Struggling towns open backyards to tourism

updated 4:53 p.m. ET May 16, 2007

WALDEN, Colo. - People jostled cameras and squirmed on benches inside a trailer on a high-mountain meadow as the tour guide gently opened retractable doors, turning the bird blind into a window on one of nature's most spectacular shows: Strutting, chest-puffing male sage grouse in the last throes of mating season.

Dozens of greater sage grouse were first heard in the 5 a.m. darkness: Swishing sounds followed by pops, like a loud percolating coffee pot.

Light gradually spread over the meadow, brightening the jagged, snowcapped peaks of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness and revealing the source of the sounds - two big white air sacs on the birds' chests that repeatedly inflate and deflate. The brown and black birds, about 2 feet tall, fanned out their spiked tail feathers, trying to attract the two or three hens checking them out and charging at the other eager males.

The prancing stopped an hour later when a golden eagle looking for food swooped down and the grouse flew away in one bunch.

The abrupt end didn't disappoint visitors who drove 100 miles or more to get to Walden, a town of nearly 700 in north-central Colorado.

"That's quite a show. I was really impressed," said George Oetzel, a semiretired engineer from Boulder.

Oetzel has traveled to Australia and Costa Rica to see exotic wildlife, but he'd never seen the greater sage grouse, the largest of chicken-like birds on the Great Plains and rolling, sagebrush-dotted hills of the West. "I think there's a good chance we'll go again next year," he said.

Like numerous small towns whose traditional economic foundations are crumbling and populations are plummeting, Walden is struggling to survive. And like other towns in Colorado and the West, it's trying to capitalize on what's in its own backyard by offering sage grouse tours.

David Zalubowski / AP Bird watchers sit bundled up against sub-freezing temperatures to get a look at the mating ritual of the greater sage grouse in a blind near the North Park community of Walden, Colo. Small communities like Walden in the interior West are turning to wildlife tours to drum up business in the communities.

Monte Vista in south-central Colorado has a March celebration when thousands of sandhill cranes drop by the San Luis Valley on their northern migration. Wray, on the state's eastern plains, draws visitors from across the country in late March to watch prairie chickens go through their mating ritual.

Communities often team up with state and federal wildlife agencies and involve local residents and businesses to put on the festivals. In Wray, the town museum hosts a program and ranchers allow groups onto their land to see the prairie chickens' lek, or mating ground.

If You Go Colorado birding trail: http://www.coloradobirdingtrail.com/ Colorado wildlife events and festivals: http://wildlife.state.co.us/Viewing/EventsFestivals/. Autumn wildlife-viewing events: Fall Birding Festival at Barr Lake, Brighton, Sept. 16, 7 a.m.-1 p.m., 303-659-6005. About 20 miles from Denver. Elk Fest, Estes Park, Sept. 20-30; about 70 miles from Denver. Northern Colorado Birding Fair, Windsor, late September/early October; 970-679-4577. About 55 miles from Denver. Georgetown Bighorn Sheep Festival, Georgetown, Nov. 10, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., 888-569-0750. About 45 miles from Denver. Colorado division of wildlife: 303-297-1192. Some of the places suggested by the agency for wildlife-watching include: Pawnee National Grassland Birding Loop, home to over 300 species of birds including the lark bunting, 970-353-5004. John Martin Reservoir State Wildlife Area, known for birds of prey, small mammals and a colony of cormorants and great blue herons. Comanche National Grasslands, home to prairie birds and pronghorns; 719-523-6591. Georgetown State Wildlife Area, bighorn sheep viewing (300-350 in the herd) from the developed interpretive site and viewing area across I-70 (fall, winter and spring are best viewing times). Mount Evans Highway, a three-to-four hour round-trip drive with views of mountain goats, elk and bighorn sheep, or hike a 1.1 mile trail at Goliath Natural Area to see the ancient gnarled bristlecone pine, 303-567-2901. Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge ponds and meadows offer birdwatching, while moose, elk and beavers live along the Illinois River, 970-723-8202. Vega State Park is home to elk, deer, bald eagles and hawks, 970-487-3407. Six sites along the Yampa River between Hayden and Dinosaur National Monument offer habitats for birds and small mammals; 970-276-2061.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife has worked with other state agencies, landowners and wildlife groups to create a Web site about the Colorado Birding Trail, which grew out of development of a birding trail in southeast Colorado but has expanded with information on wildlife watching tips statewide.

Walden's chamber of commerce books sage grouse watchers in motels throughout town to spread the wealth. Chamber director Rea Redman estimates the grouse tours and birdwatchers out on their own provide up to 70 percent of the revenue in a "dead, slow month" for local restaurants and motels.

"Ice fishing is at an end. Snowmobiling is winding down. They don't really have anything going on too much before the summer tourist season comes along," Redman said.

The Moose Creek Cafe, where tour participants dined the night before rising at 3:30 a.m., would've been easy to find even without the life-size concrete moose out front. Several businesses on Walden's Main Street are vacant or closed until the tourist season gears up.

"This time of year we have almost no business, so this gives us some weekends where there are people coming in," said Bobbie Scott, owner of the Roundup Motel.

Scott's convinced that once people visit Walden, the largest community in remote North Park, they'll return.

David Zalubowski / AP Greater sage grouse perform their annual mating ritual south of the North Park community of Walden, Colo.

North Park is a roughly 8,000-foot-high valley that's about 35 miles wide and 45 miles long. It's nearly encircled by mountains and encompasses the 24,800-acre Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge and the headwaters of the North Platte River.

Besides grouse, moose that roam the wetlands crisscrossing the valley floor have been a draw since the state restored them to the Walden area in the late 1970s. The town's welcome signs read: "Walden, moose viewing capital of Colorado."

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A report by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that bird and wildlife watchers in 2001 spent $38.4 billion nationwide. Wildlife viewers in Colorado spent about $624 million 2001.

The agency is expected to release updated figures later this year.

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