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<br />I~\ r. .' I ., <br />l..'.: ..:-,~.... <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />.. -':..z <br /> <br />MISCELLANEOUS NOTES RELATIVE TO EXTINCT. RARE AND <br />ENDANGERED WILDLIFE SPECIES IN THE VICINITY OF <br />THE MOUNT ZIRKEL WILDERNESS AREAS 1/ <br /> <br />Extinct Species <br /> <br />Bison, grizzly bear, otter, lyn..x and wolf are indigenous to the area <br />in and around the Mount Zirkel Wildernes s Area but are now believed <br />to be extinct. <br /> <br />Bison: General John Charles Frelnont and his party sighted an im- <br />mense herd of bison in 1844 as they crossed the divide from the <br />Little Snake River into North Park. Buffalo Pass, northeast of <br />Steamboat Springs, was so named because bison survived there long <br />after they were exterminated elsewhere in the area. <br /> <br />Grizzly Bear: The Sir George Gore hunting party took a number of <br />grizzly bears from the North Park side of the Park Range in 1855. <br />Routt National Forest Supervisor Ray Peck captured a grizzly bear <br />cub somewhere in this vicinity in the early 1920's. The most recent <br />confirmed sighting of a grizzly was one seen by Colorado Chief Game <br />Warden Jack E. Hogue and Wildlife Conservation Officer Donald H. <br />Gore in the early 1950's on the trail below lower Rainbow Lake. These <br />men observed this bear at a range of less than 50 feet, according to <br />Hogue. <br /> <br />Lynx: Merrit Cary rated lynx as scarce in Colorado in his 1905 <br />publication on Colorado Mammals (1). Edward Royal Wa rren, <br />another authority on Colorado mammals, rated this species un- <br />common and said its distribution was limited to higher mountain <br />ranges in 1910 (2). The only recent records of this species for <br />Colorado are far removed, from the Mount Zirkel area. <br /> <br />Otter: The Elk and Encampment Rivers probably supported a few <br />otter in the early days. Warren (2) reported otters to be present <br />in the Yampa River in 1910. <br /> <br />1/ From the files and library of Robert L. Hoover" Colorado Division of <br />Wildlife. <br />