The Colorado Cattlemen’s Association and the Gunnison County Stockgrowers Association are suing to prevent the introduction of gray wolves in the state.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, named the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Colorado Parks and Wildlife as defendants, according to a statement from the plaintiffs.

The federal rule allowing Colorado to reintroduce wolves went into effect last Friday, Dec. 8. The reintroduction, starting with the release of up to 10 wolves, has emerged as a political wedge issue when Republican-dominated Wyoming, Idaho and Montana refused to share their wolves for the effort. Colorado officials ultimately turned to another Democratic state – Oregon – to secure wolves.

Both organizations have opposed the wolf reintroduction since before voters approved a 2020 ballot measure, which passed narrowly, supported primarily by Front Range voters and a handful of mountain resort counties. It lost in counties, west of the Continental Divide, where wolves would be reintroduced.  

Wolves have already shown up in northern Jackson County, where they killed cattle and dogs. 

Both organizations participated in developing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission’s Wolf Management Plan, although their members expressed worries regarding the scope of impacts associated with the potential release.

“Those concerns and looming conflicts were not sufficiently resolved during that public process,” the plaintiffs said in a news release on Monday.

“Impacts of wolf reintroduction, as would any other action of this magnitude, need to be properly reviewed to avoid unintended negative consequences to the natural environment, wildlife, and people of the impacted communities,” said Andy Spann, a fifth generation rancher from Gunnison and president of the stockgrowers group.

Spann said his group put forth its concerns throughout the public process, but that “much of our input, and that of many others across Western Colorado, was diminished by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.”

He added that his group regrets having to sue, but that route “seems to be the only recourse left to have these concerns legitimately addressed.”

The lawsuit seeks to delay the release of wolves until a “proper environmental impact review has been conducted.”

Still, the plaintiffs praised the 10(j) rule that they said would provide Colorado producers management flexibility for potential wolf and livestock interactions.

Wolves have already shown up in Colorado after migrating from Wyoming. In Jackson County, wolves have killed livestock and dogs. Some of those wolves returned to Wyoming, where they were killed, according to a WyoFile story last month.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced last month they would obtain up to 10 wolves from Oregon after being turned down by Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. A date for the reintroduction, which will take place on public lands on the Western Slope and in between Glenwood Springs and Aspen, has not been announced. The ballot measure directed the state to reintroduce the wolves no later than Dec. 31, 2023.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.