Initiative To End Colorado Gray Wolf Reintroduction

Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy have filed the final ballot language for a measure to end the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado by 2026. The group will now begin to gather 124,238 signatures from registered Colorado voters needed to place it on the November 2026 ballot.  

In the final language submitted to the Secretary of State, the ballot measure proposes changes to the state law created with Proposition 114. This was the 2020 ballot initiative that first authorized Colorado’s reintroduction of wolves … a move the hunting community has widely criticized as “ballot box biology.”

According to Stan VanderWerf, a former El Paso County Commissioner who helped write this new ballot measure, “It’s a very simple proposal. The only thing we are doing is asking voters to approve a day when wolves would no longer be introduced in Colorado by humans. This proposal does not make any other changes to provisions that address the management of wolves or reimbursement for depredation.” 

The measure proposes to:

• End the State’s reintroduction of gray wolves by Dec. 31, 2026
• Prohibit the importation of gray wolves into the state
• Remove the classification of gray wolves as “non-game” wildlife

VanderWerf said some voters who approved wolf reintroduction “have buyer’s remorse”. Once the signature gathering process gets going, VanderWerf said he expects “major funders” will get onboard.

However, as the ballot initiative has progressed through the State process, it has come under fire by a coalition of northwest Colorado governments, agriculture and sporting groups. The coalition sent a letter this week to Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy asking them to suspend their effort. The letter expressed concerns that the initiative failed to get input from the stakeholders most affected by Colorado’s wolf reintroduction (i.e. ranchers) and could stymie current efforts to make improvements on-the-ground and could lead to the loss of reimbursement for livestock losses.

Regardless of how this turns out, when you think about it, this effort is essentially using ballot box biology to address previous ballot box biology. Oh what a tangled web we weave when we ask voters to decide how to manage Colorado’s wildlife instead of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s (CPW’s) trained professionals.  

But many believe this is the only way to get any relief from our current wolf situation … what do you think?