Colorado’s Proposed Wolf Reintroduction Raises Hopes and Hackles

DENVER —  Two state laws sum up Coloradans’ ambivalence about wolves as well as anything: One still imposes a bounty on the animals, while the other classifies them as wildlife along with deer and elk.

The $2 bounty is a holdover from the days when settlers nearly wiped out wolves in the West. But former state wildlife chief John Mumma discovered Colorado isn’t ready to get rid of it, even though killing endangered animals is illegal.

“We went to the Legislature to change that, and we almost got laughed out of there. They said, ‘You want to do what?’ ” Mumma said.

On the other side, a coalition of environmental groups is promoting return of the gray wolf to Colorado, arguing that the predator would help restore the region’s ecological balance.

There is plenty of room in the region’s roughly 25 million public acres for the wolf, said Mike Phillips, who oversaw return of gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and red wolves to North Carolina.

“The Southern Rockies are considered by many as the last, best place to restore wolves,” said Phillips, now with media mogul Ted Turner’s endangered species program and head of the Southern Rockies Wolf Restoration Project.

Ranchers who worry about keeping coyotes, mountain lions and bears from their cattle and sheep see no room in Colorado for wolves.

“We’re not only opposed to wolves, we are adamantly opposed to any reintroduction,” said Ken Morgan, a biologist with the Colorado Farm Bureau. “I don’t see that it would bring any good other than to those who want to see and hear wolves in the wild again.”

Wolves were eliminated from most of their range in the lower 48 states by the early 1900s. It is believed that the last wolf in Colorado was killed in 1945.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal would reclassify wolves from “endangered” to “threatened,” reducing protection for the animal in much of the West once there are 30 breeding pairs in the Northern Rockies. There are now 25 pairs. The agency does not plan to release any wolves in Colorado to boost the numbers.

“In my personal opinion, wolves will not get here on their own. It’s up to Colorado,” said Ed Bangs, leader of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife’s wolf recovery.

Russell George, executive director of the Colorado Division of Wildlife, may find himself caught in the middle if the public demands that wolves be restored to the state.

Even if the public wants wolves, George cautioned, there are legal obstacles. The Colorado Wildlife Commission opposes wolf reintroduction. A 1999 state law requires legislative approval before reintroduction of an endangered species.

And there’s the practical side, George said: “We do not have the money.”

Bangs, George and Phillips participated in a recent panel discussion on wolf restoration. The event, by the National Wildlife Federation, drew about 400 people.

George held up four pages listing 80 species his agency must restore or monitor. “We have to prioritize. Restoration of wolves must be a lower priority,” he said.

Still, if Coloradans want wolves and if proponents build a consensus, George said wildlife officials will be involved. “We’re not going to ignore the discussions,” he said.

Environmentalists say it will be impossible to ignore wolves because they will eventually be in Colorado, one way or another. They believe wolves will migrate from Wyoming or New Mexico and Arizona, where they have been reintroduced.

Steve Torbit, senior scientist with the National Wildlife Federation, said wolves in Wyoming have been seen just 200 miles north of the Colorado border.

“It’s not if wolves come, it’s a matter of when,” Torbit said. “The question is how are we going to treat them when they get here.”

Environmentalists want the Fish and Wildlife Service to speed up the process by releasing wolves in the Southern Rockies: western Colorado and parts of Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico and Arizona. They see that as a crucial link in wolf recovery nationwide.

Critics contend wolves aren’t in danger of extinction. There are plenty of them in the Northern Rockies, Canada and Alaska, said Tom Compton, chairman of the Colorado Cattleman Assn.

Former state wildlife chief Mumma supported restoring wolves to Yellowstone and Idaho and helped write a wolf reintroduction plan for Congress. He led the effort to restore lynx to Colorado before his retirement last summer.

But Mumma is not sure fast-growing Colorado is the best place for wolves.

“I think wolves are a very interesting and romantic species right out of the pages of the Old West,” he said. “But they need a lot of space and a lot of food. I question whether there’s enough room to where people would tolerate them.”

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service:

https://www.fws.gov/

Colorado Farm Bureau:

https://www.colofb.com/

Southern Rockies Wolf Web:

https://www.sinapu.org/