CPW Gray Wolf Reintroduction Effort Update

On Saturday, January 18, 2025, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) successfully completed the second year of gray wolf reintroduction efforts as part of Colorado’s Gray Wolf Restoration Plan. CPW now has additional high-resolution photos and b-roll footage of that effort featured in a media kit on its website.  Images can be downloaded easily through the platform and all information such as usage rights, copyright, credit/provider, caption description and alt text for each image is seamlessly provided for each file. 
Click here to view the media kit for the 2025 CPW Gray Wolf Capture and Release Effort.

Range Riders
CPW has received more than a hundred applications and is working to contract 12 range riders for the 2025 on-range season (late April to the end of September). To date, CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture have nine range riders who have accepted offers to work in the Northwest Region. Once all positions have been filled, CPW and CDA staff members and any contract range riders will undergo specialized training to create a team of trained range riders with connections to local communities who can be deployed to support producers at short notice.

It’s important to remember that range riding is just one tool in the toolbox available to producers. CPW will continue to work with producers to ensure they have the appropriate non-lethal tools that work for their operation to reduce the potential of conflict where wolf activity is or could be.

Wolf movements
Wolves can and do travel long distances. Recent wolf collar data shows that one wolf has made broad movements into the western portion of Mesa County. Collar data shows another wolf has made movements into Park, Teller and Fremont counties. As wolf population numbers grow, some wolves will migrate to establish new territories. 

Wolves are habitat generalists, meaning they can thrive in a wide variety of environmental conditions and habitats. As long as prey is available, wolves can use a variety of areas. It is anticipated that wolves will expand their distribution throughout the state widely over time. CPW field staff inform local area producers when wolves are spending time in an area and work to establish site assessments to identify and deploy deterrence measures.

CPW relies on sightings from the public to let us know if other wolves are being seen on the landscape that have migrated in from other states. CPW recently confirmed that a scat sample from the northwest corner of Moffat County tested positive for wolf DNA, meaning there is at least one uncollared wolf on the landscape in our population estimate that was not part of the agency’s reintroduction efforts. CPW provides important information for the public to learn how to spot the difference between a coyote and a gray wolf on our website. The gray wolf in Colorado is protected by both the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and state law. 

CPW encourages anyone who believes they have seen a wolf to fill out the wolf sighting form found on our website. In addition to the wolf sighting form, members of the public can also find information on living and recreating in areas where wolves live.

Additional Resources
In early January, CPW published a Wolf-Livestock Conflict Minimization Program Guide that provides information on a variety of tools and methods available for livestock producers to employ in efforts to reduce the likelihood of wolf-livestock conflicts and establishes a framework for CPW’s response, along with available support from other state, federal and non-governmental organizations. More information about Living with Wolves is available on our website.