Colorado Parks and Wildlife employee association criticizes wildlife-management ballot initiatives in first-of-its-kind resolution

While Colorado Parks and Wildlife is prohibited from taking a stance on ballot initiatives, a group of the agency’s employees is speaking out as Proposition 127 — a measure that would ban the hunting of mountain lions, bobcats and lynx — heads toward a vote in November.

The Colorado Wildlife Employees Protective Association board signed a resolution on Oct. 9 expressing that decisions about wildlife should be left to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s science-based professionals. The association represents around 200 current agency wildlife officers, biologists, wildlife technicians, aquatics staff, administrative assistants as well as education and outreach personnel. As a whole, Parks and Wildlife has over 1,000 employees, with its park employees represented by another association.

“Colorado’s wildlife story is written because of our membership and those who have come before us have devoted our careers to following the best available research and proven wildlife management strategies,” stated Casey Westbrook, the association’s president and a district wildlife manager with Parks and Wildlife, in a release. “Keeping management with wildlife managers is key to protecting Colorado’s wildlife for future generations.”