Wolves took center stage during a Tuesday review by Colorado legislators of the budget proposal from the Department of Natural Resources, which includes the division that manages the reintroduction program.

The Joint Budget Committee reviewed the budget proposal for 2026-27 from the department, with an eye toward potential cuts.

The annual budget briefing is an opportunity for the budget panel to ask questions that the department will address in a hearing after the first of the year.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife accounts for the largest share of funding within the natural resources department. The division is cash-funded primarily through hunting and fishing license sales, state park passes and other fees.

Of the department’s $535 million in annual funding, just over 10% comes from the general fund ($57 million), while 80% comes from cash funds ($426 million).

While the budget dominated the conversation, there was also discussion of the changes underway at Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, raised questions about how CPW’s new director will be selected – its previous director, Jeff Davis, stepped down from the post to take another job within the department.

Kirkmeyer noted the CPW commission is often involved in hiring the director. She asked whether the Department of Natural Resources will consult with the commission on the next director. 

She also asked to see the separation agreement between the state and Davis, who was reassigned as a senior policy advisor, a job created for him when he vacated the director’s position at CPW. 

CPW is requesting additional funding for range riders – whose job is to patrol livestock areas and deploy nonlethal means to deter wolves and prevent or minimize conflicts – in the 2026-27 budget.

In the current budget, CPW has allocated $500,000 for 10 range riders. The division wants to double that in the upcoming year.

During the August special session, lawmakers adopted a bill prohibiting Colorado Parks and Wildlife from using general fund dollars to acquire more wolves, as well as a $264,000 cut to the wolf program. 

The lost money is expected to be replaced by gifts, grants and donations, which brought up another issue. 

Every dollar a state agency spends has to be approved – “appropriated” – by the legislature. The gifts, grants and donations approved in the legislation for acquiring wolves have not been through that approval process yet. 

That means the state cannot spend the donated funds for wolf acquisition until that tacit approval is given. The amount of money represents a substantial portion of CPW’s budget for acquiring more wolves.

That could be an issue, given that the state reportedly signed a $400,000 contract with British Columbia for another batch of wolves. That is now up in the air after an Oct. 10 letter from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service informed Colorado that it may not acquire wolves from anywhere other than Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and the eastern portions of Washington, Oregon, and Utah.

Washington’s Fish & Wildlife Commission voted, 8-1, last month not to send wolves to Colorado. Idaho, Montana, Utah and Wyoming have been steadfast in their refusal to provide wolves to Colorado.

Oregon provided 10 at the end of 2023, but some of those wolves came from packs with a history of depredation, and that led to dozens of livestock and working dog getting preyed upon in 2024.

Four of the Oregon wolves have since died, including two that traveled into Wyoming.

Kirkmeyer, with the support of Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, proposed a separate line item in the budget to show spending for acquiring wolves and another line item for all other activities related to the wolf program, such as conflict minimization efforts.

She also raised worries that ranchers are not being fully compensated for their livestock losses and whether the state could hire a third-party investigator to speed up the process. 

Ranchers have claimed that CPW staff investigating wolf depredations are sometimes slow to respond. By the time they get there, the carcass may be all but gone and a determination of a wolf depredation cannot be made. 

Bridges added that a third-party investigator “may be the right solution unless the department can convince me that they’re going to improve their methods moving forward.”

CPW has faced questions about the effectiveness of the range rider program. Kirkmeyer said she’s hearing that some range riders are not trained.

Tuesday’s budget briefing showed that CPW paid $604,191 in the first six months of 2025 to compensate ranchers for livestock losses, including losses from wolves killing livestock, their impact on market weight for cattle and sheep, and lower birth rates. 

“The number of confirmed wolf depredation events has increased after the first wolves were reintroduced to the state in December 2023,” the briefing document said.

That was accompanied by a chart showing six depredation “events” in the 2025-26 fiscal year and through Dec. 3, 2025.

CPW’s own wolf depredation website reports 20 depredation events beginning on July 1, with 25 dead or injured cattle and sheep.