Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Multiple wolf attacks hit Western Slope ranchers—CPW accused of broken promises

Ranchers are calling multiple wolf attacks on cattle over Memorial Day weekend in Pitkin County “devastating” and evidence Colorado Parks and Wildlife is failing to keep its promise to alert ranchers when wolves are in range of their livestock.  

The attacks occurred over three days on the Crystal River Ranch, in the Crystal River Valley, and on the Lost Marbles and McCabe ranches, in the Roaring Fork Valley.

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Activism over science? Proposed ballot measure #82 would gut CPW authority, opponents say

Critics across Colorado’s hunting, ranching, and wildlife management communities are sounding the alarm over a 2026 ballot measure they say could upend science-based conservation and rural land rights.

Initiative #82, called the Colorado Wildlife and Biodiversity Protection Act, would create a new regulatory body, the Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation Commission (WECC). The commission would hold far-reaching powers over endangered species protections, wildlife corridors, land use, and even Colorado Parks and Wildlife itself.

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From guns to gray wolves: 9 new laws reshape CPW’s future

Over 120 days, Colorado lawmakers introduced over 650 bills in the 2025 legislative session.

Among those that passed were several that will have implications for Colorado Parks and Wildlife as it tackles illegal wildlife traffic, manages hunting and sport shooting activities, continues the voter-mandated reintroduction of gray wolves and more.

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Tracking collar signals death of female wolf in northwest Colorado, marks fourth this year

One of Colorado’s reintroduced wolves died on Thursday, May 15, in the state’s northwest region. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials confirmed on Friday that they received a mortality alert on the female wolf’s collar on Thursday. The agency provided no additional details on the incident or the cause of death.

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CPW tracks four suspected wolf dens, ranchers brace for more uncertainty

For wolves, the beginning of May signals the end of denning season. 

While Colorado Parks and Wildlife is tracking up to four pairs of wolves that could be denning, none have been confirmed, according to Eric Odell, the agency’s wolf conservation program manager.

“We are monitoring one to three to four pairs of animals that could be denning,” Odell said at the May 7 meeting for the agency’s commission. 

The agency is “sussing out” these potential dens using data from the GPS collars that the majority of Colorado’s wolves are wearing.

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Colorado’s wolf plan ignores the one thing wolves don’t: borders

Over the last month, two of Colorado’s latest gray wolf transplants were killed after crossing the border into Wyoming. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife expects these types of movements into other states from the reintroduced wolf population. The species is known for traveling long distances in search of food or mates. 

However, once the wolves leave Colorado, they lose certain protections afforded to them by both state and federal laws. But just how those protections change, and what might happen to them, depends entirely on which way they travel.

Colorado’s wolf plan ignores the one thing wolves don’t: borders Read More »