Wolves were not on the agenda of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting last week. There was nothing to discuss.

Except there were some sharp comments from Commissioner Tai Jacober criticizing the decision to release the Copper Creek pack into Pitkin County.

Jacober, a rancher from Carbondale, said the agency went against the management plan in capturing the pack and again in re-releasing them and making them a problem for a different set of ranchers. Who could have possibly seen that coming? Weird.

Commissioner Marie Haskett, who represents outfitters, said wolves have taken so much time in commission meetings it has taken away from the management of the other 900 species in the state. She’s correct. She also concluded her time on the commission and will be sorely missed by people who enjoy representation by one of their own.

The management of wildlife is a biological issue, with social challenges. In Colorado and California, the management of wildlife has been made into a social issue with biological challenges. As long as wildlife is politicized, that won’t change. We certainly see that with the changing of presidential administrations and the ping-pong listing and de-listing of various photogenic beasts. The Biden administration’s parting gift to the states to our north was the listing and the broadening the grizzly range south nearly to Interstate 80.

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There was some public comment offered during general public comment time. County Commissioner Perry Will, who spent his 40-year career working for the then-DOW (Department of Wildlife), said the wolf program is failing. He said the wolf program is also failing the field staff, and failing to protect these people who dedicate their lives to the wildlife and people of the state is unacceptable.

State Sen. Marc Catlin addressed the commission and said there are young men in his district whose eyes look old because they don’t know how to move forward with the hand they’ve been dealt.

Commissioner Jacober asked Catlin and Will what it is that they want. Will explained, again, how Colorado isn’t appropriate for wolves with 6 million residents. Catlin said the Copper Creek pack needs to be removed. Jacober said he agreed the goal was a sustainable population that coexists with humans and said in order to do that the “bad actors” of the pack need removed. They all agreed that isn’t the fault of the wolves, who are doing what wolves do.

John Swartout said the role of the commission is to stop political interference from the governor to direct policy. He said had the reintroduction been left to Dir. Jeff Davis and the people of CPW, the effort would have been a success.

“Every commission has pushed back against governors who overreach since the time of Roy Romer,” Swartout said. “Step up. You’re a type-1 agency. Do your job. Protect Jeff Davis. Protect your senior leadership team and protect your people in the field because they’re the best in the whole country.”

Swartout said the partnerships that make the job of CPW possible are at risk if the commission fails to stop allowing political overreach from Gov. Jared Polis.

There was applause. And that, dear readers, is the truth. Failure by any commission to push back against overreach will be the demise of the mission and that is the core of the social challenge before the state.

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.