Bill to postpone wolf releases until after federal lethal control ruling vetoed by Polis

Gov. Jared Polis vetoed a bill that would have postponed Colorado's wolf reintroduction, slated for December, until after a federal rule is in place for protected wolves to be legally killed in certain situations.

Senate Bill 23-256 passed the Colorado House and Senate after being heavily amended, but Polis, a Democrat who favors wolf reintroduction, refused to sign the bill Tuesday.

Polis wrote in his veto letter of the bill he is supportive of the work of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission and the Department of Natural Resources towards the state's preferred approach of reintroducing gray wolves under a 10(j) rule.

His veto letter included: "SB23-256, however, is unnecessary and undermines the voters’ intent and the hard work of the Parks and Wildlife Commission, the expertise of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff, the extensive stakeholding undertaken by the Technical Working Group and the Stakeholder Advisory Group, and the ongoing collaborative work with our Federal partners, and could actually interfere with successfully receiving experimental population designation, which is the purported purpose of the bill."

Wolf advocates argued the bill would delay wolf reintroduction in the state by six years or more by inviting "frivolous lawsuits" as part of final approval of the 10(j) rule under the Endangered Species Act. That rule, which Colorado Parks and Wildlife asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to pursue, designates reintroduced wolves in Colorado as "experimental" and allows killing of those wolves in certain situations involving wolves killing livestock.

"We are grateful to Governor Polis for vetoing SB-256, and ensuring that wolves will be reintroduced to Colorado by the end of the year,'' Lindsay Larris, wildlife program director for WildEarth Guardians, said in a new release. "For the past six weeks, the conservation community has been aggressively fighting this harmful legislation which would have thwarted the will of Colorado voters.''

Ranchers pushed for passage of the bipartisan bill, backed mostly by Western Slope legislators, as assurance they could protect their livestock from the expected 10 to 15 wolves reintroduced into the state annually over the next three years or more. Without the rule, wolves can only be killed to protect human life.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will have a decision on the 10(j) rule in place by Dec. 15. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has said it has a goal of reintroducing wolves by the end of this year to fulfill the wishes of voters who narrowly approved ballot initiative Proposition 114 in 2020.

More: Colorado's final wolf reintroduction plan has been approved. Here are the highlights.

However, the 10(j) rule was used in wolf reintroduction efforts in Idaho and Wyoming in the mid-1990s and both rulings were delayed through litigation.

In Colorado, who might pursue litigation — livestock organizations and outfitters or wolf advocates — is unclear.

One of the bill's sponsors, Democrat Rep. Meghan Lukens, who represents Western Slope counties Eagle, Moffat, Rio Blanco and Routt, said she was "extremely disappointed" in the governor's action.

"I have heard from ranchers and farmers consistently that it is absolutely imperative we have the 10(j) rule in place prior to state-orchestrated wolf reintroduction, and this bill was a direct request from Western Slope constituents who will be impacted most by wolf reintroduction," Lukens said in a release. "This legislation would have provided the time necessary to ensure that the reintroduction of wolves into Colorado happens under a 10(j) rule, which is essential for the state to have co-management authority of the reintroduced population to protect our agricultural producers across the state.''

Jackson County rancher Don Gittleson, who has lost several cows to the state's North Park wolfpack (the parents of that pack naturally migrated into Colorado), told the Coloradoan he is not surprised by the governor's veto because he thinks the governor has not been supportive of agriculture. He said the governor's veto will anger many ranchers.

"If we end up with an established population before the 10(j) rule gets out of court, we are probably in big trouble," Gittleson said. "The governor's decision is not going to create a friendly environment between ranchers and CPW and other people. Let's just say I don't have a lot of faith in our governor.''

Recent coverage: North Park wolfpack member confirmed to have wandered into Grand County

Governor signs bills funding ranchers' livestock losses to wolves and license plates to fund nonlethal wolf deterrence

• Senate Bill 23-255 allocates $350,000 from the state's general fund to compensate ranchers who have livestock killed or injured by wolves starting in fiscal year 2023-24. Funds in excess of those needs will go to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife's wildlife cash fund.

• House Bill 23-1265 allows a portion of special "Born to be Wild" license plates to fund ranchers' nonlethal means to defend livestock from wolves. The plates will cost $100.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Polis vetoes bill that would have delayed Colorado's wolf releases