The 2023 Annual Meeting Recordings and Raptor ID Presentation have been posted! Click here to view the recordings

The Raptor Monitoring Volunteer Program is the largest citizen science initiative run by Colorado Parks and Wildlife's Resource Stewardship division. In any given year, we have approximately 200 volunteers at around 30 of our state parks that monitor raptor activity year-round!

Raptor monitoring volunteers provide valuable information to land managers that assists with stewardship and decision making for public lands. Raptor monitoring data from volunteers has assisted park managers in seasonally closing trails or climbing routes, design new trails to respect species-specific nesting buffers, and time trail work, weed control, and forest management activities so nesting raptors are not disturbed. Raptor monitoring volunteers also provide information to managers about the “health” of state park ecosystems. As keystone predators, declines in local raptor populations may be a reflection of a decline of sufficient prey, while greater raptor species diversity may indicate a greater diversity of habitat for other organisms.

Click here to learn more about who we are!