On Wednesday, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission struck down a citizen petition that would have indefinitely halted wolf reintroduction in the state by a vote of 10-1.
The petition, brought forward by Middle Park Stockgrowers Association and 25 other pro ranching organizations, would have required CPW to meet seven conditions before releasing more wolves.
Some of those conditions included defining chronic depredation of livestock and working dogs, developing a range rider program, and developing best practices for carcass management. In a letter to the commission in December, CPW director Jeff Davis recommended denying the petition.
In the letter, he gave a detailed description of how all the conditions were already being addressed by the agency and its partners. For instance, CPW is holding an expedited training for 2-4 range riders to be in place by February and will eventually have two range riders in place for each of nine different western slope counties.
The Ranger Rider program, which is in partnership with the state Department of Agriculture, provides trained personnel to work closely with ranchers to monitor for wolves. They will also implement hazing techniques to deter wolves.
Before voting, the commission heard public comment from 76 people. The comment period lasted several hours, and emotions ran high throughout the testimony. One pro-wolf speaker called ranchers “murderers” and “privileged wolf haters.”
Lindsay Larris, the conservation director at Wild Earth Guardians, has been going to commission meetings since voters passed Proposition 114 in 2020 which mandated the reintroduction. In those four years, she said she’s seen CPW staff work tirelessly to support the livestock industry.
“CPW agency has done an amazing job of putting together so many resources, so much staffing hours have gone into helping ranchers, and they’ve met all the points of the petition at this point,” Larris said. The next release, with around 10 to 15 wolves, will begin by the end of this month.
After Colorado voters narrowly passed Proposition 114 by a 50.91% to 49.09% margin, a reintroduction plan was adopted. Ten wolves from Oregon were released in December 2023 in Grand and Summit Counties. GPS tracking has traced the wolves to Moffit, Routt, Jackson, and Larimer Counties. Three of the 10 wolves have died. Reports of depredation of 15 cattle, nine sheep, and three cattle dogs killed by wolves are known.