Cliff Coghill and Bob Holder

The Colorado Wildlife Employees Protective Association has created the “Cliff Coghill/Bob Holder Career Achievement Award” to recognize Colorado Wildlife Officers who have provided many years of dedicated service to the wildlife resource of the State of Colorado.  

The award is named in honor of Cliff Coghill, former “Game Warden” in Gunnison who retired in 1997 after a distinguished career of 47 years with Colorado Game and Fish Department, Colorado Game, Fish and Parks Department and finally with the Colorado Division of Wildlife. Cliff began working for the Colorado Game & Fish Department in 1950 serving as a sharpshooter culling deer and elk in Durango, Montrose and where needed across the west slope of Colorado. In the late 1950’s, Cliff took an assignment as the only game warden stationed in the Gunnison Basin. 

Throughout Cliff’s career, he wore the titles of Conservation Technician, Game Warden, Wildlife Conservation Officer and District Wildlife Manager. The duties he carried out were as varied as his professional titles. During his career, Cliff Coghill worked to master all aspects of the game warden profession.  Along with Cliff’s ability to shoot a rifle (a skill he mastered in the military during World War II), Cliff was asked to buy, train, board and distribute the first ever state-owned horse herd which belonged to the Game and Fish Department. Cliff became known for his ability to pick out the best horses suited for the game wardens stationed in the back country of western Colorado. Cliff served as packer and guide for politicians and dignitaries on a tour of what would later become the West Elk Wilderness.

Cliff was very interested in the biological aspects of the job. Cliff engineered the first “walk-in” elk trap designed such that elk would jump onto heavy netting suspended to keep the elk off of the ground so that trappers could tag them and either load them into a horse trailer for transport or drop the net and release them. Cliff also helped develop clover traps that are still used for trapping deer, elk and mountain goat. He also assisted in many research projects that aided in developing the foundations of wildlife management still used today. Cliff led some of the early efforts to establish, re-establish and manage populations of bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn, turkeys, Canada geese and Gunnison Sage Grouse.  Whether by horseback, airplane, truck or off his back, throughout his career, Cliff stocked many decades worth of fish in high mountain lakes and streams. Cliff was part of the many big game winter feeding efforts that the Gunnison Basin has become known for. In the early 1960’s, Cliff helped negotiate with the federal government for the mitigation of 22 miles of the Gunnison River lost to anglers by the creation of Blue Mesa Reservoir. This mitigation has protected and opened many miles of river and stream to public fishing.

As a game warden and wildlife officer, Cliff Coghill worked tirelessly to protect the wildlife resource from poachers. He often ventured far into the backcountry “a horseback” to check hunters at all times of the day and night regardless of the weather conditions. Cliff Coghill’s reputation for being a tough, dedicated and yet fair enforcer of wildlife law became common knowledge in the Gunnison Basin and across western Colorado. 

In 2026 CWEPA members voted to change the name to the Cliff Coghill/Bob Holder Career Achievement Award to also honor Bob’s 51 year career as a Colorado Game Warden.  Bob Holder began his legendary career with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in 1975 and was assigned to the Trinidad West District in 1976, where he spent the entirety of his 51-year career protecting the wildlife resources of southern Colorado.  Known by generations of youth as "Mr. Bob Holder", Bob served as a mentor and hero to countless students, using a captivating communication style and intimate subject matter knowledge to inspire conservation ethics in people of all ages.  Bob was particularly esteemed for his deep passion for Colorado's black bears, delivering renowned bear education programs and working tirelessly to resolve human-bear conflicts.  Bob's technical contributions to wildlife management are historic, including trapping and transferring over 850 Merriam's turkeys throughout Colorado and Utah and assisting in critical research by trapping 240 birds for the state's wild turkey research program.  Through his exceptional ability to build landowner relationships, Bob was instrumental in the acquisition of the 30,000-acre Bosque del Oso State Wildlife Area (SWA), Colorado's largest SWA, and helped protect over 78,000 additional acres of critical habitat through perpetual conservation easements.  In his role as a wildlife officer, Bob was known for his "straight-shooter" communication style and his "sixth sense" that led to the apprehension of hundreds of poachers, earning him a reputation for being determined, aggressive, and fair including recognition of his extraordinary career with the John D. Hart Wildlife Officer of the Year Award in 1996, the North American Wildlife Officer of the Year Award in 2002 (Colorado’s only recipient), the National Wild Turkey Federation National Enforcement Officer of the Year Award in 2006, and the proclamation of June 10 as "Bob Holder Day" in 2018 in Las Animas County.  Bob officially retired on March 1, 2026, marking a half-century of dedicated service to the people of the State of Colorado.

Combined, these two men represent almost 100 years of dedication to the wildlife resource of the State of Colorado.

In 1939, the Game and Fish Commission declared that “wardens will be careerists that will have the background, education and mental equipment of high order. They must be capable of talking before audiences to spread the gospel of conservation, sportsmanship and respect for law. They must furthermore be plenty tough to deal with poachers and other hard-boiled offenders”. Cliff Coghill and Bob Holder gave honor to that declaration of game warden.