Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials do not plan to release any more gray wolves in Colorado this season, after federal officials stopped a planned wolf reintroduction from Canada.
The agency plans to focus, instead, on possible wolf relocations next winter, according to a Wednesday news release. Since December 2023, officials have brought wolves to Colorado from Oregon and other Western states. Colorado voters approved wolf restoration in 2020.
“It’s challenging for us to find a population source that meets (federal) guidance,” said Luke Perkins, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesman.
At the same time, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials plan to work to reduce conflicts between wolves and livestock.
“During this intermediate time, CPW will continue to meet with producers and other stakeholders, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to explore how to maximize the restoration effort and achieve our plan of establishing a self-sustaining gray wolf population in Colorado,” Laura Clellan, acting director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said in the release.
The agency said it is expanding efforts to prevent conflicts, including a partnership with the Colorado Department of Agriculture to launch the Colorado Range Riding Program where riders monitor livestock to help prevent wolf encounters.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials also have hired a manager to oversee livestock loss compensation and the range riding program. The agency has added wildlife damage specialists to help local managers investigate suspected wolf attacks. And officials have added more deterrent equipment, including 45 miles of fencing and more than 160 sound-and-light scare devices.
Four wolf packs in Colorado have had babies, according to the release.
