Colorado wildlife commission rejects petition that sought to pause wolf reintroductions
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission denied a petition from livestock advocates that sought to suspend the state’s voter-mandated gray wolf restoration program ahead of the program’s second winter “release season.”
The petition, filed in September by a coalition of 26 livestock associations and other agricultural interest groups, asked the state to delay the release of additional wolves “until Colorado’s wolf management program is equipped to handle the consequences of these introductions.”
CPW officials confirmed the killing by wolves — called “depredations” — of nine cattle and 15 sheep in 2024, though industry groups claimed in their petition that their “undocumented losses” are higher. The Middle Park Stockgrowers Association and Club 20, a coalition of Western Slope businesses and county governments, led the petition.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
At the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting Wednesday, about 80 people spoke either in favor or against the petition. Livestock producers spoke about their experience being negatively affected by wolves in their communities, and various wolf advocates and wildlife scientists warned that pausing reintroduction could diminish the progress the state has made since starting the program.
The state’s wolf reintroduction program fulfills a voter-approved 2020 ballot initiative to reintroduce the animals in Colorado in the name of restoring ecological balance. The measure, Proposition 114, was passed by a narrow 51 percent to 49 percent margin, and though it includes provisions to compensate livestock producers for animals the wolves kill, it has been bitterly opposed by Colorado’s ranching industry.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff submitted a recommendation to the 11 voting members of the Parks and Wildlife Commission at the end of December formally urging commissioners to deny the request to suspend the introduction of gray wolves.
Petitioners called for additional elements to the program, but CPW staff say many of those measures have been implemented in recent months, including the creation of a state range rider program that will launch early this year. Range riders contracted by CPW and the state agriculture department will receive specialized training in deterrence and conflict mitigation techniques and will be deployed as needed throughout the summer and fall months when the potential for conflicts is highest.
Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke and Rio Blanco Commissioner Jennifer O’Hearon both spoke in support of the petition, emphasizing that bringing in more wolves without resolving prior challenges would be “premature,” O’Hearon said.
Wolves hunting elk in the Rocky Mountains. Courtesy National Park Service.
Jenny Burbey, who served as a member of the state’s Wolf Stakeholder Advisory Group, said those who spoke in favor of the petition are not asking for an end to the wolf restoration program, rather they want a pause as all the elements the program needs are finalized.
“You have an opportunity today to support a pause, allow staff who have been burdened and working their tails off, to get a job done,” Burbey said. “But it’s not done yet. The tools are in planning. They’re not available. They’re not in working order.”
Joanna Lambert, a professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who conducts research on wolf biology, said halting reintroductions “will likely result in yet another extinction event in our state” with only nine wolves in the state. She said the world is in the midst of an unprecedented global “biodiversity extinction crisis,” and wolves and other predators have experienced the most significant population declines.
“Decades of peer-reviewed science have demonstrated that such small populations are highly vulnerable to extinction due to unpredictable events such as disease and wildfire, low genetic diversity, and limited reproductive opportunities,” Lambert said. “I am deeply compassionate to the stressors placed upon those who are living in rural landscapes with wolves. But it is critical that we also keep the big picture in mind — the long game of life on Earth.”
Despite a tense first year of reintroduction following the release of 10 wolves in Grand and Summit counties in December 2023, officials say the agency’s expanded efforts to prevent and manage conflicts with livestock provide a “solid foundation for the future” of the program.
USFWS - public domain
The state’s reintroduction plan, approved by the CPW commission in May 2023, calls for annual winter releases of 10 to 15 wolves per year in the program’s first three to five years, with an initial target of a stable population of at least 50 animals within the state. CPW plans to release up to 15 wolves from Canada this winter.
Commissioners expressed confidence in CPW staff as they work to implement additional pieces of the program, and staff committed to continuously adapt based on what they learn along the way.
Commissioner James Jay Tutchton said this was the “greatest effort” in the shortest amount of time that he’s seen on a petition, but that “adaptive management” is the correct approach to wolf reintroduction. He said CPW Director Jeff Davis’ recommendation to reject the petition highlights how CPW is working to address each of the petition’s concerns “as best we could.”
“We could talk about this forever, and sometimes we’ve got to just start doing stuff and adapting and keeping everyone’s interests in mind, but we’ll never solve it just sitting around talking to each other,” Tutchton said.
The commission voted 10-1 to accept CPW staff’s recommendation to reject the petition. Commissioner Marie Haskett was the sole vote in support of the petition. She said a pause would allow staff programs to “catch up” and “reassess.”
“If you look at Wyoming, it took them eight years for (wolf) introduction, and CPW did it in three years,” Haskett said. “I think that it’s rushed, and there are things that we are missing and we need to look for that.”
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