Crusaders for Wildlife

Crusaders for Wildlife is a history of wildlife stewardship in southwestern Colorado, written by Glen Hinshaw, who spent a career as a Colorado wildlife officer. The Durango Herald gives the full subtitle as A History of Wildlife Stewardship in Southwestern Colorado and dates the book to 2000.

The description opens with the people of the San Juan Mountains, who it says have a rich wildlife heritage. Two hundred years ago, it continues, wildlife roamed and soared through the mountains of western Colorado, fish swam in clear mountain streams, and the Ute Indians followed the large herds. Within a hundred years, it says, the white man had confiscated the Ute homeland and nearly eliminated all wildlife, and at the turn of the twentieth century concerned citizens were demanding that action be taken to restore the state's wildlife heritage. The book pays tribute to the citizens, forest rangers and biologists who carried out that crusade, and the description notes that controversy still exists over reintroducing the bobcat, grizzly bear and wolf.

What the book is about is clear from the title and the subject headings in our catalogue record, which list zoology, wildlife management, wildlife conservation and history. It is a nonfiction regional history, 272 pages in our catalogue, and it sits beside the wildlife career of its author, who worked in these same mountains. Anyone curious about how the region's animals fared across two centuries will find the subject set out in the title itself.

Crusaders for Wildlife is for readers of San Juan Mountains and southwestern Colorado history who want the wildlife side of the story. Anglers, hunters and hikers who have wondered how elk, trout and other animals came to be where they are will find it a useful companion. Students of conservation and wildlife management, and libraries with a Colorado natural history shelf, are the natural readers. It is a book of regional history, not a field guide.

Glen Hinshaw served as a wildlife officer for the Colorado Division of Wildlife for 34 years, beginning in Cortez in 1963 and retiring in 1997, and he spent 22 years in Creede. The Durango Herald reports that he later wrote a memoir, Echoes from the Mountains, about his years as a game warden. This book is his earlier history. His author page has the details.

More about Glen Hinshaw →

Colorado's wildlife agency has a long and changing history. According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's own anniversary history, the first Fish Commissioner position was created in 1877 and lasted until 1892, a one-man operation. The job became State Fish Commissioner and Game Warden from 1893 to 1896.

In 1897 the General Assembly created the Department of Forestry, Game and Fish. That year the department issued its first three information pamphlets, on game seasons, game laws and fines, appointed the first superintendent of fish hatcheries, and declared that all wild birds, animals and fish are the sole property of the state.

The name changed to the Department of Game and Fish in 1899. In 1963 it merged with the Parks and Recreation Department to form the Game, Fish and Parks Department, and in 1968 lawmakers made it a division of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. In 2011 the Division of Wildlife merged with Colorado State Parks to create Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Source: Colorado Outdoors, It's Colorado Parks and Wildlife's 125th anniversary