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Wolf funding diverted but reintroduction charges ahead
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The Colorado Sun, Approved, State

Wolf funding diverted but reintroduction charges ahead

By Jesse Paul | The Colorado Sun A group of Western Slope lawmakers Thursday abandoned their attempt to pause wolf reintroduction in Colorado. But they reached a deal with Gov. Jared Polis that will redirect about $250,000 set aside to bring more gray wolves into the state this year into a fund aimed at driving down health care costs. Colorado Parks and Wildlife will have to find the funding elsewhere to continue its reintroduction plans, which doesn’t appear to be a problem for the agency.  The next batch of wolves is scheduled to be released in western Colorado around December. The state is already sourcing animals for that release. State Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Frisco Democrat, said the alternative to the compromise was the bill being killed by the legislature d...
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From Oregon to Colorado: Wolves Bring Carnage, Questions
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The Gazette, Approved, State

From Oregon to Colorado: Wolves Bring Carnage, Questions

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced Wednesday that another wolf from the original 10 that came from Oregon has died in Wyoming. Wyoming law prevents divulging more details on the wolf's death, although the tracking collar is being returned to Colorado. With the death of the female wolf identified as OR-2304, that makes four of the 10 animals from Oregon that have now died. All told, a total of 10 wolves out of the original 25, including the 15 brought to Colorado in January from British Columbia, have died. In a statement, the state wildlife agency said it would not comment further on the latest mortality since it took place outside of Colorado. Wildlife officers are also on the hunt for an uncollared wolf that killed three sheep i...
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CPW Confirmation of New Wolf Pups Raises Alarms in Colorado Ranch Country
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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...
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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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Wolf Program Hits $8 Million as Critics Ask Who Really Benefits
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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...
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Montana may approve 500-wolf hunt in effort to restore big game herds
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Cowboy State Daily, Approved, National

Montana may approve 500-wolf hunt in effort to restore big game herds

By Mark Heinz | Cowboy State Daily Montana is considering setting a wolf kill quota of 500 for the 2025-2026 wolf seasons, nearly half of its wolf population. It would allow hunters and trappers to take as many as 15 wolves each.  Montana is considering setting a wolf kill quota of 500 for the 2025-2026 wolf seasons, allowing hunters and trappers to take as many as 15 wolves each.  If hunters and trappers fill the quota, it would cut Montana’s wolf population roughly in half, leaving about 550 of the predators, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) reports.  Some argue that’s extreme overkill and indicates that Montana is trying to eradicate wolves. Others claim it’s sound predator management, and 550 wolves would still be more than enough to keep them from being re-...
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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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Ranchers Beg for Relief as Colorado Wolf Attacks Mount
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State, Approved, The Colorado Sun

Ranchers Beg for Relief as Colorado Wolf Attacks Mount

By Tracy Ross | The Colorado Sun Only a few ranchers were expected to come to the meeting held in Chris Collins’ shop on the McCabe Ranch in Old Snowmass, which smelled of the smoked venison sausages cooking on the grill, horses on jeans, and a mixture of sweat and anxiety. They’d come on the evening of June 11, after the first day of the monthly Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Glenwood Springs, where wolves were not on the agenda. The omission shocked everyone, because of what had recently happened. Over on the Lost Marbles Ranch, which borders the McCabe Ranch in a wide valley where the price of sprawling, remote ranches reflects their proximity to Aspen, the first wolf pack to form following the start of Colorado’s reintroduction program in December 2023 had e...
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Ballot Bait-and-Switch? Colorado Gray Wolf Plan Bleeds Taxpayers Dry
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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...
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When Wolf Management Becomes a Weapon Against the West
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Approved, KPAX, National

When Wolf Management Becomes a Weapon Against the West

By: Caroline Weiss | KPAX MISSOULA — The future of northern Rocky Mountain wolf protections came before a federal court in Missoula on Wednesday. The hearing was the latest in a long battle over Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves. Lawyers for the federal government and conservation groups squared off in front of U.S. District Court Judge Donald W. Molloy, presenting arguments about the merit of a petition denied by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) over federal protections for regional gray wolves. Gray wolves are currently protected under the Endangered Species Act in the Lower 48, except in the Northern Rockies region. Wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Utah do not receive federal protections. Conserv...
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