A divided Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission on Thursday voted to allow for the lethal management of wolves under certain situations, a move that ranchers in Grand and Jackson counties have sought for months.

The commission approved, on a 6-4 vote, a staff recommendation allowing several permits, including the lethal taking of chronically depredating wolves — those that have demonstrated repeated killing and harassment of livestock or working dogs.

The vote was greeted with applause from dozens of ranchers, many of whom testified to the harms caused by two wolves, in particular, in Grand County. These two wolves are believed to be responsible for killing or injuring at least seven cattle, mostly calves, during calving season in April.

Wolves that migrated from Wyoming three years ago have also killed or injured at least four more in Jackson County during the spring calving season this year.

The question now is who exactly will take that action.

Ranchers said they don’t want to be the ones killing wolves, preferring wildlife officers to handle that.

Some commissioners also raised the issue as a concern, including Gabriel Otero of Fruita, who said he would be more comfortable with professionals handling lethal taking — meaning wildlife personnel, if they have the capacity to do so.

“The burden should come down to the state,” Otero said.

The change in the rules to allow lethal taking comes with conditions. Notably, the permits are issued for a maximum of 45 days, although with the ability to be renewed. There’s a limit on the number of wolves that can be taken. 

The most controversial changes in the rules pertained to the use of artificial lights and thermal imaging at night to sight and take chronically depredating wolves. Rules prior to Thursday allowed for using those tools but only to see wolves, not to take them down.

The decision is the first sign of breaking up a logjam between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and ranchers in Grand and Jackson counties, who have accused the agency of telling them to “pound sand” when they’ve asked for help.

The vote also comes two days before a day-long meeting in Walden that will include Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis, lawmakers who represent the district, ranchers and the media.

Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke, who testified at Thursday’s hearing, told Colorado Politics it’s a sigh of relief for ranchers.

“I think it’s a step in the right direction to build back trust” that has been badly damaged by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, he said.

“It’s a win that the commission is giving us the tools and personnel,” he added.

Eric O’Dell, the wolf conservation program manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told the commission that they believe a pair of wolves have set up a den in Grand County and that, if the female has given birth, those pups would be at least six to eight weeks old. The pair are believed to be the wolves doing most of the killing of livestock in Grand County. 

The agency’s approach so far has been to hire range riders and to advise ranchers to use non-lethal methods of scaring off wolves, which hasn’t worked for many ranchers.

Conway Farrell of Grand County, who testified on Thursday, has lost seven cattle, including four newborn calves in a six-day period. While it hasn’t been confirmed by the state agency, Farrell said he’s lost additional calves and believes they were also taken by wolves. 

“Your wolves have been causing nonstop damage to my family and livestock for the past five months,” he told the commission.

In the past week alone, he said, “we’ve had four different sightings of wolves within 300 yards of people in broad daylight.”

“These animals are not afraid of people and they’re focused primarily around livestock,” he said.

Farrell questioned why Colorado Parks and Wildlife is not following the wolf management plan and asked the agency to stop cherry-picking the parts they want to follow. 

Farrell also spoke to the deteriorating relationship between Colorado Parks and Wildlife and livestock producers.

“The mismanagement of wildlife in Grand County has caused a ton of stress, mental anguish, distrust, and to put it plainly to you, has made my family life hell,” he said, adding that the stress on wildlife employees and ranchers cannot be fixed. “It’s led to locked gates and the end of a lifetime worth of relationships.”

Farrell addressed, at the request of Commissioner Marie Haskett of Meeker, the use of non-lethal methods. He said he’s used everything from fox lights to range riders.

“We’ve moved cattle continuously from pasture to pasture,” he said, adding that’s happening sometimes five or six times a day and it’s stressing the cattle.

Range riders have been shooting “cracker shells,” akin to an M-80 firecracker, at the wolves, and one night, it took eight of those shells, shooting at a wolf just 60 yards away, before the animal ran away, he said.  

The wolf impact isn’t only happening to ranchers, some in the meeting said. 

Callie Scritchfield of Rio Blanco County said wolves are a daily topic in Meeker “and we don’t even have them yet.”

“It’s the most passionately discussed topic of all,” she said, adding that people are fearful for their business, livelihoods and safety. “The local main street businesses understand the impact this is going to have on them.”

One wolf advocate said it’s too soon to start killing wolves, given that it’s only been six months since the Oregon wolves were relocated to Colorado.  

Darlene Kobobel of the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center noted the state released the 10 wolves last December — one has since died — to a new landscape, “knowing that they would need time to learn about the new environment and establish themselves.”

She objected to the use of artificial light and thermal imaging at night, asking what proof someone would have that it’s the right depredating wolf. 

“We are far from having a stable wolf population and without any incentives to use these tools, that sets the wolves up for failure. Cattle have no defenses because it has been bred out of them. Therefore, producers need to work harder,” Kobobel said.

Other wolf advocates claimed, without evidence, that ranchers are “baiting” wolves with cattle carcasses and that compensation for lost cattle is generous.

That didn’t sit well with Commission Chair Dallas May of Lamar, a rancher, who several times corrected the wolf advocates on what it costs to raise cattle that have come from generations of work. 

The commission was clearly divided on how to proceed.

Vice-Chair Richard Reading of Denver made the first motion to approve the staff recommendation with a modification to exclude the use of artificial light and thermal imaging in sighting chronically depredating wolves, under the permit to lethally take the wolves. That motion failed on a 5-5 vote.