As a La Plata County commissioner, I consider the impact of every decision I make on the families and residents of the county. With that in mind, I support Proposition 114, which will restore wolves to Colorado. Healthy ecosystems are the foundation of healthy economies and communities. Wolves were an integral part of the county’s biological wealth. Their removal 80 years ago led to negative changes in those ecosystems and restoring them will bring back an important part of our natural heritage, reclaiming the balance that we’ve damaged. Some say that the small group of wolves in the northwest corner of Colorado is proof that we don’t need to reintroduce wolves, that they’ll come back on their own. But knowledgeable wolf biologists agree it’s extremely unlikely that wolves will populate Colorado on their own. Of the small number of wolves that have made it to the state, most have died by shooting, poisoning or being hit on the highway. One of the main reasons more wolves aren’t making it to Colorado is southern Wyoming. There are two issues; the first is that it’s poor wolf habitat; the second is that anyone can kill a wolf on sight in southern Wyoming by any means. They don’t need a hunting license to do so. Active reintroduction, a proven humane, cost-effective, and successful process, is the only sure way to restore an important part of Colorado’s wildlife heritage.
Gwen LacheltDurango
