Last month the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) staff presented the Draft Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan to the CPW Commission. The Draft Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan is now available for public review. The CPW Commission will discuss and take feedback from the public at five upcoming meetings around Colorado. The public can comment on the draft plan online and in the upcoming public meetings through February 22, by visiting engagecpw.org.
As you may know, State statute 33-2-105.8 directs the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to:
- Develop a plan to restore and manage gray wolves in Colorado;
- Take necessary steps to begin reintroduction no later than Dec. 31, 2023, on designated lands west of the Continental Divide; and
- Pay fair compensation for livestock losses caused by gray wolves
Beginning in April 2021, CPW contracted with Keystone Policy Center to conduct the public involvement effort. CPW worked with Keystone Policy Center to hold 47 public meetings in 2021, collecting feedback from more than 3,400 Coloradans.
Additionally, CPW appointed two advisory bodies: a Technical Working Group (TWG) to review objective, science-based information as well as provide their own knowledge and experience at the state/federal/tribal level to inform the development of the Plan; and a Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) to provide recommendations to staff and the CPW Commission about social implications associated with wolf restoration and management for consideration in drafting of the Plan.
Highlights of the Plan:
Restoration logistics
CPW will reintroduce 30 to 50 wolves in total over the next 3 – 5 years (10-15 animals per year).
Captured wolves will be reintroduced onto state and cooperating private lands in select areas west of the Continental Divide with a 60-mile buffer from neighboring states.
Monitoring and Management
CPW will place GPS monitoring collars on reintroduced wolves and monitor wolf packs as they develop in the coming years.
The draft plan describes an impact-based management philosophy. Wolves will have both positive and negative impacts in the state. If wolves are causing a negative impact, CPW will utilize multiple management tools including education, nonlethal tools, and in rare cases involving wolf depredation lethal management to resolve the problem.
Wolves will be managed within Colorado using a phased approach, based on the number of animals present in the state.
The plan does not permit a regulated wolf hunt.
Now that the draft Plan has been presented, the CPW Commission will discuss and take feedback from the public at five upcoming meetings around Colorado.
The draft Plan is now posted on CPW’s Wolves – Stay Informed. A form for public comment is posted at engagecpw.org and will remain open through Feb. 22.
Five statewide hearings will be held to acquire information from the public to be considered in developing the Plan. The hearing dates and locations are listed below with approximate times:
- Jan. 19, 2023 – Colorado Springs – 8 a.m. – 2 p.m.
2. Jan. 25, 2023 – Gunnison – 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
3. Feb. 7, 2023 – Rifle – 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
4. Feb. 16, 2023 – Virtual via Zoom – 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
5. Feb. 22, 2023 – Denver – 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Visit the CPW website for information on participating in these meetings.
April 6, 2023 – Final Draft Plan and Regulations (Step 1 of 2), TBD, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
CPW staff will present the final draft Plan. In-person public comment will be taken in a similar manner to the hearings and online comments may be made through engagecpw.org. The meeting will be streamed to YouTube to listen to live or by recording.
May 3 – 4, 2023 – Final Plan and Regulations Approval, Glenwood Springs – Times TBD
Commissioners will vote on approval of the final Plan and associated wolf regulations.
Visit CPW’s Stay Informed page and sign up for the Wolf Reintroduction eNews to stay up to date with CPW’s Wolf Restoration efforts.
10 comments
WE NEED TO KEEP ALL WOLVES OUT OF USA. THEY ARE APEX PREDATORS AND WILL REDUCE ALL OF THE HUNTING TO ZERO REAL SOON IN AMERICA. WOLF 1 HUNTER 0.
Wolves are the anti-hunters’ solution to getting rid of hunting and hunters altogether.
“THE PLAN DOES NOT PERMIT A REGULATED WOLF HUNT.”
That sentence says it all!!
Anyone who votes Democrat, especially a hunter, is a self-destructive idiot!
WAKE UP AND VOTE ACCORDINGLY in 2024! Before it’s too late.
You can bet lots of CO hunters voted Dem because they wanted legalized weed. as well be called California East.
Will be funny when COs elk herd is destroyed and permits slashed to numbers well below what CO hunters now have because they were so focused on NR hunters they slept through the real threat…the people in Denver and Boulder.
I burned my 6 points and am elk hunting unit 66 this year… Right where they’re gonna put the wolves. At least I get to hunt before it goes to hell because by the time I get enough points to hunt there again, the elk will be decimated there.
Oh well. You get what you vote for California East
Too bad Colorado hunters don’t spend 1/10 energy fighting against wolves as they do complaining about nonresident hunters.
The idea that there is zero ability to implement hunting as a management tool shows that this will be the death of Colorado elk hunting
Spot-on! The residents will have elk hunting all to themselves WITH NO ELK, if they don’t start focusing on the real problem in Colorado: Anti-hunters, Democrats and wolves!
When Colorado went to pot they really went to pot, the nuts got their people in place in politics and the downfall of the state follows, were in real trouble here, maybe it’s time to move to Wyoming, if I could only move my property!
Wait till they ban Cougar hunting and Bear hunting. The libs now have the majority in CO. They are not stopping w introducing the wolves.
Cougars and Bear will take care of the remaining mule deer.
They have found they can control CPW via Ballot Initiatives and they are not gonna stop
Colorado is fu#*€#!!! As soon as I retire -less than 10 yrs. I’m out of this shit hole place that pole-ass and his libtard idiots have destroyed.
As many of you have noted we are under assault and unfortunately it won’t stop with Calirado- they will target the next red states – working and working – purple to Blue.
So I personally hunt in 4 states that have wolves and routinely see sign, hear them and occasionally see them where we hunt. Yeah sometimes they mess up a hunt but we kill good bulls and deer every year.
Hopefully it won’t be that bad.
Now we’ve had a couple grizz encounters that worried me. Get ready cause that’s next.
Somehow the major metro areas in states like CO, NY, CA and others should not be allowed to be able to make or vote into law decisions that do not affect them. The wolf debate is about the tree huggers who want to drive to the country and take their photos and then return to their cozy metro suburbs where they don’t have to deal with the problem they created. The counties that are going to be affected by the wolf reintroduction should be allowed to have the final vote on whether they want the wolves or not. The elk herds in northwest WY have taken a big hit from wolves and grizzly bears. Wolves are killers, period. The no hunting wolves shows how one sided this is. It seems that every time in WY or MT that a wolf or grizzly hunt is planned, the tree huggers get a liberal judge to block it, science doesn’t matter any more, only emotions. It seems we hunters and conservatives are fighting a losing battle, but don’t give up.