Ballot-box Biology

Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget

Westword, Approved, State / / , , , , ,

Colorado is eighteen months into the state’s wolf restoration project, and the teeth are still coming out.

So far, the state has paid over $370,000 in claims to ranchers who have been impacted by the presence of wolves near their operations. Although wolf advocates and detractors both agree that Colorado should compensate people for wolf-related losses, ranchers believe the funds are not enough to cover the full breadth of the impact of the carnivores in this state. Conversely, wildlife advocates question if some of the reimbursements that ranchers have claimed are a good use of taxpayer money.

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Costello: The unintended consequences of Proposition 127

Approved, Commentary, State / / , , ,

Coloradans, I’m writing to you from California, where mountain lion hunting is illegal because of ballot-box biology. The idea of saving mountain lions and bobcats feels noble. They are magnificent critters, and supremely effective at making a living on the landscape (killing prey). We all love wild landscapes filled with diverse wildlife, including elusive and sometimes scary apex predators. While revered and respected for millennia, it is also true that humans have hunted, harvested and managed these animals as part of our own participation in the natural world.

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