Murphy Robinson has proved himself a forceful law enforcement leader and an able and agile public administrator during his career. As Denver’s public safety chief, presiding at a particularly trying time over the Denver Police Department and other public safety agencies, Robinson showed a solid instinct for nudging needed change while drawing the line at reckless upheaval. When he ended his tenure in that post, then-Mayor Michael Hancock offered high praise, calling Robinson, “a rising leader who never shied away from a challenge.”

As Colorado Politics reported this week, Robinson now takes up a new kind of challenge — an appointment by Gov. Jared Polis to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission. Once a non-controversial undertaking, service on the commission is now all about superheated debate.

Repeated attempts by the national animal-rights movement to second-guess and even hijack historically sound and scientific wildlife management have landed our state’s commission in the middle of controversy. Using the citizens initiative process to petition irresponsible policies onto the statewide ballot, animal-rights activists have been able to play on the public’s sentiments while exploiting public unfamiliarity with basic wildlife biology.

Stay up to speed: Sign up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

As a result, gray wolves are now being introduced into Colorado by edict of the ballot box, and the wildlife commission has been forced to figure out implementation of a policy many of its members had opposed. The details of implementation have themselves been the source of extensive controversy considering wolves’ devastating impact — already being felt — on the livestock producers who raise the meat consumed on most Colorado dinner tables.

Meanwhile, another attempt to undermine the authority of the commission is pending on this fall’s ballot — a ban on hunting mountain lions and bobcats. It, too, appeals to sentiment while disregarding reality, notably that scrupulously regulated hunting is an essential tool the state’s wildlife managers rely on to keep the population of wide-ranging species in balance.

In other words, Robinson will have to draw yet again on his well-known instincts and savvy in his new post. Nowadays the CEO of Robinson Corporations Security Group, he will be donating his time on the commission as a true public servant. But the decisions he helps make will be crucial to the future of Colorado’s great outdoors.

It was noteworthy in the Colorado Politics report that Robinson will be serving in a capacity reserved statutorily on the commission as a voice for the state’s hunters and anglers. Those outdoor enthusiasts are of course central to the wildlife management equation — and they need an effective voice on the commission dais. They’ll have it.

Robinson is himself an avid and active hunter. At a time when hunting is under fire anew from the political fringe, Robinson’s enthusiasm for the sport is refreshing. He started out hunting pheasants and quail, and since has turned to big game. He says meat from the hunt is now his preferred food for his family.

Even more encouraging is his avowed commitment to listen closely to hunters as well as farmers and ranchers — all key Colorado constituencies who directly feel the effects of commission policy.

“It’s our duty to hear from the people that our polices are affecting,” he said. “While it was the will of the people to make sure wolves are reintroduced, we have to make sure that the ag community is heard.”

Robinson’s appointment still requires final approval by the state Senate when the Legislature convenes for its next regular session in January. Lawmakers would be doing their state a big favor by supporting him.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board