Wolf Reintroduction

Colorado Parks and Wildlife has published the most recent collared gray wolf activity map.

CPW broke its silence after announcing two weeks ago that it would capture the Copper Creek pack in a blow to the state’s reintroduction plan.

A letter dated June 6 says the Colville Tribe is withdrawing because CPW failed to conduct “necessary and meaningful consultation with potentially impacted tribes.”

Conservationists are urging patience and warning that removing any of the 11 wolves in Colorado so early in the voter-mandated restoration could hurt the chances of success.

Outrage and fallout continues after a man brought a muzzled and leashed wolf into a bar in Wyoming. Hatred from both those protecting him and those condemning him has fallen on the backs of those who had nothing to do with it.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife reached an agreement to collect the wolves in Washington for release sometime next winter. But the tribe says Colorado didn't consult with them about wolf reintroduction or the consequences it could have for tribal ranchers.

Wildlife officials reintroduced the first five wolves on public lands in Colorado this week after voters narrowly approved a statewide ballot initiative in 2020. Colorado Public Radio’s Sam Brasch shares what it was like to be on the ground when the wolves were released in Grand County on Monday, and what happens next.

It was the first time a state — not the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — had introduced an endangered species into wildlands in the U.S. It was the culmination of more than three years of work after Colorado voters in 2020 directed Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce wolves to the Western Slope by the end of 2023.

The federal government is a central character in the story of the disappearance and return of wolves to Colorado.