COLORADO 
Weather and Water Conditions - 
Climatological data indicate that Colorado is experiencing a 
very severe drouth this year. Information received from the Office of 
irrigation Investigations reveals that, in general, snow pack in the high 
mountains of the State during the past winter was 50 to 60 percent of 
normal. The influence of this lack of stored moisture resulted in 
decreased water levels in reservoirs, and a very acute shortage of water 
for irrigation. In addition, a definite lack of local precipitation on 
the various breeding grounds during the winter and spring resulted in a 
few of the semi-permanent lakes and sloughs containing water this spring. 
A good many of the permanent areas were also dry for the first time in 
many years. All of these factors resulted in decreased waterfowl habitat 
in most parts of Colorado this year. 
Breeding Population Indices - 
A summary of the 1954 breeding-pair counts is compared in 
Table 1 with counts from previous years. Camparison between 1954 and 
1953 counts from five areas shows that breeding-pair numbers were down 
26 percent this year. However, it should be pointed out that counts 
from North Park and South Park were not complete comparable with similar 
counts in 1953. Eliminating these areas from the comparison results in 
a decrease of only 12 percent from 1953, and this is believed to be the 
best comparison between the two years. 
Contrasting counts between 1954 and 1952 on these areas, shows 
a reduction of only one percent in 1954. Thus, it is believed that duck 
breeding pair number in 1954 were near normal, and not significantly 
different from what can usually be expected in this State despite the 
shortage of water. 
The mallard made up 7O percent of the breeding population in 
the State with blue-winged teal, pintail and gadwall the next most 
important breeders. 
Breeding pair counts of Canada geese in the Yampa Valley and 
Brown's Park also show some reduction in numbers between 1954 and the 
two previous years. This amounts to a 17 percent decrease in 1954 from 
both these years. 
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