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If you ask a wildlife official – moose are relatively new arrivals to Colorado.
In the late 1970s, wildlife managers released two dozen moose captured in other states into Routt National Forest near Walden. Before that, moose may have occasionally wandered in and out of Colorado, but didn’t have a permanent home here, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s official moose webpage.
But a researcher at the University of Colorado says that history is all wrong – and that moose have been part of Colorado’s ecosystem for centuries.
William Taylor is an archeologist and associate professor of Anthropology at CU Boulder. He studied moose remains, along with Indigenous and historical records, that suggest moose roamed Colorado long before their reintroduction in the ‘70s. The research was recently published in the Journal of Biogeography.
William joined Erin O’Toole earlier this year to talk about the research and the questions it raises about the right way to treat the roughly 3,500 moose in Colorado now. We’re listening back to that conversation today.
If this conversation left you wanting to learn more about moose, check out a new documentary by our friends at Rocky Mountain PBS called Managing Moose: Colorado's Most Dangerous Animal.
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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner
Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.
