We’re finally getting details about the plan to reintroduce wolves to Colorado. While there are some areas of concern, for the most part what Colorado Parks and Wildlife is proposing is cautious, and therefore reasonable.

The draft state plan proposes releasing about 30 to 50 wolves in Colorado over three to five years, with the releases in the first year occurring somewhere in the Glenwood Springs/Aspen/Vail area, according to reporting by The Daily Sentinel’s Dennis Webb.

This plan is not set in stone, yet. Parks and Wildlife still wants to hear from the public.

The plan will be considered at several public meetings, including in Gunnison on Jan. 25 and Rifle on Feb. 7. Written public comments also will be accepted through Feb. 22 at wolfengagementco.org. The commission is scheduled to vote on the plan in May.

Considering the proposed release location, we would like to see a meeting in Mesa County. While we don’t know their exact location, wolves will sometimes travel hundreds of miles. The borders of Mesa County are well within the range of these wolves. Considering our population and the number of ranchers in this area, we think some more attention should be paid here.

We’d also suggest Parks and Wildlife reconsider the proposed $8,000 maximum, per-animal, fair-market-value compensation for confirmed wolf kills of livestock. That number sounds fair in most instances, but it would be good for the agency to leave itself some room to go higher in rare cases.

We’d also like to see the state put an emphasis on methods to prevent wolf predation in the first place. We agree with the agency that in some cases lethal control will be necessary, but we’d certainly prefer for wolves to not take cattle in the first place.

Michelle Lute, with the group Project Coyote, said in the conservation groups’ release, “Compensation, while helpful to operators’ bottom line, cannot be the sole solution to conflict. To protect rural economies, sustainable livelihoods and Colorado’s future, nonlethal human-wildlife coexistence is key.”

Preventing conflicts is going to be easier and less disruptive to everyone involved.

Eric Odell, species conservation program manager for the agency, said, “The greatest challenges associated with wolf restoration and wolf management in Colorado are primarily going to come from social and political issues rather than the biological issues.”

Odell is right. Where wolves have been reintroduced in the past they have behaved like wolves. This isn’t a problem from a biology or ecology perspective. They’re predators that have to kill to survive. In order for that to work on a landscape with a lot of people is a political and management problem. So far, from what we’ve seen, Parks and Wildlife seems to understand that.

We opposed the reintroduction of wolves and continue to believe they will be disruptive and damaging to people on the Western Slope. That being said, Parks and Wildlife has developed a plan that confirms the will of the people with a moderate, pragmatic approach.

Grand Junction Daily Sentinel Editorial Board

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