COLORADO 
Weather and Water Conditions - 
Current Colorado conditions reflect the effect of a severe and 
sustained drouth during the past several years. Some regions, especially 
in the eastern portion of the State, were almost devoid of suitable water areas 
for ducks at the onset of the breeding season. Late spring precipitation has 
alleviated this situation somewhat; too late, however, to accommodate normal 
populations of ducks, but early enough to afford existing populations adequate 
waters for the remainder of the year. Western slope water supplies appear 
adequate this year with normal amounts of precipitation falling, and a near- 
normal snow pack carried in the mountains. Itis believed that state-wide 
water conditions are definitely improved over last year. 
Breeding Population Indices - 
The western slope breeding areas, in general, had adequate waters 
accompanied by an increase in breeding pair numbers. In contrast, the 
eastern slope including North Park did not have satisfactory water conditions 
at the beginning of the breeding season, and populations were well below the 
past several years. 
Considering the entire State, duck breeding pair totals were down 
5.9 percent from 1954; down 32.3 percent from 1953 on the basis of five areas; 
and up 11.6 percent from 1952 on the basis of three areas. Geese are drastic- 
ally reduced in numbers this year being 73.4 percent under the three year 
average 1952 to 1954. It should be understood that the goose data is concerned 
with populations of only about 150 birds, and therefore, these figures will not 
have a great deal of effect on the flyway population unless such trends hold for 
other breeding areas. | 
Table 1 ~ Summary of Colorado Breeding Ground Conditions, 1955 
Total Estimated 
Total Sq. Mi. of No.Sq.Mi. Breeding Pairs 

Area Waterfowl Habitat in Sample 1952 1953 1954 1955 
Ducks 
San Luis Valley 1,494 143.5 ~ ~ 6744 7504 
North Park 611 55.0 - 5676 3808 2881 
south Platte Valley 1,422 129.0 - - 2188 1072 
Cache la Poudre Valley 343 36.0 10291619 1320 1164 
Yampa Valley 200 22.0 17901500 1340 2260 
Browns Park 15 15.0 291 372 217 48 
White River Plateau 360 18.0 580 480 - - 
South Park - * - - 431 195 145 
Total 16012 15074 
Continued 
48 
