We’ve been alerted by our sister conservation organization Front Range Nesting Bald Eagle Studies (FRNBES) that the City of Loveland is seeking to build a bike trail within 1/3 of a mile of the nest of a pair of Golden Eagles. Normally, Golden Eagles nest along cliff ledges, but this pair is rare in that they’ve chosen a tree as a nesting spot. They are the only documented tree-nesting Golden Eagle pair on the northern Colorado Front Range.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife guidelines call for maintaining a buffer of at least a 1/2 mile between trails and an eagle nest. Encroaching within 1/3 of a mile is likely to cause nest disturbance and, potentially, nest failure.