{"id":22246,"date":"2025-05-16T17:25:52","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T23:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolf-update-3-deaths-a-1700-mile-journey-and-4-possible-dens\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:12:41","slug":"wolf-update-3-deaths-a-1700-mile-journey-and-4-possible-dens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wolf-update-3-deaths-a-1700-mile-journey-and-4-possible-dens\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolf update: 3 deaths, a 1,700-mile journey and 4 possible dens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A gray wolf is carried from the helicopter to the site where it will be checked by CPW staff in January 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Colorado Parks and Wildlife says two wolves introduced to the state from British Columbia that were shot and killed in Wyoming and a third that was found dead in Rocky Mountain National Park were \u201cunfortunate events\u201d this spring in the agency\u2019s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population. Yet the deaths in no way \u201cindicate failure for the state\u2019s wolf reintroduction plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because \u201cmortalities within wolf management are part of the game,\u201d and why Colorado\u2019s plan dictates that the agency release 10 to 15 wolves a year for three years \u201cto establish a big enough population to deal with mortality,\u201d according to Eric Odell, CPW\u2019s wolf conservation program manager.<\/p>\n

Odell was speaking to the Parks and Wildlife Commission at its meeting May 7 in Denver. It was just after the two-year anniversary of the commission\u2019s approval of the wolf management plan on May 3, 2023.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019d been \u201cstepping back, reflecting on and thinking about\u201d the progress the agency has made, the lessons it has learned, the ways it has improved and the work it has done since.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t mention three wolves that were killed in 2024, bringing the total number of mortalities since reintroduction to six.<\/p>\n

Instead, he focused on the potential arrival of new puppies, a wolf on an extremely long journey and the highly anticipated deployment of range riders for nonlethal wolf conflict mitigation by CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture.<\/p>\n

\"A
A gray wolf sits in a temporary pen awaiting transport to Colorado during capture operations in British Columbia in January 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>
A look back<\/div>\n

Three years before the wolf management plan was approved, 51% of largely urban Coloradans voted for reintroduction and 49% largely rural residents didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Much debating and planning ensued until 10 wolves from Oregon were released in Grand and Summit counties in December 2023 and another 15 from British Columbia were set loose in Eagle and Pitkin counties in January. Both releases have been plagued by issues concerning ranchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cColorado\u2019s wolf introduction program has not gone well,\u201d Tim Ritschard, head of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, told CPW commissioners in November. \u201cThere\u2019ve been 24 confirmed depredations between three counties. There are more deaths and missing livestock that are suspected or were suspected to be wolf-related. Montana has 70 times more wolves, and I\u2019ve seen similar death counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ritschard was speaking on behalf of dozens of ranchers, 26 counties and several other stakeholders in demanding CPW pause wolf reintroduction until it met a list of stipulations the coalition created to help ranchers deal with their new reality.<\/p>\n

In the months since, CPW has addressed many of these concerns, distributed tens of thousands of dollars in nonlethal deterrents and paid two ranchers $350,000 in compensation for livestock lost to wolf attacks.<\/p>\n

But some believe the petition could be successful, because it was footnoted in the $43.9 billion state budget that Gov. Jared Polis signed for the next fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Reintroduction could also stop completely if a recently approved ballot initiative calling for an end to it by Dec. 31, 2026, gains enough signatures to be on the 2026 ballot.<\/p>\n

And U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is backing a bill to remove wolves from the endangered species list, which could potentially, one day, impact Colorado wolves.<\/p>\n

Neither of the first two challenges came up at the meeting.<\/p>\n

As for delisting, Odell said, \u201cOur plan was very intentionally written so that regardless of the federal status, management is still the same. Wolves are both federally listed and state listed, so if they do become federally delisted for any reason, they still remain state listed and take of wolves outside of a few very, very precise circumstances remains illegal and not allowable.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the commissioners\u2019 meeting, Odell addressed the \u201canomaly\u201d of having 24 wolves currently equipped with GPS- and VHF-enabled collars that let the agency see where the wolves go, where they\u2019re spending their time and where they could be denning.<\/p>\n

Springtime is denning season for wolves, which breed in February and have a two-month gestation period.<\/p>\n

\"A
A gray wolf is carried from the helicopter to the site where it will be checked by CPW staff in January 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Odell said CPW was monitoring \u201cone, to two, to three, to four pairs,\u201d and when the agency loses contact with a female, it could mean she\u2019s underground or digging a den.<\/p>\n

He said the agency hasn\u2019t confirmed any of these potentialities, and \u201cit\u2019s going to take some time to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have numbers of pups, if there are pups, because they\u2019ll be underground for weeks or months,\u201d he added. So if, and when, the agency has the opportunity to see them \u201cdepends on a variety of different things,\u201d like access. Wolves like to den in thick timber, for instance.<\/p>\n

But later in the meeting, Brian Dreher, assistant director of CPW\u2019s terrestrial wildlife branch, said range riders, which CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture are deploying as another nonlethal conflict mitigation tool for ranchers, \u201care being deployed near denning sites,\u201d before correcting himself and saying \u201cpotential denning sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

Odell said with CPW\u2019s wolf management plan calling for three to five years of releases, they will likely do another year of releases but haven\u2019t had any discussion on where the next wolves are coming from or where they\u2019ll be going.<\/p>\n

When the agency does make those decisions, they\u2019ll ensure \u201cthe local communities, the legislators, the decision makers, will be kept in the loop and kept informed throughout that process,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

And he said the watershed maps the agency publishes once a month are intended to keep the public in the loop about current wolves\u2019 movements.<\/p>\n

In April, there were some pretty interesting movements, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see a large swath,\u201d in the shape of a smile, spanning the lower southern quarter of the state, through Mesa, Delta, Montrose and Gunnison counties, for instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the movement of one individual animal,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a female wolf that came from British Columbia. Since her release in late January, she\u2019s gone nearly 1,700 miles. From a linear distance, that\u2019s essentially walking from Denver to Washington, D.C. Or looking for a more regional approach, it\u2019s Denver to Albuquerque to Phoenix and back to Denver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Map viewers will \u201csee a lot of watersheds along the Front Range,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cRalston Creek is one and it goes into downtown Denver. We do not have wolves in highly metropolitan urbanized areas,\u201d Odell emphasized. \u201cThat\u2019s just a function of an animal having been in the very far western portion of that watershed. A GPS point was collected there, and that lights up the entirety of the watershed.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Odell wanted to be sure the public knows local staff are talking with producers and landowners \u201cin their districts, in their areas, and making them aware of when we do have wolves that are localizing and spending a fair bit of time\u201d there.<\/p>\n

Enter the range rider<\/div>\n

Toward the end of the update, discussion turned to 11 newly hired range riders, \u201cprioritized to mitigate and minimize the impacts of wolves on livestock by assisting livestock producers voluntarily,\u201d said Dreher.<\/p>\n

Some were deployed in early April to Eagle, Routt, and Rio Blanco counties, and others will help in Garfield, Summit, Grand and Moffat counties when needed.<\/p>\n

And all of the producers they\u2019ve helped so far \u201chave expressed extreme gratitude for having our riders out there, and are especially grateful for the speed in which we\u2019ve been able to deploy them,\u201d Dreher said.<\/p>\n

Colorado is one of three states in the country to have a range rider program, along with Washington and Arizona. The riders will work up to 22 days per month throughout the five-month on-range season.<\/p>\n

The program is funded through Born to Be Wild license plate revenue. CPW estimates it will cost roughly $500,000 this year, which includes a budget for materials, training and range rider contracts.<\/p>\n

To date, the plates have raised approximately $819,000, Dreher said.<\/p>\n

CPW is exploring other ways for the funds to help in conflict minimization efforts.<\/p>\n

Read more at The Colorado Sun<\/div>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission green-lit the wolf management plan in 2023. Here\u2019s where it is, and where it\u2019s going. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-22246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77630,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22246\/revisions\/77630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22246"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=22246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}