By Shannon Lukens.
State legislators had questions about the wolf introduction program Wednesday, in a Joint Senate and House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee meeting. The meeting started out with the Deputy Director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Reid Dewalt, talking about threats that have been made to CPW staff.
“But the fact is that we have been pretty heavily threatened during this operation, which is sad to say. We’ve been followed during the operation. We have people staking out our offices. There have been threats of violence on social media and through phone calls. We’re taking this very seriously. And it’s just unfortunate that that is occurring out there. I don’t think any CPW staff member should be threated with violence because they’re doing their job.”
Senator Dylan Roberts is chair of the committee, representing Senate District 8 which includes Routt and Moffat counties.
“We appreciate those comments. I think everybody on the panel agrees with that and we thank the hard-working men and women of CPW.”
We reached out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife about any threats and whether arrests have been made and received the following statement, “CPW has no further comments on this topic.”
Wolves are being released in Colorado, anytime now through next weekend. CPW has not provided any more details except that it could be up to 15 wolves from British Columbia, in Pitkin, Garfield, or Eagle counties.
More on the Story — Colorado legislators are told that CPW agents are being threatened
The 25th Annual Airline Partners Summit, hosted by Steamboat Resort, ends today. All six airlines that fly into Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Hayden are represented, along with local business members and elected officials. One presentation was about the Mountain Rail Project which would be from Denver to Craig. Here’s Shoshana Lew, who is the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
“We’re thrilled to be here to talk about all of the progress that’s been made in the past year and a half towards mountain rail a reality for this region. There’s so much potential to connect places within the valley, and across the state, through rail. Being able to prioritize this project is a tremendous opportunity for all of us working together.”
Lew also told the audience, “Trains are much safer than driving on winter roads.” More information is at ColoradoMountainRail.org
More on the Story — Mountain Rail in the Yampa Valley is discussed at the Airline Summit
The Tri-State settlement is being discussed today with the Moffat County Board of County Commissioners, Natural Resources Director, Jeff Comstock, members of Craig City Council, and Craig City Manager, Peter Brixius. That meeting is at 11 a.m.
In alpine news…
Steamboat’s Cody Winters has finished third, taking the bronze medal in World Cup Slalom in Austria. It’s Cody’s first World Cup podium after five 4th place finishes. He was interviewed at the finish line.
“Yeah, it feels amazing, I have been super close to some podiums now and to finally get on the podium is amazing, it feels super good, super hyped, that it finally happened.”
This is the first podium finish in Snowboard Alpine for Team USA since Justin Reiter (USA) in Moscow in 2015. The U.S. team competes in Mixed parallel today at Bad Gastein, Austria. Then Cody and team are off to Bansko, Bulgaria, Jan. 18-19 for more World Cup action.
Screenshot Video of Cody Winters being interviewed
From Fis-Ski.com — Hofmeister is back on top in Bad Gastein while March spoils Austrian hopes
Anabel Ayad with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club won the bronze medal in dual moguls mixed team with teammate Chase Littlefield at the 2025 FIS Freestyle Junior World Championships in Kazakhstan. SSWSC alumnae Abby McLarnon also had top finishes, with a 4th in singles, 3rd in duals, and sixth in the team competition.
More on the Story — Past and present SSWSC athletes Winters, Ayad, and McLarnon make podium