In a recent news story in The Durango Herald, Sen. Dylan Roberts, co-sponsor of wolverine reintroduction Senate Bill 171, said the bill “is completely opposite from the wolf reintroduction process,” and that it marks “a responsible way to do wildlife reintroduction.”

Roberts made those statements knowing all the time that neither he nor any other legislator would’ve created or supported legislation to reintroduce wolves to Colorado.

Yet, Roberts, being among the most outspoken critics of Colorado’s wolf reintroduction efforts, detailed how he and co-sponsor Sen. Perry Will spent two years crafting the wolverine bill with input from Western Slope residents, resort industries and wildlife biologists. Their wolverine legislation includes the need of a 10(j) designation from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services, establishes a funding tool for livestock depredations, and has no deadline for the reintroduction process.

Even though the current Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan addresses all the issues, with thorough details, plus a deadline for the reintroduction process covered in SB 171, Roberts, in essence, condemned the citizen Initiative 114 and the people of Colorado for using the ballot box to legalize wolf reintroduction.

Roberts was also aware that the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission in 2016, passed a resolution that CPW would not restore wolves to Colorado.

With all legislative routes denied, and at that time, the CPW Commission blocking wolf reintroduction, a citizen’s initiative taken to the ballot box was the only possible route to achieve wolf reintroduction in Colorado.

Bob Kuhnert

Durango