At the August 1989 wildlife commission meeting, I served as chairman. One of the agenda items was the reintroduction of grizzly bears and wolves. The wildlife staff's opinion was that Colorado was too populated and developed to accommodate these two species. It was rejected with a unanimous vote. This was the second of three times that this happened.
Thirty-two years later, this decision was overturned by public referendum, the worst possible way to manage wildlife. Obviously, we are aware of the growth of human population. In my opinion, this decision will be extremely divisive and costly to both sportsmen and the agricultural community, just as it has proven to be in other states. This will be much more so in Colorado. It forces Colorado Parks and Wildlife to spend time that is generally spent on the management of our other species to work on a hopeless and controversial plan that few of them support. Colorado is not Yellowstone Park.
Historically, we have harvested our excess wildlife by hunting, which brings millions of dollars to our economy, great meat to our table and recreational days to our sportsmen. Verifying predator kills on remote Forest Service or private property to compensate livestock owners is very difficult and contentious. Wolves are very vicious and inhumane killers of which many of our pet owners will find out. Is it humane to put these animals in such a hostile environment? It is past time we put them in our rearview mirror.
George VanDenBerg
Bayfield
