Colorado Wildlife Agency Seeks $450K More For Wolves Despite $1.5B State Budget Shortfall

Byline: By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics

The panel of legislators charged with crafting the budget on Monday rejected a proposal that proponents said would increase transparency around how much Colorado Parks and Wildlife spends to bring additional wolves into the state.

At the same time, the wildlife agency is seeking $450,000 in general funds for fiscal year 2026–27 — twice what it spent in 2025 — to acquire more wolves, even though the agency has not identified where the animals would come from.

The request arrives as the state faces a projected $1.5 billion shortfall in the general fund budget in next year’s spending plan.

Joint Budget Committee staff had recommended creating a separate budget line beginning in 2026–27 to clearly show the state’s spending on wolf acquisitions. Currently, those costs are folded into a broader wildlife operations line item.

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