Here Is What You Need To Know
Beginning on July 1st, Colorado Parks and Wildlife will require visitors entering State Wildlife Areas (SWA) and State Trust Lands (STL) to purchase a hunting or fishing license prior to accessing those lands. The changes come due to an increasing trend of people engaging in activities for which the properties were not intended when they were purchased.
Colorado State Wildlife Areas are acquired using hunter and angler dollars for the express purpose to conserve wildlife habitat and provide wildlife-related recreation. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) manages more than 350 SWAs and nearly 240 STLs for this purpose. In the lower Gunnison watershed, this includes McClusky SWA and Roeber SWA outside of Paonia, as well as the Escalante SWA outside of Delta.
As the population of Colorado increases, state lands are receiving higher impacts due to outdoor recreation for which the lands were originally not intended. The new cost required to access these lands will allow for continued protections. Additionally, CPW is not a tax-funded entity, and the agency is supported by the sales hunting and fishing licenses.
The current 2020 prices for hunting and fishing licenses are as follows: Adult fishing, $35.17; small game, $30.11; combo small-game and fishing, $50.37. Senior fishing is $9.85. A person 18 years of age and older and under 65 years of age will also need a Habitat Stamp when applying for or purchasing a hunting or fishing license. No Habitat Stamp is required for applying for or purchasing a person’s first two one-day hunting or fishing licenses. The 2020 charge for a Habitat stamp is $10.13. That is a one-time charge in a 12-month period, so that is not charged on the purchase of another license(s).
For more information on this change, please see CPW’s Frequently Asked Questions document here.
To get in contact with the local CPW office, use the following information:
Paonia State Park
P O Box 147
Crawford, CO, 81415
(970) 921-5721
Buy a hunting license online here.
Buy a fishing license online here.
Want to find out where the SWA and STL lands are in the area? Check out CPW’s interactive map here.