A seven-month investigation found Lee\u2019s claims of racism by Gates were unfounded. No one interviewed by investigators offered any support for Lee\u2019s accusations against Gates. Lee herself was unable to provide evidence of racist behavior by Gates. Lee, who has resigned from the agency, did not return texts or calls from The Colorado Sun.<\/p>\n
The allegations against Gates were investigated alongside Lee\u2019s complaints against Colorado Parks and Wildlife director Dan Prenzlow, who had tried to thank Lee during an awards ceremony at the conference by directing everyone toward her table in the back of the ballroom, saying \u201cthere she is, in the back of the bus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates knew he would be exonerated, he said. And he will recover from the false accusations, he said. But he worries about how Colorado Parks and Wildlife\u2019s lack of a response to the investigation will impact the agency\u2019s 3,600 volunteers and its mission to balance wildlife protection and habitat conservation with improved outdoor access and recreation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI really believe that wildlife management and natural resource conservation has been set back decades by this,\u201d Gates said. \u201cI think you are going to find fewer legitimate partners and volunteers who are critical to natural resource conservation. I\u2019ve heard it over and over in the last seven months: We don\u2019t want to be the next person on the chopping block. That means we are going to see fewer people engaging in really tough subjects that need to be addressed because they are afraid of being chastised, admonished and accused of things that are not remotely connected to the subject matter of wildlife and conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following Lee\u2019s claims, the Investigations Law Group concluded that Prenzlow violated state rules for his bus remark.<\/p>\n
The racial implications of \u201cback of the bus\u201d proved to be Prenzlow\u2019s undoing. He retired as director in early November following the investigation that found he oversaw \u201can unhealthy work workplace with respect to equity.\u201d Investigators found \u201cmost witnesses said the remark was so serious that Director Prenzlow cannot successfully continue in his role.\u201d<\/p>\n
A second investigation into Lee\u2019s fiery response to the remark \u2013 including allegations of racism against Gates detailed in the Whova app posts and in the public letter to Polis and Dan Gibbs, the director of the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees Colorado Parks and Wildlife \u2013 concluded she had based her statements regarding Gates on \u201crumor\u201d and \u201cspeculation \u2026 but no personal or first-hand experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the 19 witnesses we interviewed, including people identified by Ms. Lee, provided an example of how Mr. Gates has exhibited race-based behavior,\u201d reads the investigation, which includes several quotes from conference attendees saying they had never heard Gates use racial slurs.<\/p>\n
Lee told investigators she stood by her accusations. She also told the investigators that people complained about her response to Prenzlow\u2019s remark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get emails saying I am weak and saying I need therapy,\u201d she said, according to the report. \u201cNo you don\u2019t get to tell me how I have to respond to racism or that it is overreacting or underreacting. I think that my comments are a response to trauma and racism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators agreed Lee was \u201ccredibly traumatized\u201d by Prenzlow\u2019s statements, but not by Gates. They concluded she violated state rules addressing anti-harassment, nondiscrimination and equity, diversity and inclusion when describing Gates.<\/p>\n
She resigned after serving four months with the agency organizing the 2022 Partners in the Outdoors conference, an annual gathering of talks and meetings with the dozens of groups that partner with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The conference this year focused on increasing diversity, equity and inclusion in the outdoors by including more diverse voices in the agency\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
At a meeting in November, three of 11 Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners urged the agency to formally apologize to Gates.<\/p>\n
\u201cDan Gates has been an incredible volunteer for this agency for 37 years,\u201d Commissioner Marie Haskett said during the commissioner\u2019s monthly board meeting on Nov. 17.<\/p>\n
Haskett read several passages from the investigation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe remarks are likely to have an impact on Mr. Gates because they were publicly made and objectively degrading,\u201d she said. \u201cI think DNR and CPW owe him an apology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Commissioner Becky Blecha agreed with Haskett, saying \u201cthere is room for improvement\u201d at Department of Natural Resources with the agency\u2019s communication with the commissioners about the investigation.<\/p>\n
The investigation began in early May and the firm in charge of the inquiry delivered the results to agency leadership in June and then delivered a printed report in the middle of September. Commissioners said they needed to file open records requests with the agency to receive the report in early November.<\/p>\n
The Colorado Sun filed open records requests with the agency for both investigation reports, which cost CPW $65,256.45. (The state paid Lee a year\u2019s salary, $75,634, as part of a settlement where she agreed to withdraw a discrimination complaint she filed with the Colorado Civil Rights Division. The state paid Prenzlow $50,000 for \u201cemotional distress,\u201d wages and attorney fees as part of a settlement that included him resigning on Nov. 1, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it was poorly handled, communication wise, with our commission and the people involved and I hope that we can do better at some point,\u201d Blecha said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Duke Phillips also agreed that the agency owes Gates an apology.<\/p>\n
\u201cDan Gates has done so much for the agency and is an incredible partner,\u201d Phillips said.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Taisha Adams thanked Lee \u201cfor her contributions to this agency and the Partners in the Outdoors\u201d and \u201cthe extensive investigation that took seven months of her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adams emailed Lee on the night of the conference awards ceremony, thanking her and saying \u201cwe are all leveraging the power we have internal to CPW and externally as well to raise awareness and do what is needed to align with our DEI statement, values and mission as well as the accountability needed to ensure success.\u201d (The Sun obtained emails to and from Lee\u2019s state account through a public records request.)<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m reminded every day that as commissioners we do not have the day-to-day staffing responsibilities but we do have the responsibility around public trust and we do have the responsibility of ensuring there is no harm caused by those who work for us, who volunteer for us,\u201d Adams told fellow commissioners at the November meeting in Gateway. \u201cSo I\u2019m excited to see the continued growth of accountability, transparency and integrity as we seek to not only tell the fuller Colorado story but include more people in the creation of our story moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibbs did not mention Gates at the commissioners meeting, but he did express appreciation for the nearly 37 years Prenzlow worked for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Gibbs said \u201cit\u2019s a really unique time and a challenging time\u201d for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources. He said he was \u201clegally bound to not tell people what was going on\u201d during the investigation.<\/p>\n
(Gibbs himself is under investigation by the Colorado Independent Ethics Commission following a December 2021 complaint alleging ethics violations when he awarded a $496,000 contract to the Keystone Policy Center to conduct outreach on wolf reintroduction issues. Gibbs\u2019 wife, Johanna Gibbs, was an employee of the policy center when the contract was awarded in April 2021.<\/p>\n
Gibbs, in a response to the complaint, denied violating any regulations and argued the ethics commission erred in ruling the complaint was not frivolous. The commission received 31 complaints in 2021 and deemed four as nonfrivolous.)<\/p>\n
Gibbs in November told the commissioners his department is working on a statewide \u201ccultural assessment\u201d that would look at the lessons learned in 2022 and \u201chow CPW can be a stronger organization moving forward.\u201d Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources will soon hire equity, diversity and inclusion professionals who will serve in leadership positions, Gibbs said, calling the new positions \u201ckind of a first step and a really important step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates wonders if the damage can be repaired. A few top leaders at Colorado Parks and Wildlife have left, including Lauren Truitt, the agency\u2019s assistant director for information and education who helped expand the Partners in the Outdoors conference in its second year in 2014. The agency\u2019s acting director Heather Dugan told commissioners last month that Truitt had \u201cgone on to greener pastures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates said Truitt and others have \u201cjumped ship. And more people are going to be jumping ship. I know of at least 40 people in wildlife management who are looking for a way to get out, trying to transfer to another state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Truitt said she did not jump ship. And she said she didn\u2019t necessarily depart for greener pastures.<\/p>\n
Instead she had \u201can amazing opportunity\u201d to work in a new realm and made \u201cone of the hardest decisions I\u2019ve ever made\u201d to leave the agency, said Truitt, who is working with a startup technology company based out of Texas that plans to go public.<\/p>\n
Truitt said the contributions Gates made to the agency \u2013 specifically bringing together diverse and often conflicting sports groups, like anglers who fish with flies or lures and hunters who use rifles, bows and muzzleloaders \u2013 \u201care immeasurable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor as long as I\u2019ve known Gates he has recognized the internal fracturing in the outdoors and the traditionalist versus the modernist \u2026 and he has helped them all realize we enjoy these sports in our own ways but at the end of the day we are all here for the wildlife and habitat and he has helped the sportsperson world galvanize around those values. Gates constantly reminded everyone that wildlife and habitat need to be at the forefront of all our conversations,\u201d Truitt said. \u201cI think the agency or DNR does need to reach out and apologize to him. I do think, as someone who volunteers for the agency, we also have an obligation to make sure we are treating people fairly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates said he was frustrated by the praise for Lee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s appalling to me that individuals would thank a person for violating state policy and creating confrontations over DEI when that\u2019s exactly what that person was hired to promote,\u201d he said. \u201cThe hypocrisy of that is saddening and mind-boggling to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
For nearly 40 years Gates has owned a business that helps owners of industrial, agricultural, commercial and residential properties manage wildlife interaction, whether it\u2019s \u201ca gopher in the garden, a pigeon at the power plant, beavers at water structures or squirrels in the attic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s an important job that is often misunderstood, he said.<\/p>\n
Gates said a restaurant owner he worked with on a volunteer wildlife management group once dismissed his work as \u201cjust killing things.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI said \u2018Do you have mice in your kitchen? She responded \u2018Oh, no. Never,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cWell a mouse to you can be a wolf to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates likes to wear a hat that reads \u201cIf you don\u2019t have a seat at the table, you are on the menu.\u201d That\u2019s an old adage commonly repeated by politicians \u2013 like Ann Richards and Elizabeth Warren \u2013 urging more people to participate in policy discussions.<\/p>\n
Gates has worn that hat at wildlife conferences for many years. Lee, in her letter to Polis and Gibbs, called the hat a sign of his \u201cblatant hatred and unwelcoming demeanor.\u201d Lee told investigators: \u201cThis man is walking around with a racist hat and we\u2019re sitting here talking about policies. I don\u2019t understand \u2013 this is so weird. These are not the right questions. Why are these people not fired? How can you do that and still keep your job?\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates said he\u2019s never had anyone complain about the hat before.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf more people would follow that idea, we would not be in the position we are in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It appears the Partners in the Outdoors conference will not occur next year. Lee was expected to organize the event but has not worked since April and the agency has not hired a new event organizer. The organizing committee that helps shape the annual conference has not met since the April event. Usually the agency sends an email with a date and location for the next year\u2019s conference by the end of October.<\/p>\n
An organizer with Colorado Parks and Wildlife declined to confirm that the 2023 conference was canceled and told The Sun the agency is \u201cworking on a partners newsletter\u201d that should be emailed in the first half of December.<\/p>\n
Truitt, who spent nearly a decade with the agency, said she wanted to stay and help staff weather this storm.<\/p>\n
She laments the likely cancellation of the 2023 partners conference. Truitt praised Lee\u2019s organization of the Vail event and hopes attendees can soon remember some of the \u201camazing good things and conversations\u201d that happened during the three-day gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we lose our ability to have conversations, that is fundamental to problem-solving,\u201d Truitt said. \u201cWe need to be able to have tough conversations and we need to recognize that we all care deeply about Colorado. That was such an important part of that conference, stripping away the things that separate us and finding commonalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Investigators who interviewed people who attended the Partners in the Outdoors Conference in April found one witness who told them Gates said he is \u201ctired of people who take up social equality issues at any chance they can.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s still tired of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not that I don\u2019t care about DEI, because I do. But also I really care about wildlife and conservation and habitat,\u201d he said. \u201cI have spent my life dedicated to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t care much about receiving a formal apology. But he would like to see Colorado Parks and Wildlife better protect volunteers from accusations and statements that independent investigators found violated many state policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow does this all play into volunteer positions down the road and how do they expect people to buy into the agency down the road? What protections are there for volunteers or appointed people in any capacity? Obviously there are none or we would see a statement supporting their volunteers, right?\u201d Gates said. \u201cWe had tens of thousands of volunteer hours last year and every single volunteer is on the hook. There ought to be protections in place and mediators for volunteers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has 3,600 volunteers who contribute about 300,000 hours of service every year, which amounts to the work of about 142 full-time employees who would earn almost $9 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cVolunteer time and talents are essential to CPW and we sincerely appreciate the contributions by Mr. Gates and all of CPW\u2019s volunteers who contribute to the mission of CPW in its service to Coloradans and visitors,\u201d reads a statement from Department of Natural Resources spokesman Chris Arend. \u201cThat being said, DNR hired a third party investigator to thoroughly look into the claims against Mr. Gates and the resulting report speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gates fears Colorado Parks and Wildlife \u201cis getting in the weeds on stuff that doesn\u2019t have anything to do with the mission of conservation.\u201d He sees the lack of response to the investigations as \u201ca slap in the face of volunteerism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are building barriers to the issues that matter and no matter what I do or what I say it all goes back to racial issues and racial justice. What does that have to do with herd management and recreational damage to habitat?\u201d Gates said. \u201cWe are going to have fewer people having these critical conversations because everything will go back to something that is not even being discussed.\u201d<\/p>\n