GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo.— Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released five gray wolves on state land in Grand County. Tuesday’s release was the first of several planned to fulfill a voter-approved mandate to re-establish a population of gray wolves in Colorado.

“I’m thrilled to see that Colorado Parks and Wildlife successfully released five wolves on Colorado’s Western Slope,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “This is a momentous occasion worthy of big celebration and a huge step toward seeing wolves thrive in this wild landscape once again.”

In 2020 voters approved Proposition 114 to reintroduce wolves, and earlier this year Colorado Parks and Wildlife finalized a wolf restoration and management plan. Under the plan, the state agency will release up to 10 more wolves by mid-March 2024 and 30 to 50 wolves over the next three to five years. The wolf releases will occur at least 60 miles from Colorado’s borders with Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.

Colorado has had confirmed or probable wolf dispersals into the state every year since 2019. In addition to the five wolves released this week, two wild wolves from the North Park pack are known to still live in the state. Hunters reportedly killed four wolves from that pack just across the border in Wyoming, where wolves lack state or federal protections.

In Colorado wolves are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act as an “experimental population,” which allows killing of wolves to protect livestock. Wildlife advocates seek requirements that livestock owners take measures to prevent conflicts with wolves as a prerequisite to killing wolves or receiving compensation for livestock deaths.

“Now we’ll be working to promote peaceful coexistence with these amazing animals as they return to their rightful place in Colorado’s ecosystem,” said Zaccardi.

Background

Scientists estimate that as many as 2 million gray wolves once roamed North America, including much of the contiguous United States. Because of government-sponsored killing programs, wolf numbers in the lower 48 states dwindled to fewer than 1,000 animals, residing almost entirely in northeastern Minnesota.

Federal protections have allowed the nation’s wolf population to increase slowly, but only to about 1% of the species’ historical numbers and occupying only about 15% of wolves’ historical range. Despite this the Service has routinely attempted to remove protection from the species.

In November 2020 the agency finalized a rule that removed all Endangered Species Act protections from most gray wolves nationwide. A federal court vacated that rule in February 2022 and restored the wolf’s federal protection in the lower 48 states. However, those protections do not extend to wolves in Wyoming or elsewhere in the northern Rocky Mountains.

By February 2024 the Service must make a final decision on a petition by the Center and its allies to restore federal protections to wolves in the northern Rockies.

Under a legal agreement with the Center announced earlier this month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must draft a new recovery plan for listed gray wolves across the country, including in Colorado. The draft plan must be completed within two years unless the agency finds that such a plan will not promote the conservation of the species.