Today, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) experts released five gray wolves onto public land in Grand County in a historic effort to create a permanent, self-sustaining wolf population and fulfill voter approval to re-establish gray wolves in Colorado.
The gray wolves were captured in Oregon where CPW veterinarians and biologists evaluated them to determine if they were fit for relocation to Colorado. Criteria for release included the age, sex, health and body condition of each animal.
Each gray wolf was weighed and measured. Staff collected genetic material – tissue and blood samples – before fitting each with a GPS satellite collar for tracking upon release by CPW staff. Then, the wolves were given vaccines and were placed in crates and flown to Colorado for release back into the wild.
Meet Colorado’s new wolves:
- 2302-OR: Juvenile female, black color, 68 lbs., Five Points Pack
- 2303-OR: Juvenile male, gray color, 76 lbs. Five Points Pack
- 2304-OR: Juvenile female, gray color, 76 lbs., Noregaard Pack
- 2305-OR: Juvenile male, black color, 93 lbs., Noregaard Pack
- 2307-OR: Adult male, gray color, 108 lbs., Wenaha Pack
Note: All wolves captured, collared and released in Colorado will use the same naming convention: The first two numbers (23) will indicate the year the animal was captured. The second set of numbers informs biologists of the wolf’s gender (males will have odd numbers, females will have even) and the order in which it was collared. *The “OR” suffix indicates the wolves came from Oregon.
CPW will repeat the process until at least 10 – 15 wolves have been reintroduced in Colorado by mid-March 2024. As outlined in the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, CPW hopes to release 30 to 50 wolves over the next 3 – 5 years using wolves captured from nearby northern Rockies states from several different packs by trapping and darting them in the winter.
Gray wolves are listed both state and federally as an endangered species in Colorado by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated the Colorado wolf population as Experimental under Section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act. This provides management flexibility that would otherwise be prohibited.
CPW’s reintroduction program builds on work started by the USFWS in 1995 when that federal agency began restoring gray wolves in the Western U.S., starting with an experimental population released in Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Wolf reintroduction efforts eventually spread to Wyoming, Idaho, New Mexico and Arizona.
The Oregon wolves released represent CPW’s determination to fulfill the wishes of Colorado voters who, in 2020, directed the agency to begin reintroducing wolves by Dec. 31, 2023. The new wolves will be managed by CPW using the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, approved by the CPW Commission in May 2023, after more than two years of extensive statewide stakeholder meetings and outreach via a series of public hearings.
Ultimately, CPW plans to recover and maintain a viable, self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado while balancing the need to manage interactions between wolves, people and livestock.
This project marks another milestone in the long CPW tradition of species recovery in Colorado. These include the black-footed ferret, one of North America’s rarest mammals, the 1999 effort to reintroduce the lynx, the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, the greenback cutthroat trout, and many more.
“Today, history was made in Colorado. For the first time since the 1940s, the howl of wolves will officially return to western Colorado. The return of wolves fulfills the will of voters who, in 2020, passed an initiative requiring the reintroduction of wolves starting by Dec. 31, 2023. What followed were three years of comprehensive listening and work by Colorado Parks and Wildlife to draft a plan to restore and manage wolves that included public meetings in every corner of the state and was inclusive of all points of view and weighed the needs of a wide range of communities with a deep interest in the thoughtful outcome of this effort,” said Colorado Governor Jared Polis. “I am proud of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff for their hard work to make this happen. The shared efforts to reintroduce wolves are just getting started and wolves will rejoin a diverse ecosystem of Colorado wildlife.”
“Today’s reintroduction of the gray wolf is a tremendous accomplishment for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the citizens of Colorado,” said Dan Gibbs, Executive Director, Department of Natural Resources. “This would not have been possible without the tireless work of CPW staff and the Parks and Wildlife Commission, the members of both our advisory boards and the citizens and stakeholders who engaged and weighed in to make our wolf management plan the best for all Coloradans and for wolves that once again grace our Colorado landscapes.”
“This is a historic day for Colorado,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis. “We want to thank the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their work to complete and approve the 10(j) designation that lists wolves in Colorado as a nonessential, experimental population. This helps us to follow all of the conflict mitigation plans we accounted for in the final Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. Having the rule in place in early December helped CPW to stay on track to reintroduce wolves in 2023 with the ability to use the appropriate management tools. We’ll continue releasing animals based on our plan to have wolves not just survive but thrive in Colorado as they did a century ago.”
“Pulling off a successful first wolf release in Colorado touched all corners of our agency,” said CPW Assistant Director Aquatic, Terrestrial, and Natural Resources Reid DeWalt. “This has been two years of work to approve the plan plus another year of work to secure our first source population and get us to this release day. We are grateful to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for working with our agency on an agreement for up to 10 wolves and for all the CPW staff who contributed to this historic day.”
“It was an honor to participate in this historic effort,” said CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell. “We were thrilled to have great conditions for capture and early success in Oregon. Weather conditions and information on pack locations provided by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife staff combined to help us capture five gray wolves on day one of capture operations in northeast Oregon and release them earlier today on Colorado’s Western Slope.”
Written by Travis Duncan. Travis is a public information officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in Denver. He has lived in Colorado for nearly 20 years and loves the outdoors.
50 Responses
Serious mistake. Time will tell you all that. Please listen to the ranchers, these are serious predators and will impact not only cattle but will also devastate elk and deer populations.
Joseph L. Poe
So true!
Exactly. I live in a Ranching community and I can tell you absolutely no one here want wolves reintroduced.
Th elk and deer need wolves.
Prey and predator need each other to maintain the balance of nature
There is a difference between balance and uncontrolled balance. Are deer herds are already in dismay, and elk populations dropping in some areas. This will not be a positive impact. Moose are getting a good population but that will also decline. Yes we will not see it right away but in 5 to 10 years it will become a problem. Not to mention the issues the cause with domestic livestock.
Thats the point with the elk
Not true! All the ranchers I know in Wyoming are doing just fine, and on my last elk hunt in Wyoming I saw more elk in one week of hunting then I have in the last 5 here in Colorado. A healthy ecosystem has both pray and predator.
you get it
People kill more wolves each year than wolves kill people.
The amount of deaths by wolves in the U.S is only 2 in the past 150 years.
It is just plain wrong for uniformed voters, who won’t be impacted one way or another, to cause this to happen.
Mule deer population is declining in the west and now will be decimated by wolves. Good job Colorado
It’s ridiculous how ignorant the Denver and boulder population is.
Why!!!!
Perhaps this Summer 6pm News will report ‘Hiker’s eaten Raw!!’..not so funny then…
Yes, like all those incidents in Yellowstone for the last ~30 years?!
Those who objected to the re-introduction of wolves to Colorado obviously do not understand a balanced approach, the Yellowstone example. At a time when the deer and elk herds are not healthy and hunters are being assembled to cull the herds due to overpopulation, opposition to an “apex predator” is ignorant, silly and immature.
you’re comparing the inside of a protected national park where hunting is not allowed to what is happening in the middle of our state. You are the one who is ignorant. The “Yellowstone example” would not be an issue of they allowed hunting. Yes, there is an overpopulation inside of a national park. That is the only place. But you know more than all of our PHDs in wildlife management with the CPW, who all voted against reintroduction. You must have googled it.
There are comparisons to be made regardless of whether hunting is allowed.
That and if “they” allowed hunting in Yellowstone, it would most certainly be an issue.
Plus, neither CPW (obviously) nor “all or PHDs in wildlife management” [sic] voted against reintroduction.
It’s a shame that, being a governmental agency, CPW has to allow anonymous posts.
Very sad day, should have released them in the center of bolder and denver for the folks who voted them in to enjoy.
I 100% agree. That would be something to see…
The fact that most of the people who voted for wolves won’t even be affected. Gee, thanks for not giving a darn about all the ranchers here. Do you think they won’t prey on livestock? Wrong. And a great move to reintroduce them the year after a rough winter. The deer and elk population will go down even more now.
If there are not enough deer, the wolves will start to die too. You are losing lives introducing these wolves. In the future, the new thing will be ‘introduce more deer!’
that is bad news for western colorado
There were already wolves in Grand county. There were 5 spotted east or Rabbit Ears pass this year, two had collars. Ask the CPW if these count in the release program? After the Elk and Deer are gone, out of state hunters like me will no longer pay to hunt in Colorado.
Well Denver and Boulder voters, I hope you are happy! Evertime you read an article about another cow or lamb being killed you can say, arn’t those wolves cute.
This is a travesty. The people that support this including the politicians don’t have a clue about conservation. You have released a plague in the state that will cause detrimental damage to livestock and all four-legged herbivores. Ultimately the economy. This comes from someone who lives in Michigan and has firsthand experience of the damage wolves have done to the land.
Laws need to be changed…Fed and State regulations need to be changed….this should of been pushed down to a County decision…as most things should!!! IF you want Wolves in your backyard…THEN PUT THEM IN YOUR BACKYARD!!! One person making a decision another person has to live with is not right.
Another anti-hunting, progressive move to eliminate hunting in the American West.
Dead on!
This warms my heart. I wish the wolves success. They’re going to need it!
We need predators to help keep deer and elk populations healthy. With an unhealthy deer/elk population without the wolves, all that is needed is one (1) deer/elk with chronic wasting disease to infect the whole population. That is how anti-hunting happens when nature isn’t naturally kept in balance through predator-prey relationships. Watch in the coming years the deer/elk population become healthy once again because of this important conservation decision
I bet you believe prairie dogs should be protected and put in hot air balloons heading east to make the land healthy….dAF
If you haven’t ever seen the pictures of wolves tearing ligaments from horse in corrals in Idaho. Then they have to be put down. Horses that are worth thousands of dollars and. And owners never paid a nickel. This has nothing to do with balance or conservation. wolves eat everything they can and kill just fun not just to survive.
Willing to bet the above anonymous poster hasn’t the pictures either, and simply made the story up.
That and wolves literally don’t “eat everything thing they can” and nor do they “kill just for fun.”
For those of you who want to learn more about chronic wasting disease that is documented in deer, elk, and moose in Colorado check out Colorado State University topic article on how wolves can help control this critical issue to SAVE OUR BIG GAME population in Colorado and the ability to HUNT: https://extension.colostate.edu/topic-areas/people-predators/wolves-and-disease-8-006/
All you city people need to gain some knowlege regarding wild areas in Colorado. Obviously you have never been in the wild alone before or know how healthy/lean wild meat is for you. Hunters don’t just hunt to kill, we hunt to eat better and fill our freezer for an entire year.
I am frustrated by the cities of Colorado controlled this decision!! I have close friends in Idaho that experienced this about 15 years ago and my friend supported this idea, but now despites it because it has ruined the elk hunting. The elk have been forced out of the forest and now have to be hunted in the plains. Obviously more communications were needed!!
I’ll just leave this here… “Last year marked the ninth year in a row where elk harvest eclipsed 20,000, which ties the all-time state record for consecutive years of 20,000-plus elk harvested, set in the mid-1990s.” – Idaho Fish and Game, August 31, 2023
If the city folks want to release grey wolves in Colorado at least they should start in Estes park, I understand there’s plenty of food there. 1st no plastic bags then no styrofoam, what’s next blocking someone who meets all the requirements to run for President of the United States from being on your ballot?
If you don’t like Colorado, you are welcome to leave. No one is stopping you. As someone who lives in a rural area of Summit County, I welcome the wolves and the stability they will bring to our wild game populations. Not everyone who voted for the reintroduction lives in the cities. Just saying.
Why can’t the public view the GPS location of the wolves like the CPW? This would let the public know when danger is approaching?
Only the mountain has lived long enough to listen objectively to the howl of the wolf. -Aldo Leopold
Stupid ! Why do you hate Deer and Elk so much ?
one wolf will kill 20 deer a year !!! Fact !!!!
seen first hand what the wolfs have done the Moose / caribou population in AK
While I didn’t vote for the measure, I support what CPW has done to accomplish the task it is required, by law, to accomplish.
As for the many troll-like anonymous responses, it’s the stuff of ten-year-olds.
Great minds think alike… and we share the same name! 😉
Y’all do great work. Much appreciated.
I do not support the wolves but I do support the democracy we live in – if it’s the will of the people then I have to live with it (for better or worse) – unfortunately I know the ballot initiative didn’t allocate more funding to CPW (which runs on a tight – 90%+ hunting/fishing license sale budget) – they’ve had to hire multiple wolf biologists, pay for the trapping, transport, release, etc… and the coming livestock damage claims are liable to bankrupt the whole department. As deer/elk numbers decline the licenses will have to decline as well leading to an even bigger budget shortage. It’s not going to be pretty but like Winston Churchill said “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter”
That is incorrect. While wolves were already here, and the CPW planning for their management, the act required the general assembly to provide appropriate funding for reintroduction and administration from several funds.
That and a state department can’t go bankrupt.