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CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

CPW Director Steps Down After Turbulent Wolf Reintroduction Fight

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Davis, who led reintroduction of wolves to Colorado, will move into an executive role in the Department of Natural Resources. Maj. Gen Laura Clellan will lead CPW until new boss is hired. The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who ushered in the state’s wolf reintroduction program amid widespread scrutiny over many of his decisions, is stepping down.  Jeff Davis announced Tuesday he will move to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources executive director’s office as a senior policy advisor for strategic priorities.  Replacing him as interim director is retired Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, formerly the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. She will start Dec. 1.  A statement from...
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Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, State, Top Stories

Colorado Does Not Need More Candidates. Colorado Needs a Future.

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado is at a crossroads, and everyone living here can feel it. The cost of living has exploded. Families are working harder than ever yet falling further behind. Housing has slipped out of reach. Power bills climb. Groceries drain budgets. Fuel prices punish long commutes. Child care costs rival mortgages. Communities wonder how long they can stay in the state they love. All the while, the people in charge talk about saving the world while ignoring the people who actually live here, in Colorado.  We hear speeches about climate and national image. We hear big promises about transformation. We hear talking points that sound polished but solve nothing. What we do not hear is practical leadership. What we do...
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CPW Responds to Claims It Violated Federal Guidelines in Wolf Transfer From Canada
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

CPW Responds to Claims It Violated Federal Guidelines in Wolf Transfer From Canada

By: Karen Morfitt | CBS Colorado Updated on: November 13, 2025 / 9:24 PM MST / CBS Colorado Colorado Parks and Wildlife is moving forward with their wolf reintroduction plan even as they face additional challenges around where the wolves will come from. This comes after a former U.S. representative for Colorado who, along with other stakeholders, raised concerns that CPW may have violated state law by importing wolves from Canada. "I would say that no one has the authority to violate the Endangered Species Act. Section 9 clearly states that it is a violation of the Act to import wolves into the United States," said Lopez in a statement to CBS Colorado. "Section 10 requires the Secretary of the Interior to issue an exemption to Section 9 by publishing that exempti...
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Federal Investigation into Colorado Wolf Death Underway, Questions Remain Over Legality of Importing Wolves
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

Federal Investigation into Colorado Wolf Death Underway, Questions Remain Over Legality of Importing Wolves

By: Christa Swanson | CBS Colorado Colorado Parks and Wildlife said an investigation is underway after a female gray wolf died in southwest Colorado last month. They received a mortality alert for wolf 2506 on Oct. 30. The wolf was part of a group of wolves from British Columbia that were brought to Colorado in January. Because gray wolves are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, it's illegal to harass, harm, or kill them without federal authorization. Officials said they will determine the wolf's cause of death following a necropsy and investigation. The reintroduction of gray wolves into Colorado has been a controversial one. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has spent about $3 million to relocate 30 wolves to the state since 2023, nearly four times...
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Study Finds Wolves Cut Ranch Income Nearly 30 Percent
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American Farm Bureau, Approved, National

Study Finds Wolves Cut Ranch Income Nearly 30 Percent

By: Daniel Munch | American Farm Bureau While the expansion of gray and Mexican gray wolf populations is often hailed as a conservation success, the consequences for ranching families can be gruesome, costly and complex - threatening the safety of ranch families and their pets and livestock, as well as the long-term survival of multigenerational ranches and the rural economies they anchor. Focusing on the Mexican gray wolf, a recent University of Arizona study analyzes both direct livestock depredation and indirect effects such as stress-induced weight loss and elevated management costs based on 2024 cattle prices. Findings are based on survey responses from impacted ranchers, modeling of herd-level financial outcome and county-level livestock performance trends. In areas w...
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Feds to Polis administration: Stop importing wolves from Canada
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The Denver Gazette, Approved, State

Feds to Polis administration: Stop importing wolves from Canada

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Efforts by Colorado Parks and Wildlife to bring in more wolves from Canada later this year may have hit a snag after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service told the state it may not do so. In an Oct. 10 letter, Brian Nesvik, director of USFWS, told Gov. Jared Polis and Jeff Davis, director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), that Colorado is not allowed to bring in gray wolves from Canada or Alaska. Any wolves brought to Colorado as part of the wolf reintroduction program must come from one of the lower 48 states, the agency said. Nesvik cited what’s called 10(j) rule, noting USFWS authorized the state to release and establish gray wolves in Colorado as an experimental population “subject to Service oversight.” However, the 10(j) rule o...
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The County That Said No
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

The County That Said No

By Sean M. Pond | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice There are moments in history when ordinary people must decide if they will remain silent or rise up. If they will be ruled or govern themselves. If they will allow outsiders to rewrite their way of life, or if they will draw a line and say, "This far, and no further." Montrose County just drew that line. I authored and introduced Ordinance 2025-01, a landmark measure that would prohibit the introduction, facilitation, or establishment of non-native animal species in our county. It has passed its first reading and entered a 30-day public review period before coming back for final consideration. And while this ordinance may seem narrow in scope, it represents something far greater. It is a declaration of sovereignty. It is a d...
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From Colorado to California wolf conflicts fuel push to delist
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Grand View Outdoors, Approved, National

From Colorado to California wolf conflicts fuel push to delist

By RMEF Staff | Grand View Outdoors As new wolf packs kill livestock in Colorado and California, support grows to delist wolves nationwide. Wolves released by way of a controversial ballot initiative in Colorado, opposed by RMEF, have experienced a rocky start, creating headaches for wildlife managers and ranchers alike and seeing mortalities in their ranks.  In late August 2024, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced it was trying to capture and relocate wolves from the Copper Creek wolf pack, which formed from animals CPW released in Grand County in December 2023. Months later, the pack had killed nine cattle and an equal number of sheep.   In early September 2024, CPW announced that wildlife managers had captured the two adult wolves and four pups that ma...
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Colorado’s wolf experiment proves costly mistake for rural communities
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NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum, Approved, Commentary, State

Colorado’s wolf experiment proves costly mistake for rural communities

By Mark Chesnut | Commentary, NRA Hunters’ Leadership Forum The dismal saga that has resulted from the introduction of gray wolves into the mountains of Colorado proves one thing: Wildlife management is best left to trained experts in the field. As some background, after voters narrowly approved the introduction of wolves on a ballot initiative in 2020, 10 wolves from Oregon were released in Grand and Summit counties in the northern area of the state. In January 2025, a second group of 15 wolves from British Columbia was released in Eagle and Pitkin counties. The National Rifle Association and other hunting and wildlife conservation organizations warned that there could be unintended consequences, but since voters approved the ballot initiative, state wildlife managers were forced to...
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Wolf Suspected in Livestock Losses Evades CPW Efforts
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Local, Approved, kdvr.com

Wolf Suspected in Livestock Losses Evades CPW Efforts

By Heather Willard | KDVR Fox 31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that after days of searching, teams failed to kill an uncollared wolf that has been determined to be at fault in six livestock deaths in Rio Blanco County. Wildfires in the area delayed CPW’s ability to lethally remove the wolf, CPW announced on Aug. 5, which allowed another depredation event on Aug. 16, in which three lambs were found dead. Depredations, in this case, refer to a wolf stealing or killing a rancher’s product or livestock. Teams from CPW and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Wildlife Services were deployed on Aug. 16 to kill the depredating gray wolf, CPW said. “The decision to pursue lethal actions is never an easy one, but the events in...
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