Gray wolves return to Colorado. Will they be accepted?
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Sarah Matusek Staff writer
| Denver
A new era dawned in Colorado鈥檚 Rocky Mountains on Monday with the release of five gray wolves.听
The reintroduction of the wild canines to Colorado fulfills a voter-passed plan to begin restoring the endangered species here by the end of 2023. The first batch of furry predators, flown in from Oregon, bounded out of crates in Grand County, Colorado, across an undisclosed meadow.听
Wolves are contentious in the western United States, with disagreement about the threats they may pose versus their ecological benefit. A judge last week from the Colorado cattle industry seeking to block the release.听聽
Why We Wrote This
Wolves were released in Colorado Monday as required by voters. The effort to reintroduce the endangered species has sparked both controversy and cooperation in the state.
Despite the culture-war status of wolves, their聽release has also spurred cooperation. Many ranchers, wolf advocates, scientists, and wildlife officials have engaged in knowledge-sharing and strategizing around conflict reduction.听
鈥淢uch of the conflict around wolves isn鈥檛 necessarily direct conflict between people and wolves,鈥� says Kevin Crooks, director of the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence at Colorado State University. 鈥淩ather, it鈥檚 conflict among people, different stakeholders with really different opinions.鈥�
Still, much remains to be seen about how聽the Canis lupus will affect Colorado.听
Why is Colorado reintroducing gray wolves?
In 2020, Colorado voters approved this through a ballot initiative. It won by a whisker: 50.91% to 49.09%.
Gray wolves, wildlife experts say, are native to the Centennial State. Killed off in Colorado by the 1940s, some have since migrated here across state lines. Colorado biologists recorded the birth of wild wolf pups in the state鈥檚 north in 2021.听
The animal is subject to a patchwork of protections. Listed as endangered in Colorado, for instance, the gray wolf loses that status once it crosses the northern border into Wyoming. Gray wolves are protected nationally under the federal Endangered Species Act, with exceptions in the northern Rocky Mountains.听
After the 2020 vote, Colorado got special permission from the U.S. government for its state restoration plan. This generally allows management flexibility in Colorado, such as killing wolves that attack livestock.
The Colorado cattle industry sued state and federal wildlife agencies last week seeking to block the rollout of the plan. The Gunnison County Stockgrowers鈥� and Colorado Cattlemen鈥檚 associations argued that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to produce a certain environmental study on wolf impacts that federal law required.
On Friday, a U.S. district judge denied the plaintiffs a temporary restraining order. Their arguments, the court found, didn鈥檛 merit halting Colorado Parks and Wildlife鈥檚 wolf plan, which 鈥渨ould be contrary to the public interest.鈥澛�
Thirty to 50 wolves could be reintroduced on Colorado鈥檚 Western Slope over the next three to five years, according to the state鈥檚 wolf management plan.听
The Western Slope, a largely rural area, sits west of Denver and several other population centers, which carried the pro-wolf vote. The outcome underscored an urban-rural divide in a Democratic-led state that used to trend more purple.
Why is the plan controversial?
Supporters, including environmentalists, argue for restoring a natural balance.听
鈥淲olves, for millennia, have been one of the primary engines of evolution and the drivers of ecological health throughout the Northern Hemisphere,鈥� says Rob Edward, strategic adviser at the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project.听
He cites an example in Colorado鈥檚 Rocky Mountain National Park. An abundance of elk there has depleted vegetation 鈥渋n the absence of their primary predator, gray wolves,鈥� says Mr. Edward, who鈥檚 advocated for the return of wolves to the state since the 1990s.听
Critics, including agricultural producers, raise concerns about predation of wild and cultivated animals.听
鈥淭here鈥檚 obviously the concern with the impacts to our own livestock, both financial and emotional,鈥� says rancher Greg Peterson, a member of the Gunnison County Stockgrowers鈥� Association.听鈥淚t鈥檚 traumatizing when that animal suffers.鈥�
Though wolves are well studied, the behavior of new packs in Colorado depends on a variety of factors, says Dr. Crooks at the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence.
Wolves may help reduce elk overbrowsing and bolster habitat diversity, he says, based on research in national parks like Yellowstone, which in 1995. But the science also suggests that 鈥渨olves were likely not solely responsible鈥� for ecosystem changes there.
And while wolves could harm individual livestock, he says, in terms of ranching concerns, shows that a rebound of wolves is unlikely to have a major economic impact on the cattle industry. Yet that鈥檚 cold comfort to one Colorado ranching family that鈥檚 already seen several livestock deaths and injuries from wolves since 2021, The Washington Post.
In an effort to bridge trust gaps, Dr. Crooks鈥� center has compiled peer-reviewed research and crowdsourced for nonlethal wolf mitigation, like fencing or guard dogs. The university has also engaged Western Slope stakeholders like Jo Stanko, who runs a ranch with her husband near Steamboat Sp鈥嬧�媟ings in northwestern Colorado.
As a voter, Ms. Stanko says she cast her ballot in 2020 against wolf releases. Though she still has concerns, three years later she holds an attitude of acceptance 鈥� and hope for solutions around wolves and ranchers sharing land. Her family continues to train livestock dogs and install new fencing,聽and Ms. Stanko hosted a dialogue with wolf advocates and other ranchers last year.听
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to learn to have 鈥� and relearn how to have 鈥� civil conversations with each other,鈥� she says.
How will the state manage the new wolf packs?聽
Under its , Colorado Parks and Wildlife is charged with managing the carnivores 鈥� and monitoring them through GPS collars. The agency doesn鈥檛 envision wolves as threats to humans. Studies find .听
鈥淭hey鈥檙e very fearful of people, and so we don鈥檛 expect them to come into populated areas,鈥� says聽Eric Odell, species聽conservation program manager at Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The state is聽 for recreation in 鈥渨olf country.鈥澛燗s 鈥渉abitat generalists,鈥� wolves are known to roam across various landscapes.
Humans aside, however, Mr. Odell does expect some conflict between wolves and livestock. There鈥檚 a state compensation program for livestock producers who鈥檝e suffered confirmed wolf attacks, though Mr. Peterson, the Gunnison County rancher, says that鈥檚 an insufficient remedy.
