A first look at where Colorado’s newest gray wolves have been traveling

Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s January watershed map offers the first look at where the state’s latest wolves have traveled since the agency released them in Eagle and Pitkin counties last week. 

The map — which reports activity from Dec. 22 to Jan. 21 — shows wolf activity in watersheds touching parts of Lake, Chaffee, Park, Fremont, Jackson, Grand, Routt, Eagle, Summit, Garfield, Mesa, Gunnison and Pitkin counties. 

The exploration in the southeast counties comes from one female wolf, according to Parks and Wildlife. 

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“There is currently just one wolf in the highlighted watershed,” it added. 

Colorado’s wolf population has surged in the past week as Parks and Wildlife brought 15 wolves from British Columbia and re-released the five members of the Copper Creek Pack. The adult female and four of the pups have been at a sanctuary for around five months after the pack was tied to numerous livestock deaths in Grand County. A fifth pup from the pack — the only one without a collar — evaded capture in the fall but remains in the state, according to the agency.

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These 20 wolves were released in Eagle and Pitkin counties, with releases occurring both north and south of Interstate 70. 

With the latest releases, Parks and Wildlife is monitoring 29 wolves across the state. 

While this is the first monthly watershed map showing collar location data from the 15 wolves from British Columbia, it is impossible to differentiate their locations from the existing wolves on the map.

The January map does have watersheds not previously highlighted since reintroduction started in December 2023 — including the one crossing between Pitkin, Mesa and Gunnison counties as well as some of the aforementioned southwest counties where the lone female wolf is. 

However, the wolves’ movements appear more condensed compared to the December map, which was more expansive across the northwest. 

All of Colorado’s reintroduced wolves — as well as four of the nearly 10-month-old pups from the Copper Creek pack — have GPS collars that send their location every four hours to Parks and Wildlife staff. The maps released each month show the Colorado watersheds where at least one GPS point from the collars has been recorded. 

With the increase in population, wolves are expected to have a more expansive presence on the landscape, while traveling shorter distances and exploring less than they have been so far. 

“With more wolves in the state, they will be more broadly distributed,” said Rachael Gonzales, the northwest region public information officer for Parks and Wildlife. “Wolves are a territorial species, which means that when they find somewhere to live, they will defend it from other wolves. When pairs and packs form, they will need space from each other on the landscape.”

Parks and Wildlife has repeatedly indicated that having the wolves in established packs and territories will help it better monitor the predators as well as prevent and address conflict with livestock as ranchers continue to express concerns about how wolves are managed.