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Tag: Wolf reintroduction

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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The special session leaves Polis with a $783M deficit — here’s how he can fix it without new taxes
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, State, Top Stories

The special session leaves Polis with a $783M deficit — here’s how he can fix it without new taxes

By Russ Minary | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Governor Polis recently called—and lawmakers have now concluded—a special session aimed at addressing the estimated State budget deficit of $1.2 to 1.6 BILLION. That means that every man, woman and child in CO has to pay $208 more this year. That’s in addition to all of the other current local, county, state, sales and special district taxes they are already paying. But kids don’t pay taxes; adults do. I think CO taxpayers and citizens already pay enough in taxes. While lawmakers passed roughly $300 million in tax changes during the session, the ball is now in Gov. Polis’ court. He has been given authority to sign the bills and make deep spending cuts, up to $300 million, to close the remaining $783 million gap. Rather than a...
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Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Wolves, Health Subsidies and State Budget
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State, Approved, The Denver Gazette

Colorado Lawmakers Clash Over Wolves, Health Subsidies and State Budget

By Marianne Goodland | The Denver Gazette Day three of the legislature's special session ended with the Senate working late into the night to begin debate on the House tax bills sent over earlier in the day, after the House wrapped up voting on those measures, along with bills on health insurance and the Healthy School Meals for all ballot measures. The House's work Saturday night included debate on Senate Bill 5, which would prohibit Colorado Parks and Wildlife from using general fund dollars to acquire more wolves in the current fiscal year. The bill also diverts $264,000 to the Health Insurance Accountability Enterprise to pay for subsidies for health insurance premiums purchased through the state exchange. Those premiums are expected to soar for the individual market by as much a...
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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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Bill Proposes Pause On New Wolf Releases To Fund Health Insurance
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State, Approved, The Fence Post

Bill Proposes Pause On New Wolf Releases To Fund Health Insurance

By Rachel Gabel | The Fence Post A bipartisan bill seeks to reallocate funding for one year that would be used to capture and release another round of wolves in late 2025 or early 2026 to Colorado’s Health Insurance Affordability Enterprise which helps Coloradans lower their health insurance costs. According to the sponsors, by not bringing in new wolves into the state, Colorado can focus on managing the existing wolves more effectively and save significant financial resources. The bill is coprime-sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Frisco, Sen. Marc Catlin, R-Montrose, Rep. Meghan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs, and Rep. Matthew Martinez, D-Monte Vista, and is co-sponsored by a broad coalition of bipartisan legislators in both the Senate and the House. Gov. Jared Polis has called the...
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Bauer: Power House Panel of Western Slope Legislators in Delta
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Rocky Mountain Voice, Approved, Commentary, Local, Top Stories

Bauer: Power House Panel of Western Slope Legislators in Delta

By Shirley Bauer | Guest Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Hard math: 4 of 70 Republican bills became law. On July 23, five of our state’s most prominent legislators representing the Western Slope met for a legislative update at Daveto’s to a sold-out crowd. The legislative update was sponsored by Delta County GOP, and the MC was Chairwoman Leslie Parker. The legislators present represented Delta County along with other counties on the Western Slope: • Senator Janice Rich from Senate District 7, Senate Minority Whip and winner of the “Legislator of the Year” award in 2023, represents the Cedaredge area in Delta County and all of Mesa County (she resides in Grand Junction). • Senator Marc Catlin, who resides in Montrose, is from Senate District 5. He represents most of Delta Coun...
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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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CPW moves to kill second wolf from Copper Creek Pack after July depredation
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kdvr.com, Approved, State

CPW moves to kill second wolf from Copper Creek Pack after July depredation

By Heather Willard | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff are in the field to kill a member of the Copper Creek gray wolf pack after repeated livestock deaths. The action comes nearly two months after CPW killed a gray wolf in Pitkin County connected to the same pack. CPW told FOX31 on Tuesday that its staff is in the field in Pitkin County, “undertaking additional lethal control efforts” that align with the agency’s and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rules on chronic depredation and lethal removal of depredating wolves. Depredations, in this case, refer to a wolf stealing or killing a rancher’s product or livestock. The news comes on the heels of a calf depredation discovered on July 18. CPW stated that the calf appeared to have been injured ...
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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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Colorado’s rural-urban divide revealed: 10 takeaways from the Rural Reckoning series
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The Gazette, Approved, State

Colorado’s rural-urban divide revealed: 10 takeaways from the Rural Reckoning series

By Vince Bzdek | The Gazette How bad is the rural/urban divide in Colorado? That’s what a team of reporters at Colorado Politics and The Colorado Network, our statewide collective of freelancers, set out to measure and understand. Through extensive interviews, data analysis and community voices, our journalists have documented the yawning gap between what rural areas contribute to the state through agriculture, energy production, tourism and outdoor recreation, and the attention, money and support they receive in the halls of the Capitol and the governor’s mansion. That gap has resulted in a host of unaddressed problems unique to rural Colorado. Our reporters also have found that culturally, the polarization between rural and urban has deepened so much that when it comes to pol...
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