DENVER (KDVR) — Just a few days later announcing potential counties that Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are considering the second year of voter-mandated gray wolf reintroduction efforts, the agency has narrowed the list even further.

CPW said Nov. 9 it met with representatives from Rio Blanco, Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties to discuss the upcoming winter release of wolves. On Wednesday, the agency said it was now only considering Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin counties.

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“They said, you know, ‘this is what we’re thinking about.’ Somewhere in that area it would be appropriate for them to release the wolves,” current Pitkin County Commissioners Chairman Greg Poschman told FOX31’s Rachel Saurer. “They briefed us on their decision-making process, which is as sound as I can see.”

Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan has strict criteria for where wolves can be released by the state. Release sites must be located at least 60 miles from the state border with Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico, and a similar buffer zone is in place for sovereign tribal lands in the southwest. Colorado.

Additionally, CPW considers access to release areas, safety of staff and reintroduced animals, potential weather impacts, and natural prey sources during winter. In August, CPW announced it would release wolves into the northern release zone. Gray wolves must be released on state-owned lands that have the necessary landscape to support wolves.

On Wednesday, CPW said Rio Blanco County was removed from the list of potential reintroduction sites due to the limited number of state-owned sites that met the reintroduction plan criteria.

“We look forward to continuing our long-standing, productive relationship with Rio Blanco County commissioners and landowners as we continue to increase the importance of these communities and their contributions to Colorado’s natural resource outcomes and to the overall health of our state,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis. update on the agency.

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The agency also noted that there was too much proximity to livestock, increasing the risk of conflict. CPW noted potential impacts to elk and deer herds recovering from the harsh winter of 2022-2023, as well as the proximity to existing wolves in the Colorado landscape.

CPW will not decide on final release sites until the capture and release operation is underway. The agency cited variables such as weather, animal welfare, staff safety and operation day logistics as elements it considers when making its final decisions on publication.

CPW said several wolves made “significant movements” in the months following the December 2023 releases. Because of these sightings, CPW staff are reviewing “social considerations, both human and animal, in the areas surrounding release sites, where potential movements could take place.” This means staff analyze human presence, recreational activities and communities near release sites, and also look for areas of potential conflict with livestock.

Ranchers and Coloradans voice concerns over wolf reintroduction at CPW Commission meeting

To further discuss the reintroduction effort, CPW will host a commission meeting Thursday and Friday, with an update on the wolf as part of their discussion beginning at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Tim Ritschard, president of the Middle Park Stock Growers Association, said he will also take the stand to voice some of his concerns.

“We have filed a petition asking for a delay. There are a lot of things in the sense of range rider, carcass management,” Ritschard told Saurer. “Let’s find the funding, let’s get the funding together, let’s put together the Ranger Rider program, let’s figure out carcass management and figure out, you know, how to make this actually work so we’re not sitting here again in April or May to say ‘Oh, man, we’re, we’re in the second round.

Wolf advocates are trying to avoid slowing down the wolf reintroduction process.

“We’ve already spent several million dollars creating the first wolf trench and, you know, they don’t live forever. We’ve already lost some. We have temporarily returned some to captivity and we hope they will be released again,” Rob Edward, president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, told Saurer.

The CPW Commission meeting will be held at LaMar, 219 South Main Street in Lamar, Colorado. Those who cannot attend in person can attend virtually here.

CPW also encouraged ranchers and ranchers to adopt non-lethal mitigation methods and conducted conflict reduction training in the northwest part of the state.

The aim is to prevent new winters filled with conflicts like in 2023-24 after the first group of 10 wolves was released in the state. Although CPW did not confirm any wolf depredations until March, ranchers were concerned as winter and spring approached. In April and May, eight depredation events were reported by CPW.

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