Ranchers who have lost dozens of livestock to wolves no longer have confidence in Colorado Parks and Wildlife and are now asking the federal government to intervene.

On Aug. 28, Don Gittleson of Jackson County and Conway Farrell of Grand County and their families wrote to regional officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, asking them to take control over decision-making regarding program to reintroduce wolves in Colorado.

While Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages Colorado’s wolves, under the wolf restoration plan and the 10(j) rule issued by U.S. Fish & Wildlife, the federal agency still maintains primary oversight.

A spokesman for the federal agency told Colorado Politics Tuesday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the authority to make decisions regarding gray wolf management in areas where the species is federally protected. However, with the exception of the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Reservations – per the Memorandum of Agreement – CPW has assumed lead management responsibility and authority for wolf conservation and management within the borders of the nonessential experimental population area for gray wolves in Colorado.  The Service is providing program oversight and coordination of management decisions with Colorado while allowing Colorado to implement those decisions on the ground as outlined in the Memorandum of Agreement. 

Under that 2023 agreement between Colorado and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service that implemented the 10(j) rule, the federal agency is responsible for implementing the Endangered Species Act “and has primary oversight over the conservation and management of federally listed species.” Colorado’s wolves are covered by the ESA but are listed as a nonessential experimental population, allowing the state to reintroduce the species in Colorado.  

The agreement further states the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is responsible for ensuring the state’s management of wolves is “conducted in full compliance” with the Colorado 10(j) rule, and to coordinate and collaborate with CPW on gray wolf monitoring and management, non-lethal and lethal conflict mitigation, and overall management on lands in Colorado, except for tribal lands on the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain reservations.

The letter from Gittleson and Farrell points out that the decisions on wolves are actually not being made by CPW; they claim it’s the governor and the First Gentleman, Marlon Reis.

“We believe that due to the Governor’s and his spouse’s relationship with wolf advocacy groups and their own feelings, he is not allowing Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) leaders to make adequate and reasonable decisions in regards to the management of wolves,” the letter states. “We have actually been told by members of CPW that the Governor is making the decisions.”

First Gentleman Marlon Reis has been involved in several Facebook interactions with ranchers in recent weeks, including the Gittleson family.

In one exchange with Gittleson, Reis said, “The truth is I don’t care. I don’t care what you do or don’t eat. I don’t care what you think you know of what you think you’re qualified to comment on. I don’t care why your family seems to love the limelight and never misses an opportunity to trash talk the Front Range. If you’re proud of being a rancher, act like it. All this complaining is leading nowhere fast.”

Reis ended up taking down his Facebook page for a short time after the arguments. The exchanges have since been deleted and Reis’ Facebook page is live again. 

Wolf depredations in Jackson County, most of it on Gittleson’s ranch, have numbered close to two dozen, including killings of calves, cattle and working dogs. In Grand County, at least 16 sheep and cattle have been killed by wolves since April 2, most of them belonging to Farrell.

Gittleson told Colorado Politics that there have been more killings, but if CPW staff are unable to get to the site within 12 hours, what’s left of the livestock often isn’t enough to confirm a wolf attack. And that’s becoming more common, he indicated.

The wolves killing Gittleson’s livestock aren’t from the 10 released in Colorado last December. Those wolves migrated down to Colorado from Wyoming. At least six were confirmed in the area over the last several years, but only two are still in the area, according to Gittleson and others in Jackson County who met with reporters in June.

Farrell and his family have seen wolves as close as 30 yards from their home, near sheep raised by their children. 

The letter to Scott Becker, the regional wolf coordinator and Matt Hogan, the regional director for U.S. Fish and Wildlife, claims CPW is falling short on following the wolf restoration and management plan.

The plan calls for “building trust, maintaining relationships, setting expectations, emphasizing transparent and meaningful outreach with stakeholders and the public…,” the letter says.

The letter stated that the agency has been anything but transparent with the ranching community, the press, and the public. That includes a lack of transparency between CPW leadership and the CPW regional staff. Ranchers have told CPW their staff are no longer welcome on their properties. CPW relies on relationships with ranchers for wildlife habitat and conservation projects.

The wolf plan also said no wolf with a known history of chronic depredation would be relocated to Colorado. CPW has so far refused to define this term, as wolf advocates fear it could lead to the lethal management of problem wolves.

The letter stated all the wolves brought to Colorado from Oregon were “either directly from packs” with a history of depredation of livestock or in areas where livestock depredation occurred. Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Service reported livestock depredations in 2023 from wolves in Wallowa County. The two adult wolves captured by CPW last week, believed responsible for at least two dozen livestock depredations in Grand County, were also from packs in Wallowa County. Oregon wolf investigations showed there were nine wolf packs in that county, and reported at least a dozen livestock depredations, with the most recent less than two months before the Wallowa wolves came to Colorado.

The letter also addressed the way CPW is managing depredation investigations, noting that the state wildlife agency only pays claims when there is a preponderance of evidence. “But in reality, they only pay if it is beyond a reasonable doubt. They don’t pay at all for ‘probably.'”

The wolf plan’s Stakeholders Advisory Group also said addressing wolf-livestock conflicts is “an essential part of this plan. The agricultural industry is a vital component of the Colorado economy and provides important open space and habitats that support a wide variety of wildlife.”

Instead, the only consideration, the letter said, is not to affect the restoration process, based in part on pressure from wolf advocates. CPW pressures ranchers into using non-lethal tools, regardless of whether they will work, the letter stated.

“It is very evident that Gov. Polis is at the helm of all decisions regarding wolf management,” the letter said, and also pointed to the recent comments by Reis on Facebook. “Management decisions are being based on emotions and their personal involvement with many wolf advocacy groups rather than rules, common sense, and to protect the agricultural community as well as wolves.”

CPW’s management is ruining relationships with many in the ag community, and it isn’t doing the wolves any good either, the letter concluded.

On Monday, CPW announced it had captured the Copper Creek pack, an adult female and male, and four pups. The adult male died several days later from injuries unrelated to the capture. CPW Director Jeff Davis said that if the male had survived, he would have been kept in captivity for the rest of his life. The pups will not be released until they are fully grown. 

On Tuesday, another dead calf was found in Grand County, believed to be the result of a wolf attack and a week after the removal of the Copper Creek pack from the area.

USFWS’ Becker and Hogan are both out of the office this week and unavailable for comment