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Garfield County commissioners ‘demand a pause’ in wolf reintroduction program
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

Garfield County commissioners ‘demand a pause’ in wolf reintroduction program

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Tom Jankovsky, Mike Samson and Perry Will are setting the standard. The Garfield County commissioners are doing what some say commissioners in every county should do for their constituencies who voted against the 2020 ballot initiative to reintroduce wolves to Western Colorado.  In a press release on Jan. 21, 2025, the commissioners announced they had written a letter to Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, requesting that the agency reconsider its approach to releasing grey wolves on the Western Slope. “The Board of County Commissioners’ letter demands a pause in the reintroduction of wolves to ensure the program is working, that impacts to ranchers be mitigated, and that people have the right to defend...
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Colorado’s wolves could have migrated east of Continental Divide, into Fremont County
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kdvr.com, State

Colorado’s wolves could have migrated east of Continental Divide, into Fremont County

By Heather Willard | KDVR-TV Fox 31 News Colorado’s wolf population now has 29 members, according to state officials, and one of the population members is “exploring” a watershed in what Colorado Parks and Wildlife called southeastern Colorado. On Wednesday, the state released its first monthly movement map since the release of 15 Canadian gray wolves and the five surviving members of the Copper Creek pack. The 20 wolves were released into Eagle and Pitkin counties between Jan. 12 and 18 and were released both north and south of Interstate 70. “One female wolf is exploring the southeast region of the state,” CPW said in its Wednesday release. “There is currently just one wolf in the highlighted watershed.” READ THE FULL STORY AT KDVR-TV FOX 31 NEWS
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Browning: Gov. Polis should focus on being governor for all, not just for Front Range special interests
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Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice

Browning: Gov. Polis should focus on being governor for all, not just for Front Range special interests

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Colorado Parks and Wildlife senior staff in Denver told the joint Senate and House Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee that their lack of transparency and secrecy is because of their local field staff having been threatened, followed and harassed as they perform the 2025 wolf reintroduction operations. Elected officials from both sides of the political aisle aren’t buying it. It became more than clear at the meeting between CPW senior staff and legislators, held Jan. 15, that not only is CPW senior staff keeping the public on the Western Slope in the dark, but also elected officials.  All of the elected Senate and House members criticized the senior staff for their lack of transparency, not only with ...
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In clandestine operation, 20 wolves have been released in Pitkin and Eagle County
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

In clandestine operation, 20 wolves have been released in Pitkin and Eagle County

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Residents in Pitkin and Eagle counties have some new international neighbors, a press release from Colorado Parks and Wildlife reads. Fifteen wolves from British Columbia — eight females and seven males — were rounded up by helicopter and darted from the air, then placed in pens while veterinarians examined and treated the wolves for parasites, and vaccinated them against rabies, canine distemper virus, canine adenovirus, canine parainfluenza virus and canine parvovirus. Along with the 15 wolves from British Columbia, the remaining members of the livestock-killing Copper Creek pack — a female and four pups — were released after being caught and penned at a wildlife sanctuary since last August.   “In British Columbia,...
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New wolfpack released into high society near Aspen in Pitkin County
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

New wolfpack released into high society near Aspen in Pitkin County

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice Wolves arrived from British Columbia on Sunday, Jan. 12, and were released in Pitkin County; a county that actually voted to have them.  They have become residents of the affluent communities near Aspen and Snowmass. Since CPW can only release the wolves on state or private lands, as long as they have the landowners' permission, according to law, and since CPW has told audiences repeatedly in meetings this fall that Pitkin County does not have a large enough state-owned property to release, it is now clear that a private landowner has offered his privately owned large ranch to the wolf restoration effort.  Although CPW has not confirmed the wolves were released on private land about 6 miles south of Basalt, it became...
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New wolf pack arrival in Western Colorado is just in time for calving season
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

New wolf pack arrival in Western Colorado is just in time for calving season

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice On Saturday, Jan. 11, Colorado Parks and Wildlife put out a press release that they were going to begin trapping and transporting operations to bring up to 15 Canadian Grey Wolves from British Columbia, Canada, to Western Colorado. One day later, wolves were on the ground in Garfield County.  A plane, operated by Lighthawk Conservation Flying, is the same plane that CPW leased in December 2023 to bring wolves from Oregon to the state. The aircraft left Prince St. George, British Columbia, early in the morning of Jan. 12, and landed at Eagle County Airport at about 4 p.m., where witnesses on the ground saw CPW vehicles equipped with a trailer and animal crates leave the airport and head west on Interstate 70. Eagle Ai...
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CPW Commission denies petition to pause wolf introduction on 10-1 vote
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State

CPW Commission denies petition to pause wolf introduction on 10-1 vote

By Lindy Browning | Contributing Writer, Rocky Mountain Voice In a highly-emotional hearing that lasted more than six hours, Colorado Parks and Wildlife commissioners took testimony from nearly 100 people concerning whether or not the Commission should vote to approve or deny a petition to pause the wolf introduction program, until all of the mitigation tools were in place and funded. The petition was submitted by groups in 63 of the 64 Colorado counties, and included organizations such as the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, Colorado Farm Bureau, Club 20 and Colorado Wool Growers Association, as well as several local livestock and stockgrowers' associations. Although Commission Chairman Dallas May, from Southeastern Colorado, warned the atte...
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Wolf reintroduction plan to continue in Colorado despite petition from ranchers asking for delay
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Uncategorized

Wolf reintroduction plan to continue in Colorado despite petition from ranchers asking for delay

By Tori Mason | CBS Colorado The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted 10 - 1 to continue wolf reintroduction in the state. Last year, a petition was filed asking CPW to stop releasing wolves until several changes are made. The commission listened to hours of public comment from both sides of the issue Wednesday ahead of their vote. In September, a petition filed by ranchers and agriculture organizations asked CPW to delay further introduction of wolves until Colorado's wolf management program is "equipped to handle the consequences of these introductions." READ THE FULL STORY AT CBS COLORADO
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife to discuss citizen petition to stop wolf reintroduction
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kdvr.com, State

Colorado Parks and Wildlife to discuss citizen petition to stop wolf reintroduction

By Carly Moore | Fox 31 News On Wednesday and Thursday, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission will hold meetings about potentially pausing or changing the wolf reintroduction program.  The program has been met with pushback, especially from livestock owners in the counties impacted.  CPW’s plan is to release 15 more wolves from Canada in January. The counties being considered are Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX 31 NEWS
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Reward upped to $100K after dead wolf found with gunshot wound in Colorado
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Out There Colorado, State

Reward upped to $100K after dead wolf found with gunshot wound in Colorado

By Spencer McKee | Out There Colorado The reward being offered by a "consortium of conservation groups" for information about a wolf poaching incident in Colorado has doubled to $100,000, as of January 7. A press release related to the reward stipulates that $85,000 of the reward will follow formal charges being levied on a suspect, with the additional $15,000 getting delivered upon conviction of the suspect. This is an increase of the $50,000 award that was initially announced. The poaching investigation involves a Grand County wolf that died, with a necropsy revealing that it had sustained a gunshot wound that was likely a major factor in its death. READ THE FULL STORY AT OUT THERE COLORADO
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