CPW officials discuss wolves at with Colorado State Legislators at State Capitol

June 30, 2025 Shannon Lukens

By Shannon Lukens. Courtesy photo.

File photo.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is in conversation with British Columbia to get new wolves to bring to Colorado this winter. That’s according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis at Monday’s Colorado Agriculture Review Committee at the state capitol.

“We’re in conversations with British Columbia to extend the agreement from last year. We believe that those animals have been pretty good performers on our landscape to date, and again, we get into how the plan says we’re gonna relocate 30 to 50 in a three- to five-year window. That’s really important for just a base foundation population, but more important for genetic diversity, and so we would not want to, like, pull up short of that genetic diversity down the road.”

Director Davis also presented that over $3M has been spent on the program so far. Senator Dylan Roberts of the 8^th Senate District pointed out that that is $2.2 million over budget which means wolves are being prioritized over classrooms and roads.

“This seems out of control. And that’s just with ten wolves introduced the first year and 15 reintroduced with illusions that we’re going to go up to Canada and get 15 more wolves. And they’re going to have pups and this is going to continue, so $3 million is going to be $10 million in a couple years. It seems completely out of control, especially because we’re cutting from other things. I’m very concerned.”

Agriculture experts and elected officials expressed their frustration in a panel, with everything that has been happening, including accusing Governor Polis of being involved.

“It is widely recognized that the governor’s office heavily influences management decisions which has eroded the trust and credibility of CPW.”

That’s Bonnie Brown with Colorado Wool Growers Association.

Here’s Garfield County Commissioner Perry Will, who is also a former State Representative for Moffat, Rio Blanco, and Garfield counties, and a former state senator.

“Promises broken. Total program failure and cruelty to the wolves.”

Tom Harrington has had livestock losses in Pitkin County. He is the most immediate past president of Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. He also blamed the governor’s office for a rushed agenda. And he expressed the importance of a rancher’s herd and livelihood.

“We were told we had a seat at the table as agriculture. That group put together a plan and agreed upon by a broad range of recreation, sportsmen, at large members, agriculture, CPW, a lot of time and effort, volunteer, time and effort went into that. And yet because of a rushed agenda, in my opinion, by the governor to get it headlines instead of following the plan, now we’re dealing with the fallout.

The compensation that is taking place, you can test… Talk to any rancher in our area, any rancher that’s impacted by this have been in the Middle Park area, they went through the exact same thing a year ago that we’re dealing with now. We don’t raise them to be compensated when a predator eats them. That’s not why we do this. Even though I know literally every cow out there on our herd all the way to 10 years old and their calves, what they look like, how they act, how much pressure they can take when you’re working them, we just, we spend that much time with them, they’re our livelihood, they’re our lives.

That’s what I’ve chosen to do. We had that seat at the table, and yet we’ve been ignored with the decisions that were immediate needed action and in the wolf plan were put forth to deal with those problems. Problems being wolves that chose to prey on livestock instead of wildlife to impact the ecosystem in a positive way by re- redistributing wildlife. Now we’re seeing that pack that has been relocated, as Ms. Brown mentioned, a depredating pack, was known to have depredated in Oregon before they put ’em in Middle Park, they had serious impact there.

They packaged ’em up, put ’em away for a while, and then they put ’em back out right in my backyard.”

Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke also spoke in public comment about being on the Technical Working Group to develop the wolf plan, and that the plan isn’t being followed.

“We’re not following the plan. It’s been a failure in terms of following the plan. We want to always say this 10 to 15 in three to five years. Okay, we’re following that part of the plan, but we’re not following the part of the plan that talks about translocation and where these wolves are supposed to be sourced from. I’m gonna read you a portion of the plan. One is, ‘Sourcing donor populations not known to be depredators whether present around livestock or not was preferential to sourcing populations not exposed to livestock if possible.’ That’s the BC wolves. They’re not exposed to livestock. And then this last one is a sentence that says, ‘No wolf should be translocated that has a known history of chronic depredation and sourcing from geographic areas with chronic depredation events should not occur.’ That was the Oregon pack that became the Copper Creek pack as you well know had all of those problems. It doesn’t say that anything about that there is breeding pairs or there had to be certain numbers. It specifically says exactly what I just read, that and period. And this comes from the Wolf Plan Appendix B4. And one more thing. ‘The translocation of depredating wolves to a different part of the state will not be considered as it is viewed as translocating the problem along with the wolves.’ And that comes from the Wolf Plan of page 27. So that’s just not me making up this stuff. This is part of what we in the technical working group spent hours and hours, 18 months hashing out these things and coming to these these decisions and this language by consensus and adopted by the CPW Wildlife Commission.”

Link to listen to more of the hearing on Monday at the State Capitol in Denver — Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee

Steamboat Radio News Past Coverage of wolves in Colorado

June 27, 2025 — CPW releases this year’s Colorado Gray Wolf Annual Report
June 24, 2025 — Colorado Cattlemen hear of new wolf petition being presented to CPW
June 2, 2025 —Another wolf has died
May 30, 2025 — Colorado Parks and Wildlife kills a wolf from the Copper Creek Pack
May 16, 2025 —A gray wolf from British Columbia has died in Northwest Colorado
April 24, 2025 — Another gray wolf from British Columbia has died
April 11, 2025, Media Statement: Colorado Gray Wolf 2513 Mortality in Wyoming
March 29, 2025 — Wolf in Jackson County may be heading to Wyoming
March 28, 2025 — Wolf in Jackson County meets three Livestock Guardian Dogs
March 27, 2025 — Day 12 and the wolf keeps showing up each night at the same Jackson County ranch
March 24, 2025 — Wolf spotted on game cam in Jackson County
March 22, 2025 — Ballot initiative to end wolf introduction by 2026 has been filed
March 20, 2025 — A gray wolf recently introduced to Colorado has been killed in Wyoming
March 19, 2025 — CPW confirms a wolf attack on a dog in Jackson County
March 5, 2025 — CPW Commission talks wolves and how “we have to get past this point of constant contention”
Feb. 14, 2025 — Jackson County Rancher says CPW has confirmed a wolf kill of his cow
Feb. 13, 2025 — Colorado Parks and Wildlife updates wolf movements and more
Jan. 19, 2025 — Twenty wolves have been released in Eagle and Pitkin counties
Jan. 16, 2025 — Here is how you can become a Range Rider
Jan. 15, 2025 — Colorado legislators are told that CPW agents are being threatened
Jan. 12, 2025 — New wolves may have arrived from British Columbia
Jan. 11, 2025 — Up to 15 new gray wolves from British Columbia will be in Colorado within two weeks
Jan. 8, 2025 — Video of the CPW Commission vote, denying the Wolf Citizen Petition
Jan. 7, 2025 — Ag producers on Ad Hoc Wolf Working Group speak out before Wednesday’s CPW Commission meeting
Jan. 7, 2025 — STATE LEGISLATORS DISCUSS WOLVES AND THE UPCOMING LEGISLATIVE SESSION
Jan. 2, 2025 — A reward is offered for the person who shot a gray wolf in Grand County
Dec. 31, 2024 — Producers submit three wolf depredation claims for over $575,000
Dec. 23, 2024 — CPW releases definition and stipulations of Chronic Depredation and Lethal Management of wolves
Dec. 21, 2024 — CPW says they’ll recommend denying petition request for delaying next introduction of wolves
Dec. 9, 2024 — Colorado Parks and Wildlife has started the operation to bring 15 gray wolves to Colorado from British Columbia
Nov. 14, 2024 — Wolf Update — November 14, 2024
Nov. 3, 2024 — A collared wolf has crossed I-70 to the south, for the first time
Nov. 3, 2024 — CPW responds to requests from Club 20 about Wolf Reintroduction
Oct. 15, 2024 — Livestock producers have access to livestock protection dogs for free from USDA
Oct. 11, 2024 — Fifth wolf pup has not been captured
Oct. 8, 2024 — CPW Commission gets another letter asking to pause wolf reintroduction
Oct. 6, 2024 — CPW Commission hears wolf updates at meeting
Sept. 30, 2024 –– A 5th wolf pup is spotted in Grand County and will be captured by CPW
Sept. 30, 2024 — Colorado Ag Organizations petition CPW Commission before further wolf releases happen
Sept. 26, 2024 — No producers show for first Non-Lethal Wolf Conflict Reduction Training Meeting
Sept. 23, 2024 — CPW confirms a cow and a calf killed by wolves in Grand County
Sept. 16, 2024 — The Wolf Conflict Reduction program is hiring two field specialists
Sept. 14, 2024 — The next set of wolves coming to Colorado will be from Canada
Sept. 13, 2024 — Middle Park Stockgrowers ask CPW not to release any more wolves there
Sept. 12, 2024 — Another wolf is dead in Grand County
Sept. 10, 2024 — Grand County ranchers are reporting more wolf kills
Sept. 9, 2024 — The Copper Creek Wolf Pack has been captured and CPW says the adult male was unhealthy and has died
Sept. 9, 2024 –– Ranchers with the most wolf depredations ask U.S. Fish & Wildlife to take over wolf management
Aug. 27, 2024 — The Copper Creek Wolf Pack is getting rounded up and relocated
Aug. 23, 2024 — CPW confirms the next wolves introduced will again be in Northern Colorado
July 31, 2024 — Eight more sheep confirmed killed by wolves in Grand County
July 31, 2024 — Colville Tribe says they won’t send wolves to Colorado now
July 29, 2024 — Two more sheep die from wolves in Grand County
June 24, 2024 — CPW REPORTS LESS WOLF ACTIVITY IN ROUTT AND NONE IN MOFFAT
June 20, 2024 — WOLF PUP CONFIRMED IN GRAND COUNTY
June 19, 2024 — CPW CONFIRMS SOUTH ROUTT WOLF KILL
June 17, 2024 — PRODUCER REPORTS SUSPECTED WOLF KILL IN SOUTH ROUTT COUNTY
June 16, 2024 — CPW DIRECTOR JEFF DAVIS ANSWERS QUESTIONS AT JACKSON COUNTY GATHERING
June 13, 2024 — CPW TO FORM WORKING GROUP REGARDING WOLF RESTORATION
June 12, 2024 — NORTH PARK PRODUCER WHO LOSES CALF SPEAKS OUT
June 10, 2024 — CPW CONFIRMS ANOTHER WOLF DEPREDATION IN JACKSON COUNTY THIS WEEKEND
June 5, 2024 — Wolf Video posted from Grand County
May 26, 2024 — DON GITTLESON SAYS ANOTHER CALF HAS BEEN KILLED BY WOLVES ON HIS RANCH
May 15, 2024 — HERE’S THE LATEST LETTER TO MIDDLE PARK STOCKGROWERS FROM CPW DIRECTOR DAVIS
May 14, 2024 — Suspected mountain lion kills the collared wolf
May 6, 2024 — MIDDLE PARK STOCKGROWERS SEND EIGHT-PAGE LETTER TO CPW
April 30, 2024 — GRAND COUNTY RANCHERS TO GET HELP WITH PROTECTING THEIR LIVESTOCK
April 30, 2024 — NORTH PARK STOCKGROWERS SEND ANOTHER LETTER TO CPW AND GOV. POLIS
April 28, 2024 —ANOTHER WOLF KILL IN GRAND COUNTY SUNDAY
April 24-2024 — COLLARED GRAY WOLF ACTIVITY MAP RELEASED FOR APRIL
April 23, 2024 — A WOLF HAS DIED, AND MIDDLE PARK STOCKGROWERS HEAR FROM CPW
April 22, 2024 — MULTIPLE LETTERS SENT TODAY TO GOVERNOR POLIS AND CPW ASKING FOR ACTION ON WOLVES
April 18, 2024 — FOUR MORE HEAD OF LIVESTOCK KILLED BY WOLVES IN GRAND COUNTY
April 9, 2024 — AG PRODUCERS MEET WITH CPW OFFICIALS IN KREMMLING ABOUT WOLVES
April 8, 2024 — ANOTHER CALF KILLED BY A WOLF OR WOLVES IN JACKSON COUNTY
April 3, 2024 — A WOLF OR WOLVES HAVE KILLED A NEWBORN CALF IN GRAND COUNTY
April 3, 2024 — Denver 7 Calf killed in first confirmed report of gray wolf depredation since wolves were released in December
Feb. 29, 2024 — COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE OFFICIALS COME TO STEAMBOAT SPRINGS TO TALK WOLVES
Jan. 30, 2024 — CPW SENDS UPDATE ON WOLF SIGHTINGS SINCE 2004, AND MORE ON THE MAP
Jan. 24, 2024 — ELECTED OFFICIALS GRILL DEPT. OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND CPW AT HEARING WEDNESDAY
Jan. 22, 2024 — CPW GETS HARSH LETTER DEMANDING ANSWERS FROM ROBERTS AND MCCLUSKIE
Jan. 19, 2024 — COLORADO’S NEXT WOLVES TO BE REINTRODUCED WILL BE FROM TRIBAL LANDS IN WASHINGTON
Jan. 12, 2024 — CPW CONFIRMS WOLVES WERE IN SOUTH ROUTT BUT AREN’T (YET) IN MOFFAT
Dec. 22, 2023 — FIVE MORE WOLVES ARE RELEASED BY COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE
Dec. 22, 2023 — CPW DENIES GITTLESON’S REQUEST TO IMPLEMENT 10(J) RULE ON JACKSON COUNTY WOLVES
Dec. 21, 2023 — THREE OF THE FIVE WOLVES RELEASED IN COLORADO WERE IN PACKS THAT KILLED OR INJURED LIVESTOCK IN OREGON
Dec. 19, 2023 — LIVESTOCK PRODUCERS RECEIVE WOLF UPDATE FROM CPW IN CRAIG MONDAY
Dec. 13, 2023 — GITTLESON SAYS ANOTHER CALF WAS ATTACKED BY A WOLF TODAY
Dec. 11, 2023 — COMPLAINT FILED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT TO STOP WOLF REINTRODUCTION IN COLORADO
Dec. 4, 2023 — KEEP YOUR PETS CLOSE AND CARRY A BIG STICK – CPW HAS ADVICE FOR LIVING WITH WOLVES
Nov. 19, 2023 — THREE LAMBS KILLED BY A WOLF IN JACKSON COUNTY, SAYS RANCHER
Nov. 17, 2023 – CPW AND CDA ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT TO WORK TOGETHER ON WOLF REINTRODUCTION
Nov. 7, 2023 – U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SETS DATE FOR 10J RULE FOR WOLVES
Oct. 6, 2023 – COLORADO WILL RECEIVE WOLVES FROM OREGON
May 16, 2023 – POLIS VETOES 10J RULE WOLF BILL
May 3, 2023 – CPW COMMISSION APPROVES FINAL WOLF RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
May 2, 2023 – MANAGEMENT OF GRAY WOLVES REINTRODUCTION BILL PASSES IN STATE HOUSE
May 2, 2023 –CPW MEETS THIS WEEK FOR FINAL WOLF MANAGEMENT PLAN
April 27, 2023 – CPW CONFIRMS WOLF SIGHTING EAST OF KREMMLING
April 8, 2023 – CPW WOLF COMMISSION MEETS IN STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
April 3, 2023 – CPW TO PRESENT FINAL DRAFT WOLF RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN IN STEAMBOAT SPRINGS
March 28, 2023 – THE SOUTHERN UTE TRIBE ASKS THAT CPW RELEASES WOLVES ALONG I-70 CORRIDOR
March 15, 2023 – TWO DOGS DIE FROM WOLVES IN JACKSON COUNTY THIS WEEK
March 3, 2023 –COLORADO PARKS AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION RELEASES WOLF REINTRODUCTION MEETING RECAP
Feb. 21, 2023 —WOLF 2101 RECAPTURED AND RECOLLARED IN JACKSON COUNTY
Feb. 21, 2023 —10J RULE MEETINGS WITH REGARDS TO WOLVES SCHEDULED FOR NW COLORADO BY US FISH AND WILDLIFE
Jan. 17, 2023 —STATE LEGISLATORS HEAR MORE ON WOLF REINTRODUCTION AT JOINT COMMITTEE HEARING
Dec. 13, 2022 —MORE WOLVES VISIT GITTLESON PROPERTY IN JACKSON COUNTY THIS WEEK
Dec. 12, 2022 —NORTH PARK RANCHERS MEET WITH CPW REGARDING WOLF REINTRODUCTION PLAN
Dec. 10, 2022 —CPW RELEASES DRAFT COLORADO WOLF RESTORATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN
Nov. 19, 2022 —ANOTHER WOLF ATTACK REPORTED IN JACKSON COUNTY
Oct. 9, 2022 —WOLVES ATTACK CALVES IN RIO BLANCO AND JACKSON COUNTIES
July 14, 2022 —CPW UPDATES THE WOLF PACK IN JACKSON COUNTY
June 20, 2022 ––WOLF MANAGEMENT DISCUSSED AT MEETING IN WALDEN
June 15, 2022 —WOLVES IN NORTH PARK ARE SUBJECT AT MEETING MONDAY, JUNE 20
May 30, 2022 —THE GITTLESON RANCH LOSES ANOTHER CALF TO WOLVES, THEY SAY
May 5, 2022 —AT LEAST TWO MORE CALVES KILLED BY WOLVES ON GITTLESON RANCH
May 10, 2022 ––THIRD CALF DIES ON JACKSON COUNTY RANCH; CPW DOES NECROPSY
April 11, 2022 —A NEW LITTER OF WOLF PUPS IS EXPECTED IN JACKSON COUNTY
March 17, 2022 —WOLVES ATTACK ANOTHER DOMESTIC COW IN JACKSON COUNTY
Feb. 10, 2022 – MONTANA STOCKGROWERS VOICE SUPPORT FOR COLORADO RANCHERS OVER THE WOLVES
Feb. 9, 2022 – WOLF MANAGEMENT DISCUSSED BY LOCAL RANCHERS AND OFFICIALS AT FORUM IN STEAMBOAT
Jan. 22, 2022 – WOLF MITIGATION OPTIONS
Jan. 19, 2022 – ANOTHER COW KILLED OVERNIGHT IN NORTH PARK BY WOLVES
Jan. 18, 2022 – TWO MORE COWS ATTACKED BY WOLVES IN JACKSON COUNTY TUESDAY
Jan. 12, 2022 – CPW ALLOWS WOLVES TO BE HAZED IN EMERGENCY DECLARATION
Jan. 10, 2022 – A WOLF PACK KILL IS REPORTED IN JACKSON COUNTY OVER THE WEEKEND
June 9, 2021 – WOLF DEN WITH PUPS CONFIRMED IN NW COLORADO