For more stories like this, please visit the Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s 125th Anniversary web page! Notable recipients include Bob Davies (2013), Mike Bauman (2014), Kevin Wright (2015), Perry Will (2016), Bob Thompson (2017), Larry Rogstad (2018), Bill deVergie (2019), Dean Riggs (2020), and John Hood (2021).Ĭolorado Parks and Wildlife is celebrating its 125th Anniversary throughout 2022 to honor the legacy of our agency and the talented staff who make fulfilling CPW’s important mission possible. In honor of Cliff’s notable wildlife career, Colorado Wildlife Employees Protective Association annually recognizes a Colorado wildlife officer who has provided 20 years or more of dedicated service to the state’s wildlife resources with the Cliff Coghill Career Achievement Award. From there, elevated off the ground, biologists could ear-tag, neck-band, and collect biological samples to determine overall health.Ī tireless worker, Cliff was involved in several winter feeding operations, most notable the 1978-79 project where deer were fed special dietary pellets instead of hay, likely reducing deer loss to 25% instead of upward of 60% as predicted. Nuisance elk were trapped in large baited corrals, then pushed through a squeeze-chute one by one where they jumped a 5-foot wall into the unsuspecting net. It seems like, with all things in life that Cliff was involved, he did it for the long haul.Ĭliff is also credited with the ingenious idea to safely handle trapped elk for relocation by using a large cargo net. And when I picture Cliff, he’s always wearing his favorite worn-out felt cowboy hat with that great big smile. When Cliff wasn’t working, he was active in other Gunnison community events, such as helping organize Cattlemen’s Days, Colorado’s longest ongoing rodeo. In 1999, the Gunnison sage-grouse hunting season was closed indefinitely and conservation efforts began to rebound populations. I can only hope someday to spend a morning up Ohio Creek Valley with the sun rising over the Continental Divide, illuminating the West Elk Breccia and snow-capped peaks, with hundreds, maybe a thousand, strutting amorous sage-grouse all around – just like Cliff did.Ĭliff was one of the first to speak on behalf of the grouse after his decades of observation. Our conversations revolved around his extensive knowledge of the sagebrush and the fact he’d seen more Gunnison sage-grouse than I likely ever would. For years, Cliff commonly stopped by the Gunnison DOW Office to say “hello” and reminisce about the “old days” – telling stories more worthy of a good campfire. I first met Cliff in 2007 after he’d already been retired for a decade.
While Cliff made several notable law enforcement cases, he played a critical role in helping elk recover in the Gunnison area while reducing game damage to local ranchers.ĭuring the spring seasons, Cliff woke up before the crack of dawn to count what would become North America’s newest recognized species of bird, the Gunnison sage-grouse. Proudly Serving Colorado for 47 Yearsįor 47 years, Cliff patrolled the Gunnison backcountry and infamous West Elk Wilderness, commonly on foot or horseback. There wasn’t a ridge or rock outcropping Cliff likely hadn’t set track on. Cliff’s military background and a love for the natural world set him up well for a long career with Colorado Game and Fish, which is now Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
After returning home, he married Patsy McElroy in Aztec, New Mexico and the couple relocated to Gunnison, Colorado around 1950.
Cliff served 8 months in Korea with Company B of the 20 th Infantry earning several service medals and accolades. At a young age, Cliff moved with his family to a ranch near Montrose, Colorado where he attended school, and later enlisted into the U.S. Marion Clifford Coghill or “Cliff” was born March 4, 1924, in Syracuse, Kansas, an area heavily impacted during the Great American Dust Bowl.