By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun
A Native American tribe in Washington that promised 15 wolves to Colorado has rescinded its offer saying the state has not honored concerns of the Southern Ute Tribe involving wolf reintroduction.
Since soon after Colorado voters approved reintroducing wolves west of the Continental Divide, the Southern Ute Tribe has been trying to get Colorado Parks and Wildlife to acknowledge the tribe’s sovereignty in managing wolves on its land under an agreement covering hunting and fishing in the southwestern corner of the state.
But the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Nation says a lack of agreement between the Southern Utes and the state is a deal-breaker. On June 6, Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville Business Council, wrote a letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis saying the Colville Tribes were withdrawing their resolution because “necessary and meaningful consultation was not completed with the potentially impacted tribes” when the state created and implemented its wolf reintroduction plan.