Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: CPW

Gaines: Activists are using CPW to sneak in what the public rejected
Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

Gaines: Activists are using CPW to sneak in what the public rejected

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project By a 15% margin Denver voters last November soundly rejected an initiative to ban any new fur sales (among other things like display or trades) in the city.If you thought that this would be enough to convince animal rights activists to rethink their strategy, you're right.They did rethink it. According to the Complete Colorado article linked first below, a citizen petition for rulemaking (which is linked second below) has recently been filed with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to effectively do what voters in Denver clearly and obviously rejected.The difference? This petition, if it goes through, would be statewide and would be decided upon by the 12 CPW commissioners that Polis appointed.Let me run that past you again. 12 unelec...
Wolf pups den near Colorado cattle—rancher calls policy ‘the dumbest thing in the world’
Outdoor Life, State

Wolf pups den near Colorado cattle—rancher calls policy ‘the dumbest thing in the world’

By Natalie Krebs | Outdoor Life One rancher says the Copper Creek Pack, which has a history of hunting and killing livestock, is raising pups just a quarter mile from his cattle Wolf pups have been spotted in Pitkin County, Colorado, according to several sources, including a rancher whose calf was attacked by wolves this spring. Colorado Parks and Wildlife confirmed that it has seen pups in an emailed statement to Outdoor Life, and that their employees are continuing to monitor four den sites.  “CPW staff have begun to get minimum counts of pups by both direct observations and indirect methods,” the spokesperson wrote. “It is important to note that sighting numbers (especially from early season sightings) are not a guaranteed number of animals since certainty in det...
Sixth wolf death of 2025 confirmed—CPW says ‘wolf population will continue to grow’
Approved, DENVER7, State

Sixth wolf death of 2025 confirmed—CPW says ‘wolf population will continue to grow’

By Stephanie Butzer | Denver7 Another gray wolf that was brought to Colorado as part of the state's reintroduction program has died, Colorado and federal officials said on Monday afternoon. In a press release on Monday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said they received a mortality alert for a male wolf in northwest Colorado on May 31. The wolf had been brought to Colorado from Canada as part of the January 2025 reintroduction, CPW confirmed to Denver7. It is the fifth wolf from the original 15 released that month that has died. As with any wolf death in Colorado, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating because gray wolves are a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act. The USFWS will determine its cause of death. That investigation is ongoing. ...
CPW exterminates ‘Wolf 2405’ after four attacks in eight days killing livestock in Pitkin County
Approved, DENVER7, Local, State

CPW exterminates ‘Wolf 2405’ after four attacks in eight days killing livestock in Pitkin County

By Landon Haaf | Denver7 The series of depredations occurred between May 17 and May 25. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have killed a gray wolf that was believed to be involved in a series of attacks that killed two livestock calves and injured three more calves and one cow in Pitkin County. The series of attacks meets the agency’s criteria for “chronic depredation” that it finalized in January: three or more depredation events caused by the same wolf or wolves within a 30-day period, with “clear and convincing evidence” of at least one of the attacks. The wolf apparently involved was gray wolf 2405, a member of the Copper Creek Pack – still the only confirmed wolf pack in Colorado since their reintroduction in 2023. The Copper Creek pack was relocated from Grand County l...
Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Wolves roam, pups are born, riders deployed—but land-use plans still stuck in 2023

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Wolves are roaming, ranchers are riding – but the rulebook hasn’t changed. Wolves are traveling farther, forming dens and producing pups. Many have turned up dead — especially in Wyoming, where wolves that prey on livestock can be killed on sight under state law.  Yet not one federal or state land-use plan in Colorado has been updated since gray wolf reintroduction began in December 2023. That’s the backdrop for Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s May 13 press release announcing that its Range Rider Program is fully operational and patrolling western Colorado.  Eleven contracted riders hired by CPW have joined two staff from the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) to monitor livestock, haze predators and report signs of wolf-livestock ...
Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget
Approved, State, Westword

Wolf reintroduction strains rural Colorado as payouts outpace budget

By Catie Cheshire | Westword 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. The wolf-related claims that made many wildlife advocates howl came on December 31 from three ranchers in Middle Park. The ranchers argued the state s...
Colorado Parks and Wildlife settles with hunting groups that sued claiming commissioners violated open meetings rules
Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado Parks and Wildlife settles with hunting groups that sued claiming commissioners violated open meetings rules

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Two influential hunting organizations that sued members of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission claiming they violated Colorado Open Meetings Law and spread false information about mountain lion hunting say they agreed to a small cash payment and the promise that commissioners would be trained in open meetings law and the agency’s rules around hunting lions, lynx and bobcats.   CPW spokesperson Travis Duncan confirmed the groups had reached a settlement but said once the state proved the commissioners had never communicated outside of an official meeting, the hunting groups decided to settle for “a modest amount of $2,332 to avoid the expense of litigation.” Commissioners did participate in an open meetings training, he said, which “was also ...
CPW confirms second gray wolf reintroduced to Colorado dies in Wyoming
Approved, DENVER7, State

CPW confirms second gray wolf reintroduced to Colorado dies in Wyoming

By Stephanie Butzer | Denver 7 DENVER — For the second time this year, a gray wolf that was translocated to Colorado from Canada as part of the second round of reintroductions has died in Wyoming. Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) sent a brief press release about the second death around 6:45 p.m. Friday, saying they had learned about the male wolf's death in Wyoming on April 9. The wolf was part of the 15 animals — which included seven males — that had been captured in British Columbia earlier this year and brought to Colorado. CPW coordinated with Wyoming Game and Fish to obtain the wolf's GPS collar. Wyoming state law prevents other details from being shared, CPW said. When the first translocated wolf died in Wyoming on March 16, a CPW spokesperson told De...
Rewriting the rules: Wolves, federal reform and a lawsuit from rural Colorado
Approved, Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Rewriting the rules: Wolves, federal reform and a lawsuit from rural Colorado

By Jen Schumann | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Late last year, five wolves were airlifted from Oregon to Colorado under a plan voters narrowly approved—but few knew one of them came from a pack with a history of livestock attacks.  Fewer still knew the move may have violated federal law. At the center of the controversy is a growing belief that Colorado’s wolf reintroduction bypassed environmental law and public transparency.  And a federal lawsuit now threatens to unravel the entire plan. The lawsuit that could reset the rules The National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, is one of the country’s cornerstone environmental laws — meant to ensure that federal actions don’t proceed without full environmental review and public input.  But when...
Colorado’s gray wolves edge closer to Denver metro area: CPW map
Approved, kdvr.com, State

Colorado’s gray wolves edge closer to Denver metro area: CPW map

By Jacob Factor | Fox 31 News DENVER (KDVR) — At least one of Colorado’s gray wolves in March entered a new Denver area county and new watersheds in northern Park County, some of the closest areas to the Denver metro they have been tracked since their initial reintroduction. Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Wednesday released a new map for collared wolf activity between Feb. 25 and March 25, showing wolf activity in Clear Creek County and in watersheds that extend into northern Park County toward the Jefferson County border.USDA confirms wolf relocated to Colorado killed by Wildlife Services in Wyoming CPW tracks the wolves based on watersheds they enter at some point in the month-long span, but they do not report exact locations within those watersheds. This map shows...