Seasonal Wildlife Trail Closures

Seasonal Wildlife Closures

Every spring and winter on Forest Service land, BLM in Eagle, Town of Eagle Open Space, Eagle County Open Space, and the West Avon Preserve there are several trail closures that may alter bikers and hikers plans.

Why do these closures exist? Recreation activity often causes a flight response in deer and elk. Read more on our blog here.

During the winter: When they flee, they burn precious body fat stores that they spent the summer and fall seasons packing on. These fat reserves help them to survive the winter, when they are living in a state of near-starvation due to the limited plant availability. If they burn through their fat stores too quickly, they will starve and die before spring.

During the spring: Spring triggers deer and elk to migrate from their winter ranges to their high-elevation summer ranges using historic migration routes as they follow the receding snowline and green-up of vegetation that comes with it. This is known as “surfing the green wave,” which allows these ungulates to continually access nutritious, newly emerging plants. This helps them to recover their weight losses from the long winter, so they can calve/fawn and subsequently nurse their young. During this time, mule deer does, and elk cows seek places of seclusion to safely give birth and feed their newborns. Studies have shown that human disturbance during this time lowers the survival rates of their young.

In short, after a long winter, our local deer and elk herds are stressed, starved, and the females are pregnant. They just want to eat healthy food and be left alone to give birth to and feed their young. Human disturbance interferes with this by causing them to flee instead. Studies have found that human interruptions on their spring calving and fawning grounds have led to fewer young surviving to the fall.

Read the Full FAQ from the Forest Service Here.