Are Rocky Mountain National Park's Moose Becoming a Problem?

Colorado began transplanting moose from Wyoming and Utah in 1978 to improve wildlife viewing and hunting in North Park, west of Rocky Mountain National Park. And much like the contentious wolf reintroduction program we see today, the idea of bringing back moose was one that was met with plenty of opposition. 

Despite the cries from ranchers and livestock producers at the time, the state introduced two dozen moose over a period of two years. By the time 1980 rolled around, a moose was spotted within the national park for the first time in decades.

Currently, Colorado has a population of over 3,000 moose, with the second-largest herd of 670 residing in North Park. The largest herd, with 840 moose, is located in Grand Mesa. As recently as 2010, Colorado continued to supplement its moose population with transplants from Wyoming and Utah, contributing to the growing presence of moose in Rocky Mountain National Park, where they are now a common sight.

Without complaining about the success of past moose reintroduction efforts, officials at Rocky Mountain National Park are, however, beginning to grow weary of the effects of bulging moose populations. As large ungulates, they not only require a lot of space, but a lot of food as well. Forging on willow as their primary source of nutrition, wildlife managers are trying to strike a balance between the animal and the park’s wetlands. Given that willow makes up around 90 percent of the moose’s summer diet, if populations continue to grow at around 5 percent per year, there might not be enough food to go around.

Sharing the resource with elk who eat about three pounds of willow per day, moose will consume upwards of 45 pounds in a similar sitting. Given that wetlands only make up about 4 percent of Rocky Mountain National Park, managers are attempting to strike a balance between the large ungulates and their forage by possibly utilizing hunting where possible.

“It’s important to use hunting, especially harvesting cows so we don’t damage the willows and aspens,” Andy Holland, Colorado Parks and Wildlife statewide big game manager said. “Moose will go gangbusters, rapidly increasing. We want to keep them at objective numbers so they don’t exhaust the resource and crash. Nobody wants that.”

And while Colorado is traditionally a very good place to hunt moose, hunting is prohibited inside the National Park and any previous management efforts have been concentrated around the park’s boundaries rather than within it. With a 70 to 80 percent hunter success rate across the state, hunters would be chomping at the opportunity to take a shot at one of the estimated 145 moose last surveyed in the park - although 35 percent of the park was left out of the last survey in 2020.

As of right now, wildlife managers are studying all available options with the ultimate goal of natural ecological balance. With summer approaching, RMNP officials are planning to renew their aerial moose population survey and hope to have a more concrete number towards the beginning of the fall season.

With this information in hand, it should serve to inform them on any and all possible hunting seasons or quotas for the coming season.