Colorado’s wolves move deeper into Eagle, Summit counties in June
See 6 months of activity maps to watch wolves expand across the state
Colorado’s collared wolves have traveled deeper into Eagle and Summit counties while somewhat withdrawing from parts of Routt and Grand counties, according to a map released by Colorado Parks and Wildlife Wednesday.
The map, posted on the agency’s website, uses Colorado watershed boundaries to indicate where wolves have been detected. It is updated on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
State officials have released the maps monthly since January after reintroducing 10 wolves in Grand and Summit counties in December.
This month’s map, which reflects May 21 through June 25, shows the wolves entering watersheds in northwestern Eagle County and southern Summit County near Copper Mountain. While the map from last month showed wolves in central and western Routt County and central Grand County near Granby, the latest update doesn’t show them in those areas anymore.
Since reintroduction, the wolves have largely remained in the same core areas with only one new watershed marked in this map, said Parks and Wildlife wolf monitoring and data coordinator Brenna Cassidy.
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“If it wasn’t a good place for them to be, I think they would be leaving a little bit more,” she said.
While the wolves have entered the watersheds near Rocky Mountain National Park, there is no indication that they’ve entered the park, she said. The map also shows the wolves nearing the Front Range and areas around Interstate 70.
The map only shows what watershed boundaries wolves have entered, not exact locations. Even though the map includes watersheds that cross below I-70, the wolves haven’t traveled below the interstate, according to Parks and Wildlife.
“Wolves are made to figure out natural barriers, the Continental Divide, wolves can go up and over that,” Cassidy said. “The human barriers are really the ones that make wolves turn and go a different direction.”
A wolf would likely need to be highly motivated to decide to cross an area as noisy as I-70, she added.
As the snow melts, the wolves are likely to explore further throughout the state, especially as elk and deer move into new areas, Cassidy said.
One of the watersheds wolves have entered borders Boulder County. Another expands the wolves’ territory deeper into Larimer County. There was less activity in Moffat County than last month, according to the map.
The wolves that were released in December, which were transported to the state from Oregon, have tracking collars that record their position once every four hours. Two of those collars are no longer functioning, but those wolves are traveling with other, collared wolves, according to Parks and Wildlife. One of those wolves was killed by a mountain lion in April in Larimer County.
Since the start of reintroduction, there have been 10 confirmed cases of wolves attacking livestock in the state, also known as depredation. Earlier this month, a Routt County rancher lost a calf to a wolf, the first depredation recorded in that county. Only one of the depredation cases has resulted in a payout from the state so far.
Earlier this month, state officials confirmed a wolf pup was born in Grand County. The family of wolves can now be considered a pack, dubbed the Copper Creek Pack.
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The June wolf activity map shows the animals expanding across the state of Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy
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May map showing collared gray wolf activity.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife released the latest collared gray wolf activity map on Apr. 24, showing new wolf activity in watersheds east of the Continental Divide and onto the Front Range.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy image
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This Colorado Parks and Wildlife map, released March 27, shows watersheds in which at least one wolf has traveled over the last 30 days.
Courtesy image
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The Colorado Parks and Wildlife map shows where wolves traveled in Colorado between Jan. 23 and Feb. 27.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy illustration
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Colorado Parks and Wildlife has created a Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map that will help inform the public on where gray wolves have been in the past month. The map will be updated with new information on a monthly basis, produced on the fourth Wednesday of every month, and will reflect data for the prior month, give or take several days.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife/Courtesy photo
