Earlier this month, three conservation organizations sued the federal government over a plan to kill bears and mountain lions near Rifle.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife is conducting two studies where they kill mountain lions and black bears in the Piceance Basin near Rifle and the Upper Arkansas. They think this will strengthen the mule deer population. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is funding the plan, and is being sued by conservation organizations who say there wasn’t sufficient analysis of the environmental risks.
The Center for Biological Diversity, the Humane Society and WildEarth Guardians filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, contending the federal government should have studied the environmental impacts before funding the projects.
The so-called "predator control studies" received strong public opposition; the conservation groups contend that killing mountain lions and bears could cause lasting harm to the ecosystem.
