Joe Zemba
La Junta Tribune-Democrat
There are very few instances where the opposition to any political measure is entirely unison, but when it comes to wolves and the livestock industry, the aforementioned have made their position very clear: No more wolves!
Twenty-six petitioners representing counties affected by wolf reintroduction, but backed by an entire industry, filed a petition to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, asking the Commission to adopt a rule that delays the further introduction of gray wolves in Colorado until Colorado’s wolf management program is equipped to handle the consequences of these introductions. The petition was filed in September, prior to the Commission’s end of year meeting, and rejected by the group.
Colorado voters approved wolf reintroduction in 2020 and Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 wolves in Grand and Summit counties in 2023 – despite objections raised by livestock producers worried that the carnivore would get their product before it reached the slaughterhouse.
Fifteen additional wolves are being released in Colorado this month.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife experts kicked off capture operations of gray wolves in British Columbia on Friday as part of its 2025 capture season in support of the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. The agreement with the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship allows up to 15 wolves to be translocated and released in Colorado this year.
According to CPW, the commencement of capture operations follows work to adopt a number of wolf-livestock conflict minimization measures, including a range rider program, a definition of chronic depredation, the development of a depredation response operations team, effective non-lethal tools, a site assessment program, a carcass removal program, and a communications plan. Additionally, at the January Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting the Commission adopted the staff recommendation regarding the citizen petition to delay gray wolf restoration. The operation is expected to last up to two weeks.
“Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife itself has admitted that the agency needs to provide “additional support” to livestock producers to address wolf-livestock conflicts, and it is safe to say the agency’s introduction of wolves has not gone smoothly,” argued the livestock group.
“In the first eight months of this program, Colorado has confirmed 24 livestock deaths as the result of wolf depredations in Grand, Jackson, and Routt Counties. And this does not account for undocumented losses—the “missing” livestock and many suspected wolf-related deaths that CPW was incapable or unwilling to deem as depredations,” said the petitioners.
“In recent weeks, wolf attacks have increased in the Muddy Creek drainage in Grand County. CPW has confirmed two depredations in that area, and livestock producers have reported additional missing or dead livestock,” they said.
“Having met its statutory obligation to introduce wolves by December 31, 2023, the Commission must now adopt this rule to pause any further introduction of wolves until it has redesigned and implemented a management program that resolves conflicts with livestock producers and refrains from imposing any land, water, or resource use restrictions on private landowners.”
Ultimately, and in alignment with voter intent with Proposition 114, CPW will recover and maintain a viable, self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado while balancing the need to manage interactions between wolves, people and livestock.
Adding wolves from British Columbia to the existing population in Colorado will increase the likelihood of pairing, breeding and pack formation. Established wolf packs defend territories, which will allow CPW to monitor patterns within a territory and intends to improve the agency’s ability to collaborate with producers on active behavior and coexistence strategies to best protect livestock.
Collars will be placed on wolves, which will inform CPW about the behaviors and survival of reintroduced animals and wolves will be released at select sites in Colorado as soon as possible once they arrive in the state to minimize stress on the animals.
CPW has said that gray wolves from this area of B.C. do not overlap with areas where livestock are present, so there are no concerns about reintroducing wolves that are from packs that are involved in situations of repeated livestock depredations.
“We remain committed to working with all parties as we continue to implement the law as passed by the voters,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis. “We have been working all year in preparation to have more wolves on the landscape with an improved Conflict Minimization Program, the addition of new staff to work alongside producers, strengthened partnerships, and guidelines for producers as it relates to chronic depredation and lethal management considerations.”
“We are excited to be working with B.C. to bring together our combined experience and expertise while ensuring the safety of animals and staff,” said CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell. “This new source population of gray wolves will provide additional genetic diversity to Colorado’s wolf population.”
CPW plans to release 10-15 gray wolves on the West Slope per year, for a total of 3 – 5 years, as outlined in the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan.
In comparison, 14 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1994 and today, there are roughly a dozen packs in the park.
In contrast, however, Yellowstone is not home to livestock that producers rely on for income, making the situation in-state extremely complex.
When the measure was approved by voters in 2020, no county primarily made up of rural communities nor those driven by livestock sale voted in favor of the measure.
How and when, if at all, the reintroduction affects areas not directly affected by the reintroduction is still a relatively new discussion. It is, however, important to note that livestock depredation can have a significant affect of increased food prices due to decreased production and lower supply, as well as a high impact on the agricultural supply chain as producers who are interconnected with other sectors of the agricultural economy, such as transportation, feed production, and processing could be affected by depredation.
