“It’s a large claim,” said Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) director Jeff Davis at the CPW Commission meeting earlier this month. He was talking about Grand County rancher Farrell Livestock’s 2024 wolf predation claim, which was originally around $400,000. 

CPW’s Northwest Regional Manager Travis Black recommended that Farrell be awarded about $287,000. “That claim has various subparts, which our rules allow, for base compensation, for missing animals and decreased production weights and pregnancy rates,” he said. The second part of the claim for $112,000 for missing cattle had not been resolved. 

Commission Chair Dallas May then opened the discussion to questions from fellow commissioners, instructing them to focus on the procedure and not on claim details. According to CPW’s attorney, the public was unable to comment. “That’s not something we do,” he said. “The appellate courts of Colorado have said that public comment on adjudications is inappropriate because it exposes the claimants and the division to potential unfair prejudice that is extraneous to the record.” In other words, the commission’s decision is based only on the claim and related documents. The task at hand was to approve or deny a stipulation of just over $287,000. 

Black stated that the base compensation was for the direct loss of approximately 15 animals. Missing sheep costs came to $3,500. This year, said Black, since wolves were present in the area, the weaning weight per calf dropped by 36.5 pounds. Conception rates were down 2.7%. “We take the market value of a bred cow, subtract the market value of an unbred cow,” he explained, “multiply [the difference in the payment] times the number of unbred cattle.” The payout, minus transportation costs of bringing the animals to market, came to $90,000. 

“As far as pregnancy rates and the loss in weight, I can tell you for a fact that one event on a ranch affects the entire ranch,” said May. He added that a loss of pasture can cause weight loss. “You don’t have the habitat. You don’t have the landscape,” he said. “It is a net drain on your program if you can’t use your entire ranch.” 

CPW has been working with Dr. Frank Garry of Colorado State University and Veronica Yovovich, CSU extension specialist, to form a Livestock Data Working Group to standardize livestock data. Davis told the commission that this would help make future claims more efficient.

The commission approved two wolf depredation claims at the March meeting, including Farrell Livestock Inc for $287,407.63 and Bruchez and Sons LLC, also of Grand County, for $56,008.74. On Feb. 5, CPW received the first wolf predation claim of 2025 for $2,097 from a Jackson County rancher for the death of one cow.  

State lawmakers allocated $350,000 for wolf depredation compensation for fiscal year 2024-2025 and $175,000 for the previous year. The Denver Post reports that the state has paid a total of $348,906 for wolf predation claims since reintroduction began.