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Laura Clellan Takes Helm At Colorado Parks And Wildlife After Unanimous Vote
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Laura Clellan Takes Helm At Colorado Parks And Wildlife After Unanimous Vote

By Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has unanimously voted to name Acting Director Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan as the new permanent director. Clellan has been serving as acting director since Dec. 1, 2025. She previously served as Chief for Leadership and Employee Development for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood and as Adjutant General and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT CBS COLORADO
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Does anyone care about the wolves? Or just the politics behind them
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, State

Does anyone care about the wolves? Or just the politics behind them

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com If you were a grey wolf, it would be hard to imagine a more hostile environment than this state, into which 25 wolves have been involuntarily and violently extradited from their natural homes. It is reminiscent of illegal immigrants from south of the border being deported to prisons in unfamiliar countries like South Sudan and Uzbekistan. Those people have at least been accused of committing some crime. But what exactly have these wolves done to deserve such a fate? Wolves are among history’s most hated creatures. Writers have taught children for centuries to fear the Big Bad Wolf. Think of the villains in “Little Red Riding Hood” and at least three other Grimm’s fairy tales, or “The Three Little Pigs,” or at least four Ae...
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Colorado Confirms 14th Wolf Death Since Voter Mandated Reintroduction
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Colorado Politics, Approved, State

Colorado Confirms 14th Wolf Death Since Voter Mandated Reintroduction

By Marianne Goodland | Colorado Politics The 14th wolf to die in Colorado since their reintroduction about two years ago took place during a “collaring” operation in the northwestern region of the state last week. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the wolf, identified as #2305 — meaning it was one of the original 10 animals that came from Oregon — died on Jan. 28 in Routt County. The wolf was the male of the breeding pair that produced the King Mountain pack last year. Of the original 10 wolves from Oregon, five have now died. Two yearlings from the Copper Creek pack, whose mating pair were from Oregon, also died. Another seven wolves from the original 15 of the British Columbia wolves have also died. READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT COLORADO POLITICS
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Colorado Unveils Detailed Plan to Restore Wolverines to High Country
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Unveils Detailed Plan to Restore Wolverines to High Country

By Spencer Wilson | CBS Colorado Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released more information about how, where, and why it plans to reintroduce wolverines into the state and why wildlife officials say Colorado is critical to the species' future. The 106-page report details the plans behind the bipartisan effort. The state confirmed plans to reintroduce wolverines in 2024, but until now, many of the specifics had not been made public. The newly released plan outlines a multi-year strategy, highlighting distinct differences between this effort and Colorado's controversial gray wolf reintroduction. Colorado currently has no resident wolverines. CWP said in the report that the species was wiped out nearly a century ago through poisoning, trapping, and "pre...
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What CPR left out of Colorado’s BLM oil and gas lease auction coverage
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Colorado Accountability Project, Approved, Commentary, State

What CPR left out of Colorado’s BLM oil and gas lease auction coverage

By Cory Gaines | Commentary, Colorado Accountability Project Bureau of Land Management recently held an auction for oil and gas leases in Colorado and, per the CPR story linked below, no one bid. Quoting with link intact: “On Thursday, the Bureau of Land Management auctioned off leases on more than 20,000 acres of public land in Colorado for oil and gas drilling. The land, divided into 23 parcels, was offered at the minimum starting price, just $10 an acre, and could be leased indefinitely once oil and gas starts flowing. But during the sale: crickets. Not a single parcel received a bid, and only two companies had even registered for the sale.” If you read the article, you’ll note a lot of space given over to environmentalists who crowing about the lack o...
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“Not a Land Grab”
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

“Not a Land Grab”

By Aimee Tooker | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice The proposed Dolores River National Conservation Area is a total of 68,000 acres along the river in Montezuma, Dolores and San Miguel Counties and was the result of over 15 years of stakeholder engagement. Despite the remote and beautiful nature of the Dolores River, over a century of coordinated collaboration among stakeholders has determined its optimal usage and management, and those local conversations excluded the use of both Wild and Scenic status as well as a designation as a National Monument.  A “Land Grab” would have been a 500,000-acre National Monument signed over by one President. This NCA proposal does NOT include any land in Montrose and Mesa counties and the critical mineral resource known as the Ur...
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Colorado Coyote Debate Reveals Sharp Divide Between Ranchers and Activists
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Complete Colorado, Approved, State

Colorado Coyote Debate Reveals Sharp Divide Between Ranchers and Activists

By Savana Kascak | Complete Colorado DENVER–A recent Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW) stakeholder report shows a wide gap between agriculture producers and animal welfare activists when it comes to management of coyotes.     The stakeholder report, released in early December, summarizes four months of CPW meetings with rural interests, such as ranchers and sportsman, along with animal welfare and environmental activists. CPW held these meetings to explore potential changes to current furbearing animal management.  While the two sides found common ground on management strategies of most other animals, coyotes were the one species the groups could not compromise over.    Ranchers, sportsmen, and rural landowners expressed the ...
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The warning before SPEED: How an ongoing Colorado wolf dispute shaped the permitting debate
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

The warning before SPEED: How an ongoing Colorado wolf dispute shaped the permitting debate

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice Before Congress voted to overhaul the nation’s permitting process, a Colorado lawmaker had already issued a formal warning that federal law was being set aside in the rush to move forward. On December 13, 2024, Rep. Lauren Boebert sent a detailed letter to then–Interior Secretary Deb Haaland arguing that Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan triggered federal jurisdiction and could not legally proceed without updated federal Resource Management Plans and a proper National Environmental Policy Act review. She asked the Department of the Interior to press pause on any additional wolf imports until those federal duties were met. More than a year later, the House passed the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic De...
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Unsolicited advice the Sierra Club probably won’t take–but should
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GregWalcher.com, Approved, Commentary, National

Unsolicited advice the Sierra Club probably won’t take–but should

By Greg Walcher | Commentary, GregWalcher.com After the 2020 George Floyd murder, the Sierra Club called for defunding police and reparations for slavery. It touched off an internal battle that tore the organization apart, leading to the ouster of two consecutive executive directors, employee layoffs, office closings, loss of members, and financial freefall. It also invited some unsolicited advice – from me. My column, during the worst of the Club’s turmoil, strongly advised its leaders to “stay in your lane.” “Stick to what you are known for, and good at, and you will remain effective and relevant,” I advised. You may be shocked to learn that they did not heed that advice. Perhaps they considered it unfriendly? Psychology Today just published suggested respons...
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Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space
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The Fence Post, Approved, State

Colorado State Land Board Approves La Jara Deal Aimed at Protecting Open Space

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post After what seemed like a rock-solid deal was thrown into a tailspin by some commissioners, the Colorado State Land Board ultimately voted to sell the La Jara property, a deal that has unanimous stakeholder support that has been in the works for nearly a decade. Ultimately, the SLB commissioners, save for Commissioner Josie Heath, voted for the disposal of the property. The 46,000-acre La Jara property in the San Luis Valley will be sold to the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The USFS and the BLM will purchase 43,526 acres with $43.5 million appropriated through the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. The remaining 2,427 acres, around La Jara Reservoir, will be sold to CPW for $6.1 million. ...
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