Safari Club International and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation Sue Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission Over Unlawful Rulemaking
Safari Club International (SCI) and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (SAF) today announced the filing of a lawsuit challenging the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission’s July 2026 adoption of a rule reducing the daily harvest limits for Colorado furbearers to two animals. The complaint alleges the Commission’s last-minute decision to slash furbearer harvest limits failed to provide sufficient public notice or opportunity for comment.
The lawsuit alleges that the Commission violated Colorado’s State Administrative Procedure Act and its statutory wildlife management obligations. Those laws require agencies to give the public notice of proposed actions and an opportunity to comment, and they require final actions to remain consistent with the proposals presented for public comment. The Commission instead abandoned the publicly noticed proposals debated in the weeks before the meeting and during more than an hour of public comment, then adopted a dramatically more restrictive limit based on an unrepresentative survey conducted by Commissioner Rebecca Niemiec.
Prior to the Commission’s July 2026 meeting, the public was informed that the Commission was considering daily furbearer harvest limits of 15 animals, as recommended by Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff, or limits of eight or four animals depending on the species. After public comment concluded, Commissioner Niemiec moved to impose a two-animal limit that had not been included in the public notice. Other commissioners raised concerns that the motion was “veering off the notice” and that the public should receive an additional notice and comment opportunity. Nevertheless the Commission proceeded, and six Commissioners voted for the two-furbearer daily bag limit despite the absence of prior notice, public comment, or scientific justification supporting the new restriction.
“The people who participated in this process deserve better,” said SCI Chief Executive Officer W. Laird Hamberlin. “The Commission asked for input on specific proposals and went in a different direction at the last minute. That undermines confidence in the process and leaves people wondering why they were asked to participate in the first place. Wildlife management decisions should be driven by science and facts, not politics.
The complaint asks the court to declare that the Commission violated Colorado law, vacate the two-furbearer daily bag limit, and require the Commission to reconsider the issue through a lawful rulemaking process that provides proper notice and an opportunity for public participation.
The organizations emphasize that the lawsuit is not simply about harvest limits, but about ensuring that wildlife management decisions are made through an open, transparent, and legally compliant process. Supported by statements from Colorado Parks and Wildlife, SCI and SAF maintain that Colorado’s furbearer populations remain healthy and that state wildlife professionals found no biological need for the drastic restrictions ultimately adopted by the Commission.
About Safari Club International
Safari Club International is a leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and promoting wildlife conservation worldwide. SCI represents more than 100,000 members and advocates in its mission of protecting and promoting hunting rights and sustainable-use wildlife conservation.
