The management of wolves in states like Wyoming and Montana, which are red states, will always be different than in states like Colorado. Wildlife management shouldn’t be political, but it appears there’s no avoiding it. That was illustrated through the inappropriate appointments made by Gov. Jared Polis last year to the CPW Commission. That is certainly playing out as anticipated with Safari Club International, Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation, and Brett Axton, v. CPW, 2024CV33613 (Denver District). The lawsuit brought by the two national hunting groups are suing the commission and both Commissioner Jessica Beaulieu and Commissioner Jack Murphy for allegedly violating open meeting laws.

Beaulieu and Murphy were listed as authors, along with former Commission Chair James Pribyl, of an opinion piece first published by the Durango Herald expressing their personal support of Proposition 127, which sought to criminalize mountain lion and bobcat hunting. The complaint clarifies the two Gov. Polis appointees, who were both identified as current commissioners, “must have met to discuss their position on the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats.” The hunting of those species is public business of the CPW commission.

There are outliers and radicals on the extremes of every issue that agriculture producers face, but by and large, my experience is most voters recognize their reliance on agriculture, most visibly illustrated in their daily use of clothing, fuel and food. I can’t speak to the starving and stranded nudists.

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There are people who hate ranchers. But the bottom line is agriculture is vitally important to the state and national economies and farmers and ranchers are the ones on the land providing habitat and access for wildlife management. I firmly believe those who hate ranchers are a small, albeit noisy, minority. Ag producers, policymakers and voters must focus on the middle.

In the middle, consumers see the “Colorado Proud” labels at their grocery store and choose Colorado-grown products in support of those producers and in the name of local food. In the middle, consumers see a pasture of cow-calf pairs and see beauty in it. In the middle, consumers may not understand the ins and outs of production agriculture, but they recognize they depend upon its success. In the middle, consumers don’t want producers to see baby calves with their guts eaten by predators, with a mother cow pacing and bellowing nearby. In the middle, consumers want ranchers compensated for their losses. No matter the noise at the far ends of the spectrum, the middle is reasonable.

During the Senate Agriculture Committee meeting on March 14, Commission Chair Dallas May was confirmed for a second term and Commissioners Murphy Robinson and Tai Jacober were confirmed for their first. Commissioner Jay Tutchton’s confirmation will be sent to the full Colorado Senate without a favorable recommendation from the committee. The vote for Tutchton failed 3-4 with state Sens. Marc Catlin, Byron Pelton, Rod Pelton and Dylan Roberts voting against his confirmation.

Ag Committee Chair Roberts was clear with Commissioner Jacober there was room for Jacober to express his support for Western Slope livestock producers with an aye vote on the petition that came before the CPW Commission. Roberts put his money where his mouth is by casting the sole no vote for Jacober’s confirmation.

The crux of many of the questions the commissioners fielded were whether they are influenced by the governor’s office regarding agenda items. They all said they aren’t, and I believe most of them.

Tutchton faced questions about a comment he made about Sen. Roberts and Speaker Julie McCluskie at the March 2024 meeting where he said: “I remember some whiny politicians kind of pandering to the newspapers and complaining that we need to define chronic depredation, and so I’m wondering, well, one of two things. Are we caving in to those folks who just whined or did they have a point (chuckles). I’m not going to discount the possibility that whining and pandering politicians are occasionally making a valid point. So did we change our mind that we want to define chronic depredation now, or are we just knuckling under to some political rhetoric?”

Roberts clarified who the whiny politicians were and Tutchton apologized. It appears to me those comments and questions about influence exacted by the governor’s office over Tutchton led to the no votes.

Some of Commissioner Jacober’s comments about wolves offered insight from a commissioner who ranches in the state’s newest wolf country. Jacober said, “I, too, was concerned about the wolves. They were put in my backyard, and I know there’s currently a wolf two miles away from my calving ground, and I know there’s a lot more wolves five miles away from my calving ground. And, so, in the interest of the safety, which is what I kept being told, of CPW staff and the wolves, during the actual release periods it was quiet. I felt in the dark and felt like it was quiet, but it was being done for safety.”

Neither the wolves nor CPW staff are in danger from the state’s livestock producers. This has been proven time after time by the producers who have shouldered repeated wolf kills and producers who have worked with CPW staff.

Producers have also shouldered angsty social media attacks from the anti-rancher crowd, especially the rancher who was compensated for losses according to the wolf plan. If someone desires an example of why Sen. Roberts’ bill to shield the identities of ranchers who apply for compensation according to statute, look no further than that rancher.

Rachel Gabel writes about agriculture and rural issues. She is assistant editor of The Fence Post Magazine, the region’s preeminent agriculture publication. Gabel is a daughter of the state’s oil and gas industry and a member of one of the state’s 12,000 cattle-raising families, and she has authored children’s books used in hundreds of classrooms to teach students about agriculture.