In this upcoming session of the General Assembly, the state Senate will consider the nominations of four highly qualified individuals to serve on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission. They should be given a fair and honest hearing and ultimately confirmed.

Last year, Gov. Jared Polis nominated Gary Skiba and two others to be CPW commissioners. Skiba, a hunter, fisherman, bighorn sheep biologist and 23-year veteran of the agency, was perhaps the most qualified person ever to be named to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Commission. But in a senseless act, Skiba was rejected by the state Senate because he, like a majority of Colorado voters, supported the scientific reintroduction of gray wolves into Colorado, and opposed state legislation that could have delayed that reintroduction beyond the deadline mandated by the statewide ballot measure.

During the confirmation process, Coloradans were treated to a range of myths about wildlife management and about Mr. Skiba. Before his confirmation hearing, Skiba was falsely accused by conservative county commissioners, without evidence, of attacking Colorado’s rich hunting traditions. During the hearing, some senators sowed confusion by erroneously suggesting only decisions made by the state wildlife agency are scientifically based and thus consistent with the North American Model for Wildlife Conservation, while belittling Colorado voters who used of the constitutional ballot process to mandate the science-based reintroduction of gray wolves.

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The North American Model for Wildlife Conservation is a set of principles that was developed around the turn of the 20th century in the wake of market hunting abuses to ensure the sustainability of game populations. Though the North American Model has generally been good for the management of game species, it has little to say about Colorado’s main wildlife management challenge, preventing the extinction of our 159 rare, threatened and endangered species. Except for one important principle: “scientific management is the proper means for wildlife conservation.”

Unfortunately, it was the repeated decisions by Colorado’s state wildlife commission over decades to reject gray wolf reintroductions that made no scientific or ecological sense, and thus violated the North American Model. Those decisions directly facilitated the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) throughout Colorado’s elk and deer herds, a problem hunters and CPW are grappling with today. In contrast, the historic decision by Colorado voters in 2020 to require CPW to use “best available scientific data” to write a plan to reintroduce gray wolves, a native species, to its native ecosystem, where it evolved in balance with other species over thousands of years, was based on sound science and supported by world-class wolf biologists. Now, thanks to Colorado voters, gray wolves are coming home where they will reduce the prevalence of CWD in Colorado’s elk and deer herds by selectively targeting infected animals, while restoring the natural ecological balance between predator and prey.

Despite regular praise by hunters for the North American Model, in Colorado and around the country its core principle of scientific management has often been violated by state wildlife agencies, especially when it comes to the conservation and management of non-game species. This is because wildlife commissions are politically-appointed bodies that often have made political, rather than scientific, decisions about wildlife conservation and management — decisions inevitably constrained by the amount of habitat protection and wildlife population levels powerful special-interest groups are willing to accept.

The fact there are 159 species of wildlife in Colorado that have dramatically declined, and in some cases are headed toward extinction, is testament to this problem. For example, the conservation and management plans for Greater sage grouse and Gunnison sage grouse are failing due to the unwillingness of state and federal agencies across the western United States to write science-based plans to adequately protect their habitat. As a result, both bird species are now headed toward extinction. And despite improving water conservation and enhancing songbird and trout habitat, Colorado beavers can be shot 365 days a year and trapped for seven months of the year under policies that make no scientific sense at all. Allowing beavers to continue to be killed will only harm Coloradans as we face future water shortages due to declining snowpack from climate change. Hopefully this will be reviewed and changed when the new statewide beaver management plan is written.

Amidst the global extinction crisis, Colorado can become a model for state-led recovery of rare and endangered species. But state senators who insist on supporting only conservative, status quo-oriented CPW Commissioners are not unlike those who deny climate change. They make it a lot harder for CPW to follow the science, change course, and take steps needed to protect our collective future. We know if we don’t act now to eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions and recover our endangered wildlife, in the decades to come, large swaths of the Earth will become uninhabitable, and the ecosystems that support life here in Colorado and around the world will start to collapse.

Given this reality, Colorado cannot afford to have its state Senate reject highly qualified candidates for the CPW Commission who truly follow the North American Model to support the science-based management and recovery of gray wolves, or any other rare or endangered species for that matter. All that does is perpetuate a system that has historically failed so much of Colorado’s non-game wildlife.

Fortunately, Gov. Jared Polis understands Colorado’s wildlife needs more thoughtful and effective scientific conservation and management. In recent years, he has appointed an excellent management team to lead the Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, including superb commissioners. And it is clear CPW employees are prepared to meet the challenge of recovering Colorado’s 159 rare, threatened and endangered species, so future generations of Coloradans can enjoy our wildlife as much or more than we do. But to do so, they will need more commissioners who have the expertise and desire to support that mission, are committed to true scientific conservation, management and recovery of wildlife, and frankly are in tune with the values of the vast majority of wildlife-loving Coloradans.

Eric Washburn is a fifth-generation Coloradan and big-game hunter who lives in Steamboat Springs.