{"id":36226,"date":"2023-01-20T10:02:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-20T17:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-round-of-public-comment-reveals-divide-over-colorados-gray-wolf-reintroduction-is-still-wide\/"},"modified":"2023-01-20T17:02:10","modified_gmt":"2023-01-20T17:02:10","slug":"first-round-of-public-comment-reveals-divide-over-colorados-gray-wolf-reintroduction-is-still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/first-round-of-public-comment-reveals-divide-over-colorados-gray-wolf-reintroduction-is-still\/","title":{"rendered":"First round of public comment reveals divide over Colorado\u2019s gray wolf reintroduction is still wide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"This
This July 16, 2004, file photo, shows a gray wolf at the Wildlife Science Center in Forest Lake, Minnesota. Wildlife advocates are urging Colorado officials to streamline planning for reintroducing the gray wolf. They argue the launch of an overly bureaucratic process will frustrate the intent of voters who approved reintroduction by the end of 2023. (Dawn Villella\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Dawn Villella<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Tension over plans to bring gray wolves back to Colorado has been high since a ballot initiative narrowly passed two years ago directing wildlife officials to restore a predator population that had been absent for nearly a century. And while the first public comment session on the state\u2019s draft Wolf Restoration and Management Plan<\/a> on Thursday made the split in opinion a bit narrower, it also showed how much ground still must be covered before work begins to reintroduce wolves west of the Continental Divide.<\/p>\n

The draft plan, slated to begin implementation 2024<\/a>, aims to achieve the successful recovery of the gray wolf in Colorado by introducing 30 to 50 wolves over three to five years. However, the social and economic consequences of the plan have made it a controversial topic across the state. At this stage, adjustments to the plan can still be made. Four more public comment hearings will be held until Feb. 22, and then the plan will be approved at a CPW meeting in Glenwood Springs on May 3 and 4.<\/p>\n

The CPW Commission heard first from the Stakeholder Advisory Group, a body of volunteers representing a diverse set of Coloradan perspectives, who met from June 2021 to August 2022 to develop a set of recommendations<\/a> for the draft plan. SAG Member Renee Deal, a sheep rancher and public lands outfitter from Somerset, said she believes the group reached a consensus that can work for everyone affected by reintroduction.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of us walked away from this completely satisfied with what we came up with,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think that speaks to the fact that it was a true compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few members of the public seemed to be satisfied with the state of the plan either. Equal numbers of livestock owners and wildlife advocates spoke out on the restoration plan at Thursday\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n

Some were concerned that the trajectory of the draft plan provided insufficient protection for gray wolves. Once at least 200 wolves live in the state, or at least 150 for two successive years, the draft plan states they will be reclassified as nonthreatened. That threshold is too low, argued Lindsey Larris, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard earlier today that 150 wolves would be sufficient to prevent extinction,\u201d Larris said. \u201cI\u2019m questioning why that should be the bar that we\u2019re going with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wolves in Colorado are currently protected by state law<\/a> and killing one can lead to large fines and even jail time. Advocates like Larris said they should remain under protection until their numbers become much more robust than 200 \u2013 a figure which dates back to research from over 20 years ago, Larris said. More current scientific evidence suggests that a population of 750 wolves is an appropriate threshold for delisting, she said.<\/p>\n

Others petitioned for more support in the plan for people whose livelihoods may be affected negatively by wolf reintroduction. Ranchers called attention to not only the financial losses of livestock killed by wolves, but the harder-to-quantify reductions in stock fertility, general health and weight that can result from the stress of exposure to a newly introduced predator.<\/p>\n

CPW\u2019s draft plan has a detailed compensation scheme to reimburse ranchers for both livestock lost to predators and declines in herd well-being. But some, like rancher Curtis Russell, a board member of the Colorado Cattlemen\u2019s Association, think the plan doesn\u2019t do enough. The presence of wolves could have dire consequences for livestock owners, he said, many of whom are already in an economically precarious position.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the likelihood of many Western Slope livestock producers being driven out of business by improperly managed wolf introduction is quite high,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Don Gittleson, who ranches in North Park, near the Wyoming border, has already had difficult experiences dealing with wolves<\/a>. Packs that crossed into Colorado from Wyoming attacked animals on his property repeatedly last year.<\/p>\n

The emotional toll is significant, both for him and the CPW officials who have to respond to the gruesome results of wolf attacks. Hazing techniques and deterrents have had limited long-term effectiveness<\/a>, and it\u2019s daunting to consider how his business can remain sustainable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate that,\u201d he said. \u201cI hate that question, because it\u2019s a very real question. I can\u2019t answer it for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan allows for livestock owners in Colorado to engage in a variety of \u201cimpact-based management\u201d activities to prevent wolves threatening their stock. This includes physical deterrents, nonlethal force and lethal force, which is permitted when livestock are attacked.<\/p>\n

Some wildlife advocates spoke out against allowing lethal force in the draft plan. Many also objected to the final stage of the draft plan, Phase 4, which allows for wolves to be hunted for sport if reintroduction is successful. Commissioner Marie Haskett said that CPW\u2019s draft plan is backed by sound science and years of experience in conservation and wildlife management. When the plan reaches that final stage, wolves can be considered \u201crecovered,\u201d she said \u2013 and in that case, they\u2019d require no special treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWolves are not the only species that live on this landscape, and the only way to make it equitable for all species is to make them a game species, and be managed,\u201d said Haskett, who is an outfitter in Meeker.<\/p>\n

Phase 4, which was not included in the SAG recommendations, contradicts the original intention of Proposition 114, said Kelly Murphy, a caretaker at the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center. She said that adding a provision for reclassifying wolves as game animals does nothing for the restoration effort but make it more controversial.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese wolves are not being reintroduced so they can one day become somebody\u2019s trophy,\u201d she said. \u201cHow does proposing that foster tolerance?\u201d<\/p>\n

The draft plan, and public acceptance of it, has a long way to go, members of the stakeholder group and CPW commissioners admitted. Still, many CPW representatives expressed gratitude for those who have worked so hard to hammer out compromises on this issue.<\/p>\n

CPW Commission Chairwoman Carrie Hauser said she\u2019s confident that the plan will work. So many Coloradans, especially those with the most at stake, have participated in discussions and reached across boundaries to work toward consensus, and Hauser said she\u2019s hopeful that they will continue to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a lot of ways, this isn\u2019t about wolves, it\u2019s about people,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s about how we work together to move this forward and to ensure a successful plan. And that will mean compromise, it will mean learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Colorado wildlife commissioners heard from ranchers and wildlife advocates hoping to influence the draft plan for bringing wolves back to the Western Slope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1031,529,28,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-conservation","tag-headlines","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36226","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=36226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36226"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}