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Colorado Ranch Hand Reportedly Shoots Wolf While Protecting Calves
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Approved, State, The Coloradoan

Colorado Ranch Hand Reportedly Shoots Wolf While Protecting Calves

By: Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan A ranch owner says her ranch hand shot and killed the King Mountain wolf pack mother, the Coloradoan has confirmed. The death will test the state's laws protecting the endangered predator, which only allows for the legal killing of wolves under certain situations. Ranch owner Susan Nottingham first confirmed the killing of the wolf to the Coloradoan in an interview June 1. The wolf was killed March 10 on the Nottingham Ranch, which spans 20,000 acres in northern Eagle and southern Routt counties. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, is leading an investigation into the wolf death and has not yet released details of the case. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE COLORADOAN
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Ranchers Turn Frustration Into Reform With New Anti Rustling Law
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Ranchers Turn Frustration Into Reform With New Anti Rustling Law

By: Michael Abeyta | CBS Colorado Colorado's most valuable single goods export is beef. That means ranching is a big part of our economy, but when an animal goes missing the process of reporting that info used to be a little outdated. Until recently. Two ranchers, Nicole and C.W. Mallery, changed the way missing animals are handled in the state. Nicole Mallery says she knows exactly how difficult ranching can be sometimes. She and her husband C.W. own Freedom Acres Ranch in eastern El Paso County. They raise all sorts of animals, but cattle are a big moneymaker for them. So, they hate to lose one of them, especially to theft. "Last year we had 15 cattle come up missing. This year already, we've had four cattle come up missing," said Mallery. "It becomes very traumatic....
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Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Copper Creek Wolves Drive Majority Of Colorado Livestock Losses

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan Beef, and mutton, are often what's for dinner for one Colorado wolfpack that has racked up a $700,000 tab, according to a review by the Coloradoan. The Copper Creek pack has been implicated in more than 60% of the state's confirmed depredations — 49 of 78 —since Colorado began reintroducing wolves in December 2023, a review of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's confirmed depredations records and ranchers' depredation claim filings shows. Those losses led to payouts by the state exceeding $700,000. That is greater than 40% of the total amount Colorado has paid for wolf depredations in that time. In total, the agency awarded ranchers more than $1.6 million in wolf depredation claims combined in 2024 and 2025. That's more than doub...
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Trump Administration Releases Key Funds For Colorado River Water Project
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Approved, State, The Denver Gazette

Trump Administration Releases Key Funds For Colorado River Water Project

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The Trump administration on Friday released $40 million, clearing the way for a water district and its partners to finish funding the purchase of some of the state’s most senior Colorado River water rights, Gov. Jared Polis announced. Federal funding for the Shoshone water rights owned by Public Service Company, a division of Xcel Energy, was approved by the Biden administration in 2024 through the Inflation Reduction Act. An executive order issued shortly after President Donald Trump took office in January 2025 put that funding on hold. With the $40 million in federal funding on its way, the project’s funding now stands at $97 million, close enough to its $99 million total cost that the Colorado River Conservation District can move int...
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Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb
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Pikes Peak Courier, Approved, State

Rural Colorado Communities Back Iran Strategy Even As Gas Prices Climb

By Reuters | Pike's Peak Courier WIGGINS, Colo. • Perched behind the cash register at Stubs liquor store, Amy Van Duyn gazed out the window at a red-and-green gasoline price sign, which she said seemed to tick up daily. The price was $4.34 per gallon — about 50% higher than it was in these parts when President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. “I used to fill my tank for $36,” said Van Duyn, 42. “Now $36 gets me half a tank.” Her co-worker Tonyah Bruyette said when it’s time to buy groceries, she’s left wondering where all her money went: “We’re putting it in the tank rather than on our table.” Like most people in and around Wiggins, a farming town of 1,400 people in northeast Colorado, Van Duyn and Bruyette remain ardent supporters of t...
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Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Feds Open Public Comment Period On Colorado Wolf Reintroduction

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is requesting public comment and information regarding Colorado’s gray wolf importation program. This request comes just months after the federal agency threatened to take over wolf management in Colorado due to ongoing problems. As previously reported by Complete Colorado, FWS sent an official warning to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) management saying Colorado violated the terms of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by releasing 15 wolves in January 2025 without informing citizens. FWS also criticized CPW’s management of the Copper Creek pack, which has a history of livestock depredation, and which cost Grand County ranchers alone $450,000 in losses. On April 4, FWS issued ...
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Colorado Wolf Program Costs Taxpayers More Than $1 Million In Livestock Claims
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Program Costs Taxpayers More Than $1 Million In Livestock Claims

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics After paying more than $700,000 in March to ranchers for livestock lost to wolves, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission is poised to approve two additional claims totaling $262,000 at its meeting this week. Those approvals would bring total payouts to about $970,000 with another $56,000 in claims rejected across the March and May meetings. And that figure only reflects claims requiring commission approval. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff can sign off on claims under $20,000, and the state’s wolf‑depredation website shows that, in 2025, the agency received 32 such claims totaling $47, 142.55, ranging from $88.50 to $3,500. That’s a total of $1.072 million for 2025 alone. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT...
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Polis Signs Sweeping Colorado Law Changes Affecting Farms Schools And Public Office
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Polis Signs Sweeping Colorado Law Changes Affecting Farms Schools And Public Office

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Gov. Jared Polis signed 25 bills into law Monday, bringing changes that will affect workers, families, schools, and local governments across Colorado. The new laws deal with a range of issues – from overtime rules for farmworkers to limits on lawmakers holding multiple offices, along with school safety upgrades and new standards for dementia care facilities. These measures — some technical, others sweeping — reflect the wide array of issues lawmakers tackled during a session defined by tight budgets and competing priorities. No double-dipping As introduced, Senate Bill 59 would have prohibited state lawmakers — including newly elected members of the Colorado General Assembly — from holding a second elected office a...
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Arizona California Nevada Unite On Colorado River Plan As Shortages Loom
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The Guardian, Approved, National

Arizona California Nevada Unite On Colorado River Plan As Shortages Loom

By Ian James | The Guardian Proposal includes cutbacks for three years as negotiations over future of shrinking reservoirs have been unsuccessful. The states of California, Arizona and Nevada have proposed voluntary water-saving measures for the next three years aimed at buying time while negotiations remain deadlocked over the future of shrinking reservoirs filled by the Colorado River. The Colorado River provides water to some 40 million people in the American west. But the two vast reservoirs filled by the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both stand at historically low levels, after consistent overdrawing coupled with reduced snowpack and warming from climate change. The seven states with legal rights to water from the Colorado River have so far failed to agree on...
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Local Farmers Battle Dry Conditions and Higher Costs Ahead of Market Openings
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Local Farmers Battle Dry Conditions and Higher Costs Ahead of Market Openings

By Ethan Carlson | Denver7 Unseasonably warm weather and expensive water are forcing local farmers to adapt. LONGMONT, Colo. — Farmers markets are set to open across Colorado in the coming weeks, but local growers are facing a tough season marked by drought, rising fuel and fertilizer costs, and warm weather. The City Park Farmers Market starts Saturday, May 2, and the Lafayette Farmers Market opens Sunday, May 3. Shoppers may see a different selection of goods than usual for this time of year. Peter Wanberg, co-owner of the City Park and Lafayette Farmers Markets, noted that the weather has affected what crops are going to be available. “Normally, there’s a lot of greens and there’s not a huge amount of those really big harvest mid-seaso...
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