On Friday, Aug. 16, Governor Jared Polis appointed Carbondale cattle rancher Tai Jacober to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission. Selected to represent agricultural producers west of the Continental Divide, Jacober intends to bring the concerns of ranchers in the Roaring Fork Valley to Denver and find a balance between Colorado’s booming recreation economy with both the health of native wildlife and security for the agricultural industry.
Jacober is a member of the Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association and served on the Pitkin County Open Space and Trails board for five years. He had, however, not intended to become a commissioner until he was approached and told by CPW affiliates that he matched a niche that the board was trying to fill.
After multiple days of interviews, Jacober was selected and appointed to a term expiring on July 1, 2027. Three other commissioners were appointed in the same round. Littleton’s Murphy Robinson, hunter and former executive director of Denver’s Department of Public Safety, is a fellow newcomer to the table for a term lasting the same duration. The other two are reappointments, with Governor Polis selecting Dallas May — agricultural representative and current chair of the Commission — and conservation lawyer Jay Tuchton for terms lasting until July 1, 2028.
Jacober is now the second citizen of the Roaring Fork Valley currently serving on the Commission, joining Eden Vardy, executive director of Farm Collaborative.
“These boards help protect and improve access to Colorado’s iconic outdoors, and I’m confident these Coloradans will help us continue to preserve and enhance the Colorado way of life,” stated Governor Polis in a press release.
As a commissioner, Jacober’s responsibility is to help set regulations and policies regarding Colorado’s state park and wildlife programs, providing a citizen’s viewpoint on how actions affect our human communities and surrounding nature. The position is unpaid, and Jacober must balance a busy schedule of ranching, restaurant and hospitality operations with volunteering his time to CPW for the betterment of our outdoors. Meetings occur nine times a year and can span multiple days, generally taking place on the Front Range.
Jacober attended his first eight-hour meeting as a commissioner on Aug. 22-23. The Commission held presentations on subjects ranging from white-nose syndrome to pronghorn herd management to nonlethal strategies for coexistence with wolves.
The last one is a topic of particular concern for ranchers like Jacober, who personally believes that the state should be more transparent about developments in their wolf reintroduction plan.
“That’s going to help the agriculture community feel better about it,” he said in an interview. “I understand that [less transparency] is supposedly for the protection of wolves, but if we don’t have the agriculture community on board then the wolves are going to be in jeopardy forever.”
Besides wolves, Jacober is motivated to address the threats to both wildlife and the ranching industry wrought by increased recreation in critical habitat. He explained that year-round recreation has forced wildlife species down into landowners’ spaces, creating problems for both parties.
Locally, Jacober has seen how bike trails constructed on Crown Mountain have forced elk onto his and other ranchers’ operations. “There’s recreation using our public lands basically 365 days a year, compared to back in the day when it was just a few hunters,” he said. “The dynamics have changed completely. Now [the elk] seek refuge on ranches where there isn’t any recreation.”
Jacober views folks in agriculture like himself as some of the biggest conservationists in the state, especially as people who interact the most with wildlife. For him, listening to science is the best path forward.
“Listen, I’m a big recreator,” Jacober emphasized. “I’ve mountain biked my whole life, I’m a big paddler and fly fisherman and hunter, so I see it from all angles, but there’s got to be a balance.”
