Colorado’s hunting and angling community breathed a sigh of relief Wednesday night after a key Senate committee delivered a sharp rebuke to two of Governor Jared Polis’ most controversial appointees to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, but the fight is far from over.
This week, Jared Polis’s latest attempt to quietly remake the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission ran into a buzzsaw at the state Senate. Two of his three nominees got the committee’s middle finger (or close enough in polite legislative terms), while the third squeaked through on a wave of bipartisan shrugging. It’s a small, ugly victory in what’s shaping up to be a long war over who actually gets to decide the future of deer seasons, trout streams and how the nation’s largest elk herd is managed.
In a marathon confirmation hearing before the Senate Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee yesterday, lawmakers voted 7-0 to advance Frances Silva Blayney (a Colorado Springs fly-fishing shop owner and outfitter) while delivering unfavorable recommendations to John Emerick (5-2) and Christopher Sichko (4-3). The full Senate is expected to take up the recommendations as early as this week, meaning the governor’s push to reshape the commission could still face a final floor vote.
The votes came after months of blistering opposition from hunters, anglers, outfitters, and former CPW staffers who accuse Polis of quietly “stacking” the 11-member citizen board with voices more aligned with animal-rights activism and non-consumptive recreation than with the science-based, hunter-funded model that has made Colorado a national leader in wildlife management.
Despite this, it seems as though plenty of the folks in Denver continue to conveniently ignore the fact that hunters and anglers are the ones who overwhelmingly foot the bill.
Coalition estimates put hunting and fishing-related revenue at roughly 85% of CPW’s wildlife budget, while softer agency figures show license and pass sales accounted for about 69% in fiscal year 2021-22.
Yet here we are, watching the commission force nonsense like a ban on commercial wild fur sales, a move that smells more like out-of-state activist wishlist than serious wildlife policy. By pushing it through using the elitist play of a citizen petition, many can’t help but believe that this commission is drifting hard away from the very folks who keep the whole machine running.
That’s why a heavyweight coalition — led by the Colorado Wildlife Conservation Project and backed by more than 15 hunting groups plus former CPW insiders — fired off a blunt letter to the Senate. They demanded real scrutiny of these nominees and warned that Polis’s picks are steering the agency away from practical, experience-driven management toward vague “ecosystem” fantasies that often treat sustainable harvest like it’s some kind of original sin.
As such, the three nominees quickly became the main attraction. And not in a good way.
John Emerick, the Redstone at-large pick, is a retired environmental biology professor and card-carrying wetland guy who used to serve as treasurer for ColoradoWild, a classic wilderness advocacy outfit. He also signed a petition that would make ranchers jump through non-lethal hoops before they could get paid for livestock lost to wolves. The committee grilled him on whether he actually represented regular Coloradans or just another activist resume.
Christopher Sichko out of Boulder was supposed to fill the sportsmen/anglers seat. He does hunt small game with a bow and fishes, and he’s worked as a USDA economist. Nice résumé, except for the part where he’s been pushing “rewilding” projects like bringing back bison, wolves, and beavers while telling people to ease off the land. To this, sportsmen groups basically offered him thanks, but stated they were hoping for someone who actually lives the hook-and-bullet life, not just dabbles in it.
Frances Silva Blayney from Colorado Springs was the only one who sailed through. Co-owner of a fly-fishing shop and involved with Trout Unlimited, she got unanimous love from both sides and is all but confirmed. Turns out being a newer outfitter was exactly what the committee wanted when the other two smelled too much like Denver activism.
Meanwhile, the governor’s office pushed back hard, calling the accusations “mistaken.” In a statement, officials went to great lengths to remind the public that Polis is a strong supporter of hunting and that the appointees bring “diverse outdoor and scientific backgrounds” to ensure balanced stewardship for all Coloradans, not just license holders.
Yet many in the hunting community see a longer pattern. Since taking office in 2019, Polis has appointed several commissioners with animal-welfare or non-consumptive leanings, fueling fears that Colorado is drifting toward a future where wildlife policy prioritizes “ecosystem services” and urban recreational values over the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.
Even with two nominees currently stalled in committee, it’s no time to pop the champagne. The full Senate can still override the recommendations and ram them through. If that happens, the new majority could crank up the changes we’re already seeing like aggressive beaver reintroduction campaigns, more non-lethal predator hand-wringing, and quiet murmurs about whether the hunting and angling crowd should keep bankrolling the whole operation while getting lectured on “ecosystem values.”
For Colorado’s 300,000+ hunters and anglers, Wednesday’s committee votes sent a clear message that their voices still matter at the Capitol — at least for now. But the narrow margins and the fact that one nominee cruised through anyway should feel like a warning shot across the bow.
As one coalition leader put it bluntly, the Parks and Wildlife Commission is “too important to get wrong.” The next few days in the full Senate will decide whether Colorado doubles down on the proven, hunter-funded model that built its legendary wildlife heritage, or keeps sliding toward a softer, rewilded vision of the wild preferred by people who don’t buy licenses.
The full Senate vote and any gubernatorial response could drop as soon as Thursday or Friday.
