Colorado: Conservation easement on 15,000-acre Moffat County ranch to protect critical big game winter range

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Pronghorn antelope foraging in sagebrush habitat near Gunnison Colorado. Photo courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

GOCO, feds and state pitch in on major conservation deal

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — A new conservation easement on the 15,000-acre Tuttle Ranch in Moffat County will help protect important wildlife habitat and winter range while allowing ranching operations to continue.

The ranch encompasses sagebrush steppe, foothills grassland and pinyon-juniper woodlands, with habitat for greater sage-grouse and critical winter range for elk, mule deer and pronghorn.

The conservation easement was purchased from the RSH Land Company LLC, with a combination of funds from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and lottery-funded Great Outdoors Colorado. (more…)

Filed under: Colorado, Colorado Division of Wildlife, Colorado State Parks, Environment, wildlife | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Orcas swim 5,000 miles for warm-water ‘spa treatment’

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Bob Berwyn

Transient killer whales near Unimak Island, eastern Aleutian Islands, Alaska. PHOTO COURTESY NOAA.

NOAA researchers document unusual long-distance killer whale migration

By Summit Voice

SUMMIT COUNTY — Killer whales from Antarctic waters may be making long-distance treks to warmer water as a type of marine mammal spa treatment, shedding skin that’s covered with diatoms and algae.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researchers tagged a dozen killer whales in Antarctic waters and tracked five that showed consistent movement to subtropical waters.

Some of the orcas made the 5,000-mile round trip to southern Brazil in just 42 days, returning to Antarctica immediately. The researchers, who published their findings in the science journal Biology Letters, This was the first long distance migration ever reported for killer whales. (more…)

Filed under: biodiversity, Environment, Marine biology, Summit County news, wildlife | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 5,587 other followers