FILING - 07/31/2012

Basis and Purpose

Chapter 1 - Parks and Outdoor Recreation Lands

Basis and Purpose:

These regulations add a new regulation under the Park Specific Restrictions section of the Land and Water Regulations related to proper food storage in certain portions of Golden Gate Canyon State park. Cheyenne Mountain and Mueller State Parks have a similar regulation in place. This regulation is intended to help Park Rangers minimize the public safety issues associated with bear/human interactions primarily in and around campgrounds.

In addition, regulations have been modified to clarify hunting opportunity at Golden Gate State Park. There are two relatively small areas within the Jefferson County portion of Golden Gate Canyon State Park that, although they are located in Jefferson County, are closed to hunting or unsafe for hunting. First, is the 160-acre “Vigil Ranch” located on the far eastern edge of the park that was donated to the park in 2007 with a deed restriction that no hunting would be allowed. Second, there is a strip of land approximately 300 feet wide by 1320 feet long lying between Gilpin County Road 2 and private property that presents significant public safety concerns. Also, the park has set a 35-hunter daily limit on the Jefferson County portion of the park. This is intended to enhance the quality of hunt purposes as well as minimize potential safety issues associated with high hunter density. The Jefferson County portion of the park is open for multiple uses during the hunting. As such, other park users share the area with hunters. As hunter numbers for certain seasons have been recently trending upwards, these regulations provide a registration system in order to better track the number of hunters in the area at any one time.

In addition, clarifying and style edits have been made to this chapter. These edits are intended to be administrative and non-substantive in nature.

The statutory authority for these regulations can be found in §24-4-103, C.R.S., and the state Wildlife Act, §§33-1-101 to 33-6-209, C.R.S., specifically including, but not limited to: §§33-1-101, 102, 104, 105, 106-108, 115, and 121; §§33-2-104, 105, 106, and 107; §33-3-104; §§33-4-101, 102, 102.5, 103, 116, 116.5, 117, and 119; §33-5.5-102; and §§33-6-107, 109, 112, 113, 113.5, 114, 114.5, 117, 119, 120, 121, 124, 127, 128, 129, 131, 205, 206, 207, 208, and 209; and the state Parks Act, §§ 33-10-101 to 33-33-113, C.R.S., and specifically including, but not limited to: §§ 33-10-106, §§ 33-10-107, §§ 33-10.5-107, §§ 33-11-109, §§ 33-12-101, §§ 33-12-103, §§ 33-12-103.5, §§ 33-12-106, §§ 33-12.5-103, §§ 33-13-103, §§ 33-13-104, §§ 33-13-106, §§ 33-13-109, §§ 33-13-110, §§ 33-13-111, §§ 33-14-107, §§ 33-14.5-107, §§ 33-32-103 and §§ 33-33-105. C.R.S.

EFFECTIVE DATE - THESE REGULATIONS SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 2012 AND SHALL REMAIN IN FULL FORCE AND EFFECT UNTIL REPEALED, AMENDED OR SUPERSEDED.

APPROVED AND ADOPTED BY THE PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF COLORADO THIS 13th DAY OF JULY, 2012.

APPROVED:

John W. Singletary

Chairman

ATTEST:

Mark Smith

Secretary

1