“This is a tough crowd,” exclaimed Travis Black, the Northwest regional manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), as he fielded questions at a meeting in New Castle Tuesday night. He spoke to over 300 mostly livestock growers and outfitters about wolf reintroduction, one of the most contentious topics in Western Colorado these days. And, now that Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties may be home to the next batch of imported gray wolves, local ranchers are fired up.
“I’m not opposed to wolves but I am opposed to them here because it’s not a good fit,” said Mike Walck, a retired state brand inspector from Rifle. “If it was a good fit, they should have just let them migrate here and get established. But to go halfway across the damn country, net them out of a damn helicopter and load them up and bring them here, it doesn’t sit right.”
Walck isn’t the only one who thinks this way. Cattlemen, sheep ranchers, outfitters and hunters have been grumbling about “wolves at the door” ever since Colorado voters passed Proposition 114 in November 2020 to reintroduce gray wolves into the state — specifically west of the Continental Divide.
Tuesday’s crowd liked the idea of relocating future wolves to Pitkin County, which voted in favor of reintroduction. “Let them have ‘em!” yelled someone in the crowd to a roaring round of applause. “Send them to Boulder!” shouted someone else.
“They feel like it’s being shoved down their throat,” said state Senator Perry Will, now Garfield County Commissioner-elect. “They don’t like to be told what to do.” Will was among six elected officials at the meeting, including all three Garfield County commissioners. He was game warden and the local wildlife manager for CPW for more than 40 years. He said Colorado is too developed and too populated to handle wolves. “It’s not fair to the wolves,” he said.
CPW hit the ground running after voters approved wolf reintroduction.The agency had to come up with a management plan no later than Dec. 31, 2023, the deadline for paws on the ground. In other words, the wolves were coming and the agency had three years to prepare.
“That’s why we were in such a hurry last year to meet that statutory mandate to get wolves on the ground and meet that deadline,” said Black. “CPW convened a technical working group and a stakeholder advisory group to assist in the development of the plan.” After many public meetings across the state, CPW presented a draft plan to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission on Dec. 9, 2022. The final plan was approved on May 3, 2023 and the first 10 wolves were released that December in Grand and Summit counties. Black later said that $4.7 million has been spent on wolf reintroduction since 2021.
But, wolf presence on the landscape has revealed holes in CPW’s plan, including livestock predation and how to handle it. Preventive options, including hazing tools such as lights, noise, flags on fences (fladry) were not mandated in the plan. Wolf advocates wanted a requirement for non-lethal conflict minimization before ranchers would be reimbursed for livestock loss.
House Bill 1475, which failed in committee last spring, would have mandated the tools prior to reimbursement. But, the use of non-lethal methods has remained voluntary. And, since wolves cannot be killed by humans unless caught in the act of predation, the agency has been playing catch-up with non-lethal conflict minimization and working fast to deploy tools and training.
Funding is available from various sources for non-lethal conflict minimization. Many livestock growers have balked at using the tools, stating that they are too time-consuming or they don’t work. But the agency is beefing up access to the materials plus training, and will begin a range rider program this spring to provide constant human presence near livestock.
“We’re going to hire up to 12 contractors and be able to deploy those range riders in places with wolf activity,” explained Ethan Kohn, wildlife damage specialist for CPW’s Northwest region. “At our outreach events, we talk about carcass management and removing attractants from the landscape and how to deal with that.”
But, questions and complaints from Tuesday’s audience pointed to other things missing from the plan and more. What is the definition of chronic depredation? If non-lethal methods don’t work, will ranchers have the option to kill? How will carcass management play out? Can someone kill a wolf caught in the act of taking down elk? Why bring more wolves into the state when management of existing wolves is still new? Where in Garfield County will CPW release wolves? Why not release wolves in Pitkin County where there is higher social acceptance and where the economy is not as adversely affected? How will Colorado avoid the mistakes other states have made? How much has been spent so far? Is there a plan in place for when wolves are delisted?
Then, the call for a pause in the reintroduction process rallied the audience.
All of the elected officials at the meeting, including state Senator-elect Marc Catlin and Jeff Hurd Congressman-elect for Colorado District 3, support pausing the next release of wolves. Hurd also said he will support Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s bill to remove gray wolves from the list of threatened and endangered species under the federal Endangered Species Act.
But, it was Commissioner Tom Jankovsky who summed up Garfield County’s position, apparently emboldened by the tone of the crowd. “I’ll start out with Governor Polis, voters from the Eastern Slope, urban voters, even Pitkin County,” he proclaimed. “We don’t want your stinking wolves in Garfield County!”
Outgoing Garfield County Commission Chair John Martin encouraged the audience to get active. “You cannot be silent now. You’ve been armed with information,” he said. “You need to get on the [CPW] website. You need to write your letters. You need to continue to talk to your elected officials. You need to be heard. You will make a difference.”
CPW staff continued to put on a brave face despite the calls to pause the reintroduction process. Matt Yamashita, Area 8 district wildlife manager, told The Sopris Sun that he is not concerned with the emotional side of wolf reintroduction. “My job is simple — it’s what the statute says,” he mused. “I’m in charge of reintroducing wolves into the state of Colorado. That’s what I’m charged with. That’s what the voters put in place in front of our agency and that’s what we’re holding true to.”
So far, CPW is moving forward with plans to translocate up to 15 gray wolves from British Columbia this winter.
The next conflict management training and public meeting is in Aspen on Thursday Dec. 19 from 10am to 2pm. Contact Dustin at Shiflett@state.co.us or at 720-902-1222 details.
