New Study Shows the Impact Trail Recreation Has on Deer, Elk in the Gunnison Basin

by Seth Mensing, Western Colorado University
July 17, 2025

The Gunnison Valley is famous for the network of trails that wind their way through the surrounding mountains. But how do all of those trails impact the wildlife? Western Colorado University graduate Chloe Beaupré wants to find out.  

Beaupré recently published research showing that trail use impacts wildlife species differently, with some more affected than others.  

The study, published in the journal Ecosphere and titled Recreational trail traffic counts and trail proximity as a driver of ungulate landscape utilization, offers new insights into how elk and mule deer respond to trail use and human presence.  

Beaupré and her collaborators – including fellow Western graduate student Alissa Bevan, Western Provost Dr. Jessica Young, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologist Kevin Blecha – deployed more than 100 motion-activated cameras in 59 pairs throughout the Upper Gunnison Basin. One camera faced a trail, and another was positioned 100 to 1,800 meters away from the same trail. 

“Most studies target trails or try to measure recreation and wildlife in the same location,” Beaupré, who was the first student in Western’s Clark School of Environment and Sustainability to earn both a Master of Environmental Management and a Master of Science in Ecology, said. “We were interested in how animals behave on and off-trail in response to human activity happening on a trail, and in understanding how far those effects extend.” 

Keep reading: https://western.edu/newsroom/new-study-shows-the-impact-trail-recreation-has-on-deer-elk-in-the-gunnison-basin/

Read the Ecosphere paper: https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.70305