Colorado Parks and Wildlife is vowing to do a better job at wolf reintroduction ahead of the planned release of 15 gray wolves from British Columbia starting in January.
That’s according to a joint news release by CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture in which CPW director Jeff Davis said “staff and partners have been working hard, learning and adapting through the first year of restoration in Colorado” and that they’re “coming back with a stronger conflict minimization program” for the well-being of ranchers, their livestock and wolves.
The assurance comes during a time of pushback on the Colorado wolf program and the agency in charge of managing not only wolves but hundreds of other wildlife species in the state.
Criticism began shortly after the first round of wolves were released in Grand and Summit counties in December 2023, grew as wolves killed 18 sheep and cows in Grand County and peaked Nov. 14, when Tim Ritschard, head of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, presented a petition for public hearing to the Parks and Wildlife commission asking them to pause the wolf reintroduction program until demands within it were met. The petition was signed by 26 groups, including Colorado Counties Incorporated, which represents 63 of 64 counties.
Wolves were reintroduced after primarily urban voters passed Proposition 114 by a 51% to 49% margin. The program has since been plagued with problems, most notably with wolves in Grand County repeatedly attacking livestock and CPW refusing to agree to ranchers’ requests to kill them.
The petition Ritschard presented to the commission asks CPW to adopt a definition of chronic depredation, implement site vulnerability assessments, create a widespread range riding program, start a carcass management program, and hire and train a rapid-response team to address reports of problem wolves before bringing more wolves into the state.
The commission tabled the petition pending a review and recommendations from CPW staff, which are still in process. But after the meeting, the same groups that signed the petition sent a letter to a dozen Canadian officials and government agencies asking them to reconsider their decision to send wolves to Colorado.
The letter says other states and Native American tribes have refused to provide wolves to CPW, and that British Columbia’s deferral would prevent the province from “becoming embroiled in this controversy.”
But on Dec. 3, Defenders of Wildlife, Rocky Mountain Wolf Project and a coalition of other organizations announced the delivery of their own letter to members of the Canadian ministry thanking them for their partnership with CPW and asking them to “stand firm against pressures to disrupt this groundbreaking agreement.”
The letter also highlights the proactive steps taken in Colorado to address challenges, including habitat suitability analyses, nonlethal conflict mitigation tools and range rider programs to minimize livestock depredation.
Those are some of the things CPW and CDA are highlighting that have put them “in a position to offer Colorado livestock producers an even more robust program that includes the tools, support and resources needed to minimize wolf-livestock conflict,” Davis said. Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties are currently being considered for releasing gray wolves during the 2024-25 capture and release season.
Six of the 10 wolves initially released, and one born in 2023, remain on the landscape, while one of the females released and her four pups are in captivity after CPW trapped six members of the Copper Creek Pack that had denned near rancher Conway Farrell’s land in Grand County.
The alpha male of the pack died shortly after the wolves arrived at an undisclosed location on private land where four of the pups and the mother remain. CPW says it will be meeting with local community members before the release of those wolves occurs.
Two other wolves died in 2024: The first, in April, likely died after a mountain lion attack, and an autopsy of a third wolf that died in September showed it was likely killed by another wolf.
The remaining wolves introduced last December “have spent the past year exploring the new landscape and meeting each other and the other wolves in the state,” states the release. A fifth pup from the Copper Creek pack the agency wasn’t able to trap also appears to be healthy.
Some loss of wolves from the initial restoration was anticipated, says the release. “Any reintroduction effort includes eventual mortality and was incorporated into the plan, which states that a review would occur if survival was below 70% in the first six months. Wolf survival was 90% for the first six months after translocation from Oregon,” and “wolf survival in Colorado is within normal margins for a wolf population in the Rocky Mountains.”
“I want to reiterate that we take our responsibility for the wellbeing of the ranchers, their livestock and the wolves very seriously,” Davis said in the release. “We are confident we will be successful in restoring a healthy, sustainable population of gray wolves to Colorado as mandated, while avoiding and minimizing impacts to our critical ranching industry and rural communities.”
The release stated several measures CPW and CDA have put in place that will enhance wolf reintroduction moving forward, including the following:
- Free site assessments: This would identify the most appropriate and effective nonlethal tools and techniques specific to each individual operation.
- Additional conflict reduction specialists: Last spring, CPW brought on five wildlife damage specialists and is recruiting for five more this month. This past summer, the state Department of Agriculture hired a nonlethal conflict reduction program manager and two mitigation specialists who started work this month. These and CPW staff can connect producers to available resources including equipment, site assessments and compensation claim submissions.
- Enhanced response to wolf conflict and depredations: New criteria will help field staff in addressing wolf conflict and attacks, either proactively or reactively. “Many wolf depredations are a one-time event; however, more aggressive intervention may occur in scenarios with multiple depredations, nearby wolf den and rendezvous sites, and evaluation of pack territories or behaviors,” the release says.
- Range riders: CPW and the Agriculture Department created a Colorado Range Rider program, which will launch in early 2025. It will require specialized training to create a team of riders with connections to local communities who can be deployed to support producers on short notice.
- Carcass management: The agencies provided a list of best practice recommendations for disposing of carcasses in wolf country developed based on lessons learned in other states.
- Grant program: Grants up to $20,000 are available to support multiple producers in nonlethal conflict reduction measures and direct implementation such as range riding and carcass disposal.
- Communications and training: The Colorado Department of Agriculture, CPW, CSU Extension and other partners are offering ongoing wolf-related workshops across the Western Slope. A list of workshops and registration can be found on the Agriculture Department’s website.
- Publications: CPW will publish a “Wolf-Livestock Conflict Minimization Program Guide” this month to provide producers with a list of all conflict minimization tools, methods and state staff support available. The guide will describe CPW’s depredation investigation process, compensation program and lethal management criteria, including the definition of “chronic depredation,” the release says.
