Wolf reintroduction debate continues in Colorado, Tribe backs out of sourcing agreement
Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) decision to reestablish gray wolves in the Centennial State has been controversial since the get go, and roughly seven months since the release of 10 wolves in Northcentral Colorado, tensions are still high.
Following a string of depredations and confirmation of the first wolf pup in Grand County, Colorado, the most recent headline regarding the hot button topic surfaced on Aug. 1.
Colville Tribe backs out of agreement
According to an article written by Miles Blumhardt and published in the Fort Collins Coloradoan, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, located in Washington, have backed out of their agreement to provide CPW with 15 more wolves later this year and early 2025.
The Tribe originally assented to the agreement in October 2023 after Wyoming, Montana and Idaho refused to provide wolves for Colorado’s reintroduction program. Blumhardt notes the state of Washington considered sourcing wolves but “ultimately decided it could not meet Colorado’s 2023 timetable.”
Instead, Oregon offered to provide 10 wolves, which were released in late December 2023 in Colorado’s Grand and Summit counties.
However, on June 6, Colville Tribe Executive Director Cody Desautel informed CPW they would not be sending any wolves after receiving a letter from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe of Southwest Colorado expressing concerns with the state’s reintroduction plan.
“The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has publicly expressed concerns with the state’s wolf reintroduction plan for the same reasons ranchers and hunters have – wolves killing the Tribe’s livestock, deer and elk,” Blumhardt writes. “The Tribe also requested CPW limit wolf releases to the northern zone along the Interstate 70 corridor of its two preferred release areas.”
Desautel tells the Fort Collins Coloradoan, “After hearing from Colorado Tribes concerned about the wolf reintroduction, we halted the project out of respect for the sovereignty, culture and impacts to membership of the Native American Tribes in Colorado.”
With the state’s reintroduction plan calling for the release of 30 to 50 wolves over the next three to five years, CPW Director Jeff Davis notes the Colville Tribe’s decision is “disappointing” but he hopes to continue conversations with them into the future.
“We will continue working with other potential sources for wolves to further our efforts to restore wolves to Colorado,” he says. “We are not contemplating halting our implementation of the plan and will continue in our efforts to restore a sustainable population of wolves to the state while avoiding and minimizing impacts to our critically important agricultural industries and rural communities.”
Blumhardt reports, although the Southern Ute Indian Tribe sent the Nez Perce Tribe of Lapwai, Idaho the same letter, they hope to see wolf populations expand, “especially in light of Idaho’s ‘aggressive’ goal of reducing wolf numbers.”
“I think we might be open to helping out Colorado,” says Aaron Miles, natural resource manager for the Nez Perce Tribe. “We want wolves to thrive and be sustainable and for people to learn to live with them.”
CPW steps up depredation mitigation
According to CPW’s map which tracks collared wolf movement, May 21 to June 25 saw large activity of wolves spreading out, with some moving deeper into Eagle County, Colorado and southeast of Vail into Lake County, Colorado.
Others moved into the southeast part of Routt County, Colorado; the northeastern portion of Garfield County, Colorado; deeper into Larimer County, Colorado and Grand County, Colorado and even into Boulder County, Colorado.
Over the course of these three months, Colorado ranchers reported numerous depredation incidents, and as of Aug. 6, CPW confirmed 14 killings, with six reported in April and four in July. The most recent incident involved eight sheep in Grand County, Colorado on July 28.
In June, CPW voted to allow producers to use artificial light at night to help kill wolves caught in the act of attacking livestock, which was a step up from the night vision optics allowed previously.
CPW also approved a 45-day permit for killing chronically depredating wolves, classified bison as livestock to allow bison producers compensation for wolf kills and allowed reimbursement for livestock lost in pooled herds.
Additionally, Colorado producers were given permission to kill wolves attacking livestock during the day.
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
