Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project
Some questions for CPW hopeful Christopher Sichko
Last Wednesday I posted about the upcoming Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing for three of Gov. Polis’ CPW appointees. If you want or need the context from the earlier newsletter, you’ll find it linked first below.
A reader noted something interesting about one of the commissioner candidates. When I read what they wrote, I got curious and thought I would follow up with Mr. Sichko.
The second link below is to a 10/25/2024 article in Elevation Outdoors entitled “LOCAL HEROES: Christopher Sichko, PHD”. The relevant part comes from the bottom of the article. Quoting: “Sichko says, ‘My ultimate goal is to support the regeneration and rewilding of the American Great Plains, building a region that supports robust, healthy, and vibrant human and animal coexistence.’ sichko.org”
The reader pointed out that when you go to Mr. Sichko’s own site (the sichko.org at the tail end of the quote), these words are not there as it seems like it would be hinted in the quote. For your reference and convenience, I link to Mr. Sichko’s site third below.
The internet being what it is, I wrote an email to Mr. Sichko (using the address on his site) and asked the following (quoted from my email):
Good morning,
My name is Cory Gaines. I do some writing on the side, mostly opinion, appearing in a variety of places around the state.
I noticed something on Facebook this morning and am mulling writing about it.
In the Local Heroes article linked at bottom, you are quoted with the following: “Sichko says, ‘My ultimate goal is to support the regeneration and rewilding of the American Great Plains, building a region that supports robust, healthy, and vibrant human and animal coexistence.’ sichko.org”
Presumably, the last bit there seems to indicate this came from your site. As of a check this morning, I do not see it there.
So, the internet and social media being what it is, I wanted to reach out.
Is that quote from Local Heroes accurate?
If so, did it ever appear on sichko.org? If so, why take it down?
Lastly, do you care to flesh out exactly what you mean here by supporting rewilding of the plains? What you mean by vibrant human and animal coexistence?
Thank you. If a phone call is easier, please. xxx-yyy-zzzz
As of this writing, I have not heard back. If that changes, I will update.
As an added precaution I wrote to my state senator who is on the committee and asked him to ask Mr. Sichko when he’s up for his committee hearing on the 22nd. If you have similar questions, or ones of your own, I would recommend you do similar. Use the links in my newsletter linked first below to get to the committee page and call/email the committee members to ask them to ask those questions of Mr. Sichko when he’s up for committee.
It’s easy for him to ignore me, harder to do so sitting in person in front of state senators.
**For yet more context on Mr. Sichko, I put a link to his LinkedIn profile fourth below.
https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/with-the-return-of-spring-comes-another
https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-sichko
Right on the heels of the success with furbearers, advocates are trying to backdoor more policy through the advocates on the CPW Commissioners board.
If you have missed the story on a monied out-of-state group backdooring policy about the hunting/trapping of furbearers, I put a link to my earlier newsletter on the topic first below. Note: the newsletter not only discusses what happened, I go through what you can do about it.
I think that vote taught wildlife advocates a lesson. It taught them that the CPW Commissioners are ripe for more. The second link below was shared by a reader recently and it’s another “citizen” petition, this time about prairie dogs.
I will leave it to you to look through the petition, but in essence it bans “recreational” shooting of prairie dogs on public lands.
This change is necessary because, quoting the petition, “… because shooting is a threat to prairie dogs and can harm the many species that depend on and benefit from prairie dogs and their colonies. Extensive published studies indicate that shooting prairie dogs is harmful to their ecosystem.”
I don’t doubt that shooting prairie dogs is harmful to their ecosystem. It would be to mine if people were shooting at me.
To bolster this contention, the petitioner(s) attached a couple documents to the petition. As with the petition, I will leave it to you to read in full, but people that have read environmental and animal rights advocates’ writing will recognize some of the bigger themes here:
1. The peril from lead entering the food chain via bullets in animals
2. The idea that this or that species is a “keystone” species. That is, without prairie dogs the ecosystem would collapse.
Both are topics I have touched on in the past.
In the third link below you will find a newsletter from September 2025 detailing a letter by environmentalists urging CPW to ban the use of lead ammunition on state-owned land. Things may have changed since then, there may be (especially post-furbearers) a renewed effort, but as of my last check, it seemed like this effort had stalled.
The fourth link below is from a February newsletter which covers how an ecosystem in the Rocky Mountain National Park was altered by what some described as the loss of the keystone species (beaver) in the valley.
I will leave it to you to come to your own conclusions on the wisdom of lead ammunition, food chains, beavers, prairie dogs, etc.
I think a larger and more important concern here, one that transcends any one particular ecosystem or animal, is how do we humans negotiate and problem solve.
For example, there are alternatives to lead ammunition that could probably work just as well as lead, but what do we do? Ban hunting? Ban lead? Encourage a switch and educate?
And who gets to decide?
As another example, what specifically is meant by keystone species and who decides what they are? Maybe I’m out of date, but my last check in with ecology had webs not pyramids. This was a change to indicate that nature is about interdependence, not hierarchies.
I do not like at all the way things have been going with CPW lately. That is, our problem solving using this unelected board stuffed with Gov. Polis’ and husband’s political cronies has led to some decision making that is out of whack.
It’s led to decision making that doesn’t represent the needs and values of the whole state.
The reason I highlighted above that my earlier newsletter on the furbearer vote included information on what you can do about that vote was because the actions you can take in response to this petition are not very different.
You should be speaking up and that particular edition of my newsletter details the ways you can do it.
**A citizen who sent it in but was backed by an advocacy group.
https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/gary-community-ventures-buying-media?utm_source=publication-search
https://cpw.widen.net/s/cl9xslrhql/prairie-dogs_website?fbclid=IwY2xjawRJnGlleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFaYTR4ZXBkTHhycjExZkZwc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHgsvHETkPKNjtUGoOOFR7oQpcCO0nqB4t1qN1C6zeqn1hOIv8EJFXJn6mOTM_aem_sMPPKLehshzVSIwxPLycfQ
https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/advocates-push-cpw-to-ban-lead-ammo?utm_source=publication-search
https://coloradoaccountabilityproject.substack.com/p/cpws-aberle-folks-like-myself-werent?utm_source=publication-search
Related:
Rachel Gabel’s op ed on the prairie dog petition mentioned above.
She and I are about in agreement on the use of petitions and emotion-based wildlife management.
https://gazette.com/2026/04/13/petitions-are-no-solution-to-land-management-problems-rachel-gabel/
Heads up PUC Sunset is up for committee this week
Just a quick heads up on the PUC Sunset bill. This legislative year, these types of measures will appear first in the House, so it will be the House Energy and Environment hearing.
READ THE FULL COMMENTARY AT COLORADO ACCOUNTABILITY PROJECT
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