Colorado has a source for 15 more wolves: When they're likely to be captured, released

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced it has secured a source for up to 15 more wolves to be released as part of its reintroduction program.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington will provide the wolves to be captured on tribal land between December 2024 and March 2025, the wildlife agency said in a news release Friday afternoon.

"The Colville people strongly believe in preserving our environment, including its fish and animals," Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Chairman Jarred-Michael Erickson, said in a news release. "We are thrilled that our restoration efforts on our own lands have progressed far enough that we can share some of these magnificent creatures with the citizens of Colorado."

Those wolves will join the 10 Colorado Parks and Wildlife captured in northeast Oregon and released in Grand and Summit counties in late December 2023.

"This agreement helps CPW to continue to meet our unanimously adopted Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan translocating 10 to 15 gray wolves per capture season for a total of 30 to 50 wolves," Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis said in the news release.

Tribal representatives will provide guidance to Colorado Parks and Wildlife on target packs, avoiding packs with known active chronic depredation behavior, the news release said.

Davis and other top Colorado Parks and Wildlife leadership were heavily criticized after the December release because five of the 10 released wolves were identified as being members of packs involved in recent livestock depredations in Oregon. The agency had previously said publicly it would avoid releasing wolves with a depredation history.

That concerned ranchers as studies have shown that once wolves have killed or injured livestock, it becomes a learned behavior and leads to increased risk that those pack members will continue depredating.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife leadership has apologized for not making it clear they would capture wolves with prior depredation history and have vowed to work on the agency's communication with affected ranchers.

They also said they are working on a program that will allow the public to see areas where the wolves are present and inform livestock producers of the wolves' whereabouts to allow them to take precautions.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife said as of the first month after the release, all the wolves are still alive and in Colorado and none had a reported livestock depredation.

"After an incredibly successful first release of wolves from Oregon last month, our focus will be on refining our internal processes, continuing the work we’re already doing to bolster our staff expertise and honing our notification structure so the public is well informed regarding release efforts, while also balancing the need for the safety and security of staff and gray wolves,'' Davis said in the news release.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will not capture and release more wolves in the current capture season, which runs until mid-March 2024, though the agency had planned on releasing five more wolves this season. The agency said this will allow time to assess the releases in December and for staff to adjust to increased workload of having the released wolves on the ground.

It also will allow time for additional resources for Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Agriculture to help ranchers with nonlethal wolf deterrents, the agency said.

The state legislature has allocated $175,000 from the general fund to pay for livestock compensation due to wolf depredations in fiscal year 2023-24 and $350,000 and for each state fiscal year after that.

Starting Jan. 1, a "Born to be Wild" license plate was offered, with $50 of every specialty plate sold going to Colorado Parks and Wildlife's wildlife cash fund to pay for nonlethal control of wolves. For fiscal year 2023-24, a legislative bill authorizes up to $548,000 to be used by the state wildlife agency to help livestock producers with nonlethal means to deter wolves.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Washington tribe will provide 15 wolves for release in Colorado