Rocky Mountain Voice

Tag: Proposition 114

CPW Kills Wolf Linked To Dozens Of Sheep Deaths In Northwest Colorado
Approved, State, The Denver Gazette

CPW Kills Wolf Linked To Dozens Of Sheep Deaths In Northwest Colorado

By: Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Wildlife officers shot and killed a wolf believed to be responsible for killing at least 22 sheep over the past year in a remote northwestern county, according to a state agency. The animal came from the Copper Creek pack and is the 15th wolf to die in Colorado in the past two years. It’s also the second wolf from the Copper Creek pack to be shot by Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff due to chronic depredation of livestock. Wildlife staff had been hunting for the wolf since last year and, at one point, believed they had shot it, but the animal survived and disappeared. In a statement, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that “visual evidence obtained at the scene confirmed the removed wolf is the same one that was depredati...
Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result
Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Wolf opponents ask federal officials to revisit Prop 114 after Keshel report challenges 2020 result

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice The fight over Colorado wolves has landed in a federal review process. Opponents of wolf reintroduction are asking federal officials to reconsider Colorado's wolf program after submitting a report that claims Proposition 114 did not actually pass. Colorado Conservation Alliance filed the report June 5 with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a federal review of Colorado's gray wolf program. Michael Clark, chairman of Colorado Conservation Alliance and CEO of Petrox Resources, signed the submission. The filing takes aim at a message Clark says Coloradans have heard for years. "The message has been both constant and assertive, Colorado's wolf program is 'the will of the people' because Proposition 114 passed," Clark wrote to U.S. F...
Colorado House Pushes Through $46.8 Billion Budget After Contentious Debate
Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado House Pushes Through $46.8 Billion Budget After Contentious Debate

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The House on Saturday, after four days of work – it usually takes two – finished up their work and voted on the $46.8 billion 2026-27 state budget, as contained in House Bill 1410 and 64 accompanying measures designed to help balance the budget. The delay in getting to the finish line was caused by Rep. Brandi Bradley, R-Roxborough Park, who asked for the 661-page budget bill to be read at length, a computer-operated process expected to take up to 15 hours. That was on Wednesday, the first day the full House worked on the budget. The reading was laid over until late Thursday by House Majority Leader Rep. Monica Duran, D-Wheat Ridge. The reading didn’t start until after 6:30 p.m., to allow the House to finish wor...
Colorado Wolf Compensation Claims Top $700K In 2025 Far Exceeding State Fund
The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Compensation Claims Top $700K In 2025 Far Exceeding State Fund

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission approved more than $706,000 in wolf depredation claims for 2025 during its March meeting last week, an amount that exceeds the state’s annual wolf compensation fund by more than double. The commission also rejected another $53,611 in claims. But more claims are expected, based on comments from Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff in January.  Of the claims approved last week, $615,000 was listed on the commission’s consent agenda; another claim for $125,265 was split, with $91,170 approved for payment and the rest denied. There were several other claims recommended for denial by CPW staff, which the commission affirmed. A CPW official told a joint meeting of the House and Sena...
Rural Colorado Rancher Warns Wolf Conflicts Are Hitting Close To Home
The Fence Post, Approved, Commentary, State

Rural Colorado Rancher Warns Wolf Conflicts Are Hitting Close To Home

By: Wade Allnutt | Commentary, The Fence Post I write this letter as a taxpayer, livestock producer and, most importantly, as a father of two young children. I am not writing to point fingers, but to give a first-hand account of what was voted on and what we in rural western Colorado are now living with as a consequence. The recent confirmed wolf depredation of a dog in Jackson County on Feb. 7, 2026, hits close to home for me. However, it is no more important than the depredations and mounting stress others have faced across western Colorado since this process began as a result of Proposition 114. This was also not the first depredation event for this ranch; they have had five other confirmed depredations of cattle in the last two years. Colorado is not an untouched w...
Wolf Claims to Exceed Annual State Allocation Topping One Million Dollars
The Coloradoan, Approved, State

Wolf Claims to Exceed Annual State Allocation Topping One Million Dollars

By Miles Blumhardt | The Coloradoan More than $700,000 in wolf depredation claims by ranchers in 2025 have been recommended for approval by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, doubling the amount budgeted by the state. Six claims totaling $706,460.91 were listed among agenda items to be heard at the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting March 5 in Denver. Claims listed under the consent agenda can be removed for discussion at another meeting, approved or denied by vote of the commission, which has final say. The agenda also shows three claims totaling $53,611.71 that CPW is recommending be denied. The awarded claims are only a partial list of total claims statewide in 2025. Total compensation to ranchers for wolf depredations will exceed $1 million, an amount&...
Colorado Wolf Reintroduction May Have Violated Federal Law
CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Wolf Reintroduction May Have Violated Federal Law

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado A plan to import 15 more wolves to Colorado from Canada may violate federal law.  Wolves are listed as an endangered species here, so Colorado Parks and Wildlife needs a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to relocate wolves here from other states. The permit issued by USFWS in 2023 lists six states where Colorado can source wolves. It doesn't list Canada, where CPW got 15 wolves last year and plans to get another 15 wolves this year. Former congressman and current gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez says USFWS dropped the ball by allowing CPW to import wolves from Canada, which he says is a clear violation of its federal permit.  "The terms and conditions are that they can only get wolves from the Northern Rocky Mountains. They...
CPW Confirmation of New Wolf Pups Raises Alarms in Colorado Ranch Country
State, Approved, kdvr.com

CPW Confirmation of New Wolf Pups Raises Alarms in Colorado Ranch Country

By Heather Willard | KDVR Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — State biologists shared a minimum count of pups for one of the newly-named packs in Colorado, marking the third pack to have confirmed pups after reintroduction. Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced Wednesday night that the One Ear Pack in Jackson County has a minimum of six pups, and shared video of the pups playing in a field. The video is linked in the video player above. Earlier this month, CPW shared footage from a game camera showing three wolf pups playing in a Routt County clearing. The news comes on the heels of the agency announcing it had named three packs this year after more wolves were reintroduced to the state from Canada. The other named packs in Colorado are the Copper Creek Pack, which was established in 2024 and i...
Wolf Program Hits $8 Million as Critics Ask Who Really Benefits
State, Approved, Colorado Politics

Wolf Program Hits $8 Million as Critics Ask Who Really Benefits

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics Colorado has now spent more than $8 million over five years on the wolf restoration program, according to a presentation made at Thursday's Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Grand Junction. Justin Rutter, the assistant director for financial and capital services at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, also addressed the apparent discrepancy between the General Assembly's Blue Book estimate of the annual program cost, which is around $800,000. He noted a caveat in the Blue Book language around the program's cost, one that said, "actual state spending will depend on the details of the plan," developed by the commission, and the cost to compensate for livestock losses caused by wolves. Those additional costs since the ballot measure...
Ballot Bait-and-Switch? Colorado Gray Wolf Plan Bleeds Taxpayers Dry
State, Approved, CBS News

Ballot Bait-and-Switch? Colorado Gray Wolf Plan Bleeds Taxpayers Dry

By Shaun Boyd | CBS News Colorado Parks and Wildlife told an interim legislative committee it has spent about $3 million to relocate 30 wolves to the state over the last two years. That's more than double what voters were told it would cost when they approved wolf reintroduction in 2020. The Blue Book estimated it would cost about $800,000. Ranchers say, not only is the cost of the program out of control, the management of it is off the rails. "A depredating pack was known to have depredated in Oregon before they put them in Middle Park," Tom Harrington, a cattle producer in Roaring Fork Valley, told lawmakers. "They had serious impact there. They packaged them up, put them away for awhile. And then, they put them back out -- right in my backyard." Harrington and other ranch...

FD863768-0ACF-495E-9D21-2EF784DFFA6B[1]

Join us at RMV's Freedom Festival

Click Here for Tickets!

This will close in 0 seconds