat trout eggs and 1.6 million kokanee salmon eggs to other hatcheries, which, after they hatch and grow to two inches in length, will be used for stocking the local rivers, reservoirs, and high-elevation lakes that are popular among many anglers.

Though the facility is located next to the Animas River, all water used for rearing fish comes from three nearby natural springs. The water is treated, supplied with additional oxygen, and pumped into the facility to provide “good, clean, cold water,” as Ryan put it, to the resident fish.

In addition to the hatchery, the 14-acre facility is also home to the family-friendly Wildlife Museum. Visitors may wander freely through the eclectic space and get up close and personal with more than 50 different wildlife species—including bobcats, black bears, and various birds of prey— through the taxidermic mounts on display around the museum. Kids and adults alike can test their animal knowledge through one of the many interactive exhibits that are both educational and fun. (At press time, the Wildlife Museum was still closed due to COVID-19, but the hatchery was open. To check, call the museum before visiting.)

Wildlife sightings are not restricted to inside the museum, though. “Over 200 bird species have been recorded here, including a wood thrush, which was a first-ever county record,” Ryan mentioned. “We have resident mule deer roaming the grounds and also the occasional black bear.” Other interesting wildlife sightings include a longtailed weasel, gray foxes, beavers, and even a river otter spotted in the pond adjacent to the hatchery.

Admission to both the wildlife museum and hatchery is free and donations are appreciated. The hatchery is open yearround, every day from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the Wildlife Museum is usually open to the public (in non-pandemic times) from May 15 to September 15. School groups and other group tours can be scheduled by appointment at 970-375-6766.

Photos courtesy of Joe Lewandowski/Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Don’t forget to bring quarters for the fish food!

Whether visiting or living here, Do your part to

by Bryan Peterson

Bears have exceptional noses. With this extraordinary sense of smell, bears are lured near people by the scent of human food: garbage, outdoor grills, ripened fruit, chickens, pet food, compost, and more. Bears reap huge caloric boosts from these “food rewards” and quickly seek out more. Last year, over 2,600 of the nearly 5,000 bear-related reports to Colorado Parks and Wildlife were of bears raiding unsecured trash cans and bird feeders, or other sorts of human foods.

Bears can become increasingly bold in their attempts to score even more of more of these foods, often resulting in damage to garages, chicken coops, vehicles, coolers, tents, campers, and homes. More than 350 of the reports last year were of bears breaking into human dwellings and structures.

Once bears pose a threat to humans or their property, options for wildlife officials are limited and often tragic. These “conflict” bears are hazed, relocated, or in some cases, humanely killed. The old saying “a fed bear is a dead bear” is still a truism. Last year, Colorado wildlife officials killed 120 bears in the state, the second most in the past five years; 89 bears were captured and relocated for unwanted behavior.

Now in its 18th year, the nonprofit Bear Smart Durango was formed with a singular mission: to reduce human–bear conflict in the greater Durango area by addressing the root cause—namely, the behavior of people. Soon, both La Plata County and the City of Durango adopted laws mandating that trash be kept from bears. Residential bear-resistant trash containers, which didn’t exist here in 2003, when Bear Smart Durango was launched, are now commonplace. Programs were developed to educate community members. A bear working group, composed of local stakeholders, was initiated and now meets quarterly.

Emphasis shifted to programs that directly reduced the amount of human foods available to bears. Bear-resistant containers are distributed to county residents to store livestock feed or for those lacking trash service. Over 70 residents have been assisted in installing electric fences to protect chickens, beehives, compost, fruit trees, and more from bears. Residents drop off bird feeders in exchange for kits to make hanging flower baskets to feed birds. Post-Halloween, residents donate pumpkins that feed farmers’ pigs instead of bears.

Over the past two years, the Good Food Collective has harvested and distributed over 70,000 pounds of fruit from trees in backyards and orchards in southwest Colorado, helping to save bears while bridging the gap between food waste and food insecurity in the region. A similar effort exists with Pine River Shares in Bayfield; their Community Fruit Harvest is now in its third year.

Don’t allow bears to become accustomed to being around homes. Immediately report bear sightings and incidents to Colorado Parks and Wildlife or online at BearSmartDurango.org. Durango residents should report incidents of bears getting into trash by calling City Code Enforcement at 970-375-4930, while county residents can call Animal Protection at 970-385-2900.

We’re very lucky to share our home with an abundance of wildlife, including bears. In order to keep them wild and everyone safe, we all must do our part to reduce the risk of something unfortunate happening with bears and people. Nothing good comes from bears finding human food where we live, visit, and play. Let’s all work to keep our area safe for both people and bears.

-------------Bryan Peterson is executive director of the nonprofit Bear Smart Durango, which offers real solutions that work to address human–bear conflict, helping keep both people and bears safe. For more information, visit BearSmartDurango.org or email bp@frontier.net.

Kennan Harvey

Courtesy of Bear Smart Durango

Steve Novacek

WHATCAN IDO TOHELP?

Whether you’re visiting, sporting, or living here, taking some simple precautions will help greatly in making our area safer for both people and bears. Here are a few simple things you can do:

• Never feed or approach wildlife. • Keep your dog on a leash. • If where you’re staying has bear-resistant trash cans, dumpsters, or food storage lockers, use them and keep them locked. • If food storage lockers aren’t available where you’re camping, store coolers out of sight in vehicles, and keep vehicle windows rolled up and doors locked. • Never keep food or anything with an odor in tents, and keep your camp area and picnic tables clean. • Do not burn or bury trash. • Leave your bird feeders at home. • Immediately report any bear sightings or encounters to campground hosts or to Colorado

Parks and Wildlife at 970-247-0855.

For those of us who live here:

• It’s most critical to keep trash in a bear-resistant trash container or stored in a garage or shed (note that bears do break into structures). • Remove bird feeders during bear season, as it’s nearly impossible to feed birds without also feeding bears. • Keep doors or windows accessible to bears closed and locked, including garage and vehicle doors. • Never leave food or anything with an odor in vehicles. • If you have fruit trees on your property, remove fruit from the trees and the ground, or register your tree at fruitglean.org. • Feed pets indoors and store livestock feed in bear-resistant containers. • Empty grease traps from your outdoor grill. • Electric fencing works very well to protect chickens, beehives, fruit trees, compost, and more.