When was the last time that you visited Evergreen Lake? If you have made a trip to our treasured “heart of Evergreen,” especially on a weekend, you are probably aware of how popular this destination has become over the years. The Lake House seems to be the venue of choice for weddings and the parking lot is full of visitors pumping up stand up paddle boards. Many visitors are from out of town–coming up to the foothills from the Denver metro area or traveling here from out of state.
Locals likely understand the basics about living with wildlife in Evergreen, but visitors may be seeing elk, mule deer, cormorants, and other common lake residents for the first time. To address this, Evergreen Audubon has engaged in a collaborative project called Wildlife Watch for several years. This volunteer project is a team effort with Wild Aware and Denver Mountain Parks at Evergreen Lake. The goal is to keep watch for elk activity at the lake during both the calving and rut seasons and to inform visitors about the wildlife and how to stay safe.
The spring calving season has been particularly dramatic this year. Now that the trail construction of 2023 has been completed, the number of hikers has increased. At the same time, cow elk have returned to the small islands near that trail for calving. Evergreen Lake’s popularity with both elk and humans has caused occasional conflicts.
Elk mothers, as well as deer, have strong instincts to protect their young. Their natural predators in this area are coyotes, bears, and cougars. Dogs may trigger an elk’s defensive instincts due to their resemblance to coyotes. People walking their dogs near elk mothers create stress which may, in turn, result in the cow charging, or at least holding its position on or near the trail. In the last few weeks, cows have charged lake visitors. In one case, a dog was attacked, resulting in a broken leg.
This spring, there have been so many elk-human-pet encounters that Wildlife Watch has asked Denver Mountain Parks to barricade the north trail for everyone’s safety. DMP has also increased its ranger presence along the trail and Wildlife Watch volunteers have redoubled their efforts to inform visitors about the importance of giving the elk cows and calves the space they need. Soon, the calves will be bigger and more independent, and the mothers will relax a bit.
In addition to keeping watch on the trail, WW volunteers share printed literature about living with wildlife, supplied by Evergreen Audubon, and an educational cart full of biofacts, including antlers, taxidermy, and pelts – a small mobile nature center – to help engage the visiting public.
Wildlife Watch needs more local volunteers familiar with elk and other wildlife to act as ambassadors. If you are interested, we will be recruiting and training volunteers to help at the lake and the golf course during the fall elk rut when we will see large herds of nervous cow and feisty bull elk. Please let Emma Vasicek, or me, Linda Engelhart, know if you would like to sign up for training and volunteer shifts.
To learn more about Wildlife Watch at the lake, read this article in recent Canyon Courier article:
Elk encounters peaking in Evergreen