Wolf advocacy groups say Colorado can support at least 750 wolves

WildEarth Guardians, along with 13 conservation and wildlife organizations, are calling for a minimum of 150 packs or 750 wolves to be established for four consecutive years in Colorado before state officials consider delisting the animals from protected status, the organization announced Monday.

The wolf population threshold was part of a plan the group will present to the Colorado Wildlife Commission prior to Thursday's commission meeting in Edwards. The commission is in charge of developing a plan for wolf reintroduction and recovery by next year.

A news release by the groups Monday said 750 wolves is "not a cap, but a minimum requirement for future state delisting from 'threatened'' to 'nongame status.' "

That number is five times higher than a recommendation by a group selected to help the state establish a reintroduction and recovery plan.

The report pointed out three separate studies show Colorado could support more than 1,000 wolves due to abundant prey, namely elk, and suitable habitat. The WildEarth Guardians report identified the state could support 12 wolf pack zones west of the Continental Divide, including Rocky Mountain National Park. Those packs are in addition to the North Park pack, whose parents naturally migrated into the state.

"Wolves can only fulfill their ecological role if their family groups are intact and not disrupted by human persecution,'' Delia G. Malone, wildlife chair for Colorado Sierra Club, said in the release. "Where wolves are protected from recreational killing and lethal control, their benefits reach to enhancing biodiversity, improving climate resilience and even enriching our own lives.''

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The Colorado Cattlemen's Association responded Wednesday to WildEarth Guardians' plan in a news release. It said in part "the association does not believe individual groups should be allowed to circumvent the process to advocate for their individual ideas or promote a one-sided process over one developed by the state game management agency and professionals who gather all stakeholder input, including producers whose daily lives are directly affected by wolves already depredating livestock in the state.''

Philip Anderson, cattlemen's association president, said the organization "remains committed to engaging in the state management wolf processes and ensuring that livestock producers’ concerns are represented.''

Colorado voters in 2020 narrowly passed Proposition 114, which mandated the state to create a plan to restore wolf populations and reintroduce the predator by the end of 2023 to lands west of the Continental Divide, which mostly voted against the measure. It also called for compensation to those who lose livestock to wolf depredations.

WildEarth Guardians' plan comes on the heels of a Technical Working Group's wolf recovery recommendations submitted to the commission. The commission will use input from the state-coordinated Technical Working Group and Stakeholders Advisory Group, comprised of members with varied interests on wolf management, as well as public input and other sources to establish its final plan.

Chris Smith, southwest wildlife advocate for EarthWild Guardians, said the environmental groups have been working on the plan for months as an alternative to proposals being discussed by the Technical Working Group and Stakeholders Advisory Group. He said while the working groups were a sensible approach, the organizations felt the conversations were dominated by those opposed to wolf reintroduction or favored recreational hunting of wolves.

"That’s been a disappointing process substance-wise to us,'' he said. "If they are going to talk about a population where you can kill wolves instead of restoring the wolf population, we felt we needed to do our own plan that contained the spirit of Proposition 114.''

Colorado is working in conjunction with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which assumed management of wolves from the state after a Feb. 10 judge ruled on reversal of management.

Here is a breakdown of WildEarth Guardians' proposal and recommendations by the Technical Working Group and how they differ.

How many wolves would be released initially?

WildEarth Guardians: One breeding pair in each of 12 pack zones west of the Continental Divide, in addition to the existing pack in North Park for at least two years, for a total of 60 wolves or a range of 48 to 120 wolves in the first two years.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife: The agency told the Coloradoan previously the state would look at releasing eight to 10 wolves each year for three or four years before pausing to monitor their movement, pack formation and breeding.

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When would wolves be downlisted from endangered to threatened status?

WildEarth Guardians: When there are a minimum of 30 successful breeding pairs for four consecutive years while occupying eight of the 13 pack zones (which includes North Park). Alternatively, a total statewide population of 300 gray wolves for four consecutive years would trigger the downlisting.

Technical Working Group: When there are a minimum count of 50 wolves anywhere in Colorado for four successive years.

When would wolves be delisted and moved to nongame status?

WildEarth Guardians: When 150 successful breeding pairs are present for four consecutive years while occupying 10 of 13 pack zones. Alternatively, a total statewide population of 750 gray wolves for four consecutive years would trigger the reclassification.

In addition to those numbers, the plan requires a 50% decrease in elk and deer chronic wasting disease within the occupied pack zones, measured by percentage of tested elk and ungulates.

Technical Working Group: When there is a minimum count of 150 wolves anywhere in Colorado for two successive years, or as soon as a minimum of 200 wolves anywhere in Colorado is attained.

Group's plan prohibits hunting of wolves, greatly restricts killing of depredating animals

The wolf advocacy groups have been critical of discussions among the Technical Working Group and Stakeholders Advisory Group regarding the possibility of recreational hunting of wolves. They assert Proposition 114's language does not allow wolves to be classified as "game animals,'' a designation that leaves the animals open to hunting.

WildEarth Guardians' plan calls for compensation to livestock owners for loss to wolves as well as emphasizing the use of nonlethal means to deter wolves.

It also outlined in "extremely'' limited circumstances when wolves could be killed by private landowners or government officials. In all phases, wolves could only be killed in defense of self or others, the same as under current state law.

In the second phase of wolf recovery, the plan would allow Colorado Parks and Wildlife to kill a wolf or wolves on private land only if the rancher has previously used nonlethal means to deter wolves, has confirmed losses of four or more animals in a seven-day period and a wolf associated with the chronic depredations can be identified.

In the third phase of recovery, Colorado Parks and Wildlife could kill a wolf on private land only if second phase criteria is reached or there are confirmed losses of five animals killed over three months and it can be proven those losses were by the same wolf. Also, private landowners can kill a wolf or wolves caught in the act of biting, wounding, or killing livestock or working dogs.

The Technical Working Group's recommendation is for lethal means to be an option on wolves that repeatedly depredate after being delisted to threatened.

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See the wolf recovery reports in full

WildEarth Guardians plan: See the plan at wildearthguardians.org/

Technical Working Group recommendation: View it by visiting the advisory group site at www.wolfengagementco.org/advisory-groups, clicking on the reports and document tab, and then clicking the first report listed.

Reporter Miles Blumhardt looks for stories that impact your life. Be it news, outdoors, sports — you name it, he wants to report it. Have a story idea? Contact him at milesblumhardt@coloradoan.com or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt.

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This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Wolf reintroduction advocacy groups say Colorado can support 750-plus