When wolves are reintroduced in Colorado sometime this winter, farmers and ranchers are likely to get little more than 24 hours’ notice of wolves being dropped in their area. 

That raised concerns on Tuesday for members of the Colorado General Assembly’s Water Resources and Agriculture Review Committee.

Reid DeWalt, assistant director for aquatic, terrestrial and natural resources with Colorado Parks and Wildlife, attempted to assuage those worries, telling lawmakers the reintroduction of wolves won’t be a surprise to those who live nearby.

“They’ll know that [wolves] are in that area and those conversations are happening right now at our local district wildlife manager level,” DeWalt said.

The other issue that has dogged Parks and Wildlife this year is where exactly to get the wolves. Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have made it clear they are not allowing their gray wolves to be captured and brought to Colorado, so the state has turned to Oregon and Washington.

DeWalt told the committee that new Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis, who spent more than two decades in Washington state’s Fish and Wildlife Department, has opened the door to discussions between Colorado and the two Northwestern states – conversations that DeWalt characterized as “productive.” 

Committee chair Sen. Dylan Roberts, D-Eagle, pointed out he had heard Washington is unlikely to supply wolves, leaving only Oregon or perhaps tribal groups as possible suppliers. DeWalt clarified that Washington won’t provide wolves by year-end but could in January or February. 

“I don’t want people to think if we don’t release [wolves] by Dec. 31 that we aren’t going to do it,” DeWalt told the committee, adding it is better to capture wolves later in the winter because of snow conditions. That could lead to releases in January through March.

He estimated that the state will attempt to release 10 to 15 wolves each year for the next three years, probably on state lands in the northern areas earmarked in the wolf restoration plan.

State officials had hoped to be able to release wolves on private lands, as well, but got no interest from anyone willing to allow that, he said.

Committee raised another question: If Parks and Wildlife is unable to get wolves by Dec. 31, would they accept wolves that have a history of trouble, just in order to get them into the state by Dec. 31?

The issue of problem wolves is that, once they kill cattle or livestock or other animals, that’s a learned behavior that will continue.

“Can you assure us right now that you will not be getting problem wolves from whatever state they end up coming from?” Roberts asked.

DeWalt said officials are requesting wolves with no “recent” history of chronic depredation – meaning wolves that have committed recent attacks on other animals. How recent wasn’t defined.

The other question was whether the statute would be violated if Colorado failed to get wolves reintroduced by Dec. 31. To that, Davis said he has been in the job only four months and had not talked to the Colorado attorney general about it. 

“We want to do this the right way, the absolute right way, which means fully implementing our plan, which means not getting wolves that have a history,” Davis said.

He added that he believes between Oregon and Washington, there are enough wolves without a history that Colorado should be able to get. 

As to other aspects of reintroduction, notably the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s work on an environmental impact rule known as 10(j), that is moving right along on schedule and should be in place by Dec. 15, , DeWalt said. 

That will allow Colorado to manage the wolf reintroduction, along with compensating ranchers who lose livestock to wolves. Without 10(j), wolves would remain an endangered species under the management of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which some have said doesn’t have the staffing or resources to manage wolves. 

“It’s important to get this right,” Roberts said. “I’m glad to hear the Dec. 31 deadline is flexible.”