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Tag: Colorado Ranchers

Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Governor’s mansion doubles as free soapbox for First Gentleman’s animal agenda

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project The First Gentleman's lecture series -- who's footing the bill? A couple weeks back, I noticed an article about a talk at the governor's mansion about wolf reintroduction involving the First Gentleman and his guests for the evening. The article is linked first below if you'd like to give it a read.If you know anything about the First Gentleman, you know he is a dedicated animal rights activist. Has been for a while. It should therefore not shock anyone that the guests at this talk were also animal rights/wildlife advocates.I won't go into the details of the talk. I'll leave it to you to read up if you'd like.The First Gentleman has the same First Amendment rights as anyone else. He's welcome to have an opinion and expre...
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Colorado Ranchers Face Lasting Struggles After Lee Fire Scorches 137,000 Acres
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Local, Approved, The Gazette

Colorado Ranchers Face Lasting Struggles After Lee Fire Scorches 137,000 Acres

By Jonathan Ingraham, Michael Braithwaite | The Gazette 'I've got some cattle whose feet are going to fall off, their backs so burnt that their hide is cracking and breaking,' one rancher said. Cattle feverishly mooed in the middle of the early August night, an unusual sound to hear at that hour.  Their unease was brought on by the Lee fire, which was quickly encroaching upon their enclosure at the 103-year-old Halandras family ranch, about 23 miles south of Meeker.  The wildfire that started from lightning strikes on Aug. 2 was devouring prime northwestern Colorado grazing land that the family — and other ranchers — rely on faster than emergency crews could contain a stable fire line. Regas K. Halandras recalled family members and ranch hands jumping into act...
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CPW moves to kill second wolf from Copper Creek Pack after July depredation
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

CPW moves to kill second wolf from Copper Creek Pack after July depredation

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff are in the field to kill a member of the Copper Creek gray wolf pack after repeated livestock deaths. The action comes nearly two months after CPW killed a gray wolf in Pitkin County connected to the same pack. CPW told FOX31 on Tuesday that its staff is in the field in Pitkin County, “undertaking additional lethal control efforts” that align with the agency’s and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rules on chronic depredation and lethal removal of depredating wolves. Depredations, in this case, refer to a wolf stealing or killing a rancher’s product or livestock. The news comes on the heels of a calf depredation discovered on July 18. CPW stated that the calf appeared to have been injured ...
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Colorado Ranchers Say Wolf Plan Built on Lies and Broken Promises
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State, Approved, The Coloradoan

Colorado Ranchers Say Wolf Plan Built on Lies and Broken Promises

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan PITKIN COUNTY — Distrust of Colorado Parks and Wildlife's implementation of the wolf recovery plan runs as deep as the Capital and Sopris creek drainages where longtime ranching neighbors Mike Cerveny and Brad Day run around 700 cattle combined. The two buddies from Wisconsin moved to the stunning Roaring Fork Valley about 30 years ago and have been steadily building their herds on leased ranches, unable to buy their own property due to the high cost of land 20 miles from ritzy Aspen. They admit there are plenty of challenges ranching among multimillion dollar homes steadily squeezing the ranches they lease. But the latest challenge is a gut punch that staggered the steady ranchers because it happened so quickly, secretly in conjunction with ...
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USDA chooses Fort Collins as one of five new hubs in major federal relocation effort
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CBS Colorado, Approved, National

USDA chooses Fort Collins as one of five new hubs in major federal relocation effort

By Dillon Thomas | CBS Colorado The United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, will close down a major portion of its current headquarters in Washington, D.C., moving some of the staffers to Northern Colorado. Fort Collins was selected as one of five locations around the country where the headquarters will be relocated. "At first blush, everything about having offices out here makes sense," said Kenny Rogers, a cattleman in Yuma. Rogers has been a cattleman for decades, at times serving in leadership roles among his peers. He said the announcement of the partial move to Fort Collins was a surprise to him, but one he welcomes. "Getting boots on the ground where the action is occurring, rather than in an office in Washington, D.C., that is not a bad thing," ...
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‘This is no longer an agriculture-friendly environment’: Colorado ranchers slam Polis agenda
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

‘This is no longer an agriculture-friendly environment’: Colorado ranchers slam Polis agenda

By Rachael Wright | Colorado Politics Ranchers and farmers assess Polis administration Janie VanWinkle is contemplating something she never thought she’d ever consider — selling the family ranch after four generations of living and working in Colorado. “The political environment is so toxic that if we do speak up at all, it falls on deaf ears,” said VanWinkle, a Western Slope rancher. “This is no longer an agriculture-friendly environment or atmosphere. Five years ago, I could never imagine having this conversation with my family.” Colorado's agricultural industry is the state's second-largest economic driver, accounting for more than $47 billion in activity and employing more than 195,000 people. The export of Colorado cattle as of 2024 generated nearly $4.5 billion, making Co...
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Secret call reveals top-down tampering in Colorado wolf probe
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The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Secret call reveals top-down tampering in Colorado wolf probe

By Miles Blumhardt | Coloradoan A secretly recorded cellphone conversation between ranchers and a Colorado Parks and Wildlife wolf depredation investigator exposed how agency investigations receive top-down influence to alter the number of confirmed wolf depredations. The Coloradoan on July 20 was provided a copy of the nearly 20-minute recording by Merrilee Ellis of Coberly Creek Ranch that included a conversation between her husband, Mike Neelis; son-in-law, Adam Edwards; and state wildlife damage specialist Rhea Ebel-Childs on April 23. Ellis believes the recorded conversation was pivotal in the ranch winning a wolf depredation compensation claim that Colorado Parks and Wildlife had initially denied. The conversation centered around a wolf kill investigation on the southern ...
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Colorado Agriculture Under Siege from Regulation and Rewilding
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State, Approved, denvergazette.com

Colorado Agriculture Under Siege from Regulation and Rewilding

By Rachael Wright | The Denver Gazette Janie VanWinkle is contemplating something she never thought she’d ever consider — selling the family ranch after four generations of living and working in Colorado. “The political environment is so toxic that if we do speak up at all, it falls on deaf ears,” said VanWinkle, a Western Slope rancher. “This is no longer an agriculture-friendly environment or atmosphere. Five years ago, I could never imagine having this conversation with my family.” Colorado's agricultural industry is the state's second-largest economic driver, accounting for more than $47 billion in activity and employing more than 195,000 people. The export of Colorado cattle as of 2024 generated nearly $4.5 billion, making Colorado one of the 10 producers in the nation. Th...
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Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Rancher gets additional $100K for livestock wolf kills in 6-5 CPW commission vote after heated debate

By Tracy Ross | Colorado Sun The Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission voted 6-5 to compensate rancher Conway Farrell after a heated debate that revealed division on the commission. A rancher who received $287,408 in compensation for livestock killed by wolves in 2024 was granted an additional $100,046 on Thursday, after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission narrowly approved his latest claim.  The vote on the table was for the commission to adopt CPW staff’s recommendation to deny rancher Conway Farrell’s claim for direct losses of 89 calves during the time wolves were known to be attacking his sheep and cattle in 2024. The commission voted 6-5 to reject the guidance, effectively granting Farrell’s request.  Commissioners Gabriel Otero, Eden Vardy, Frances S...
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Wolf removal risks ESA 10(j) protections, Director Davis says at special CPW commission meeting
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DENVER7, Approved, State

Wolf removal risks ESA 10(j) protections, Director Davis says at special CPW commission meeting

By Stephanie Butzer , Colette Bordelon | Denver7 Denver7 listened into Monday's special CPW Commission meeting about the wolf pack's recent depredations and future. The Copper Creek Pack in Pitkin County was in the spotlight during a special meeting of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission on Monday afternoon, where the commission solidified its decision not to direct CPW to take any action on the wolf pack for now, saying it is outside the commission's responsibilities. The CPW Commission held the special meeting virtually, which began around 12:30 p.m. and lasted for about two hours. Public comment was not included in the agenda, something producers who spoke with Denver7 felt was lacking from the conversation. New CPW Commission Chair Richard Readin...
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