Gray wolves roamed across Colorado’s mountains for thousands of years. But by 1940, the last of Colorado’s gray wolves, like those throughout most of the Rocky Mountains, had been killed off. Then in 1995, the Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, to help restore the natural ecological balance to northern Rocky Mountain ecosystems.  And in 2020, Colorado voters approved the reintroduction of wolves here.

But restoring wolves into our Rocky Mountains does not come without cost. By the time Proposition 114 was passed, a quarter-century of experience from the northern Rockies showed where wolves and ranches occupy the same geographic area, some wolves inevitably will kill livestock. 

In April, reintroduced wolves settled south of Parshall, known as the Copper Creek Pack, began depredating cattle and sheep in that area. CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA) worked with the local ranchers to deploy non-lethal measures to deter depredations, including providing funding for a range rider to patrol the area. But depredations continued into the summer and in August, CPW began an operation to capture and relocate the pack to prevent further depredations of livestock.

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CPW’s capture and relocation of the Cooper Creek Pack was not without controversy. It received criticism from wolf advocates who felt more should have been done to employ non-lethal techniques to prevent depredations before engaging in such an ambitious operation. At the same time, ranchers became frustrated by repeated depredations and felt it took too long for CPW to make the decision to relocate the pack.

Amidst all this, in June, CPW Director Jeff Davis convened an ad hoc wolf-livestock coexistence working group to advise the agency on how to prevent livestock depredations. In addition to CPW leadership, the group includes representatives of the ranching community, the wolf advocacy community, a wolf coexistence specialist from Colorado State University and a wolf conflict prevention specialist from the Colorado Department of Agriculture (CDA). 

The ad hoc working group has been extraordinarily helpful in forging relationships and in advancing mutual understanding of the concerns and ambitions of ranchers and wolf advocates. Through our discussions, we have developed respect and appreciation for each other’s perspectives and built a considerable amount of trust. In doing so we have laid the foundations for a long-term constructive dialogue among CPW, CDA, ranchers and wolf advocates regarding the future of wolf management in the state.

Much of the discussion of the working group has focused on the use of non-lethal tools and carcass management to deter wolf predation, as well as when it will be necessary to take more drastic steps like lethally removing chronically depredating wolves, as contemplated in the Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. The working group’s deliberations brought to light three main goals:

1. Clarify the responsibilities of ranchers and state personnel to avoid subjectivity in applying these rules
2. Encourage producers to work with local district wildlife managers (DWMs) to conduct ranch vulnerability assessments, which will pave the way for state-funded and state-implemented non-lethal coexistence tools to be deployed: and
3. Provide a “warranty” to producers that if those non-lethal tools fail to prevent a wolf from crossing a clear, quantitative chronic depredation threshold, then lethal removal of the offending wolf or wolves will be granted by CPW.  

After numerous meetings and much debate, the ad hoc working group recommended if a rancher chooses to undertake a vulnerability assessment and allow the state to fund and deploy reasonable non-lethal coexistence measures, and manages his or her carcass disposal pit in accordance with said site assessment, then if a wolf or wolves engage in three depredation events within 30 days, CPW will permit lethal removal. 

Ultimately, CPW incorporated the advice of the working group into a policy document that will guide its future decision making regarding the management of wolves. This will help ensure everyone understands the rules related to achieving wolf-livestock coexistence and ranchers can be assured they will not have to endure chronic depredations by wolves indefinitely. Social acceptance of wolves in Colorado will be important to the long-term success of the reintroduction program, and effective prevention of livestock depredations will be a key factor in achieving that goal. This new CPW policy is intended to help. 

Nevertheless, since the issuance of the chronic depredation policy in December, some ranchers have expressed concerns about the standard of proof for depredations and about the potential for subjectivity to influence lethal removal decisions. Ag representatives on the ad hoc expressed concerns regarding the chronic definition of three in 30 days as being too high of a threshold. Science has proven for every confirmed depredation there can be five to seven missing not confirmed; Therefore the members agreed a hard line be drawn with no subjectivity when wolves depredate three times in 30 days. The ad hoc group understands not all details of wolf management can be covered in a document, and trust in producers and local staff by the executive management team and the general public will be needed. We have been assured by CPW Director Davis CPW will continue to convene the working group throughout 2025 so it can assess the effectiveness of the policy in achieving coexistence, and recommend further changes to address these and other aspects of the policy if necessary.

Important signs of progress in achieving coexistence are emerging. To date, 50 ranch vulnerability assessments have been completed or are in the process of being completed. Sixty-eight people have expressed interest in becoming range riders. Dozens of guard dogs have been placed on ranches. Turbo fladry and electric fencing have been deployed successfully on numerous ranches. CDA is providing grants for range riding and carcass management. And CPW and CDA are holding coexistence and stockmanship workshops in potentially affected counties. The ad hoc group is still divided as to whether the landscape will have enough coverage with site assessments before the release of wolves from British Columbia.

Ultimately, Colorado can become a model for successful wolf-livestock coexistence. From experiences in other states and now Colorado, we have learned quite a bit about how to prevent depredation of livestock. We are also aware a small percentage of wolves will habituate to non-lethal deterrents and lethal removal will be necessary if this leads to chronic depredations. We know CPW and CDA will need adequate human and financial resources to conduct vulnerability assessments of ranches, and deploy non-lethal coexistence measures like fladry, range riders, guard dogs and even drones. Some funding sources have already been established for this purpose, like Colorado’s Born to be Wild license plate, which provides $600,000 per year for deployment of non-lethal coexistence measures. But more funding will be needed to ensure state personnel can deploy these measures. 

Successfully implementing a comprehensive statewide plan to prevent livestock depredation in Colorado will require more than money. All entities, including the governor, the state legislature, CPW, CDA, individual ranchers, producer organizations and wolf advocacy organizations will play an important role during the years to come. However, the real work will be done on the ground between individual producers, land owners and the local DWMs for CPW. These people will be on the front line dealing with wolves, livestock and ranchers, day and night, 365 days per year. If trust cannot be established in both directions at this level, then wolf livestock coexistence will be a battle for years to come. The northern Rockies took one to two decades to reach this point. Let’s hope Colorado can accomplish this in one-tenth that time and show we can effectively manage conflicts between wolves and livestock. Doing so will be a big win for ranchers and their livestock, wolves and wolf advocates. Finally, we would be remiss if we did not sincerely commend the ongoing efforts put forth by the leadership and staff of CPW and CDA to achieve coexistence in Colorado.

Lenny Klinglesmith is a western slope rancher. Eric Washburn is a western-slope big-game hunter and wolf advocate. Though they are members of CPW’s ad hoc wolf-livestock coexistence working group, their opinions expressed here are their own and not necessarily reflective of other members of the working group.