Colorado Parks and Wildlife hosts conflict mitigation meetings as ranchers, wildlife advocates ask for pause in wolf reintroduction
Nonlethal mitigation tools now a central discussion point in reintroduction efforts
Meg Soyars Van Hauen/Sky-Hi News
With more wolves on the way, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is hosting several trainings this fall to help ranchers learn about nonlethal mitigation strategies.
The state wildlife agency has partnered on the training sessions with the Colorado Department of Agriculture, the Colorado State University Extension and the Wildlife Services arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
So far, the agency has announced four free meetings, two of which were held in Moffat and Routt counties this week.
The next two trainings will be hosted in Meeker and Glenwood Springs in November. The Colorado Department of Agriculture says more meetings are being planned.
Among other topics, the events will go over wolf depredation investigations, range riding, hazing, compensation for livestock killings, funding programs, carcass management and using livestock protection dogs.
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In hosting the meetings this fall and winter, the goal is to support producers before producers welcome new calves and lambs in the spring and before there are more wolves on the ground.
Upcoming meetings include:
- On Monday, Nov. 4 from 6-9 p.m. at the Rio Blanco Fairgrounds in Meeker
- On Tuesday, Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Morgridge Commons in Glenwood Springs
Interested producers can register online and learn more about the events at Ag.Colorado.Gov/Event.
Supporting nonlethal methods now versus later
Parks and Wildlife is currently planning to release up to an additional 15 wolves between December and March, despite calls from both producers and wildlife advocates to pause efforts. While the ranchers and advocates are making different requests, both agree that more needs to be done to prevent conflict before these wolves come to Colorado.
In October, a group of 26 livestock and stockgrower organizations petitioned the agency’s commission, requesting a pause until more proactive steps are taken to support producers.
The petition requests that before more wolves are reintroduced, Parks and Wildlife do the following:
- Clearly define “chronic depredation”
- Proactively develop, test and fund nonlethal methods
- Conduct site vulnerability assessments in areas where the wolves will be released
- Deploy a “rapid response team” to respond to depredations
- Provide more transparent communication before releases
While commenters at the commission’s October meeting acknowledged many of these items are being discussed or possibly implemented, some expressed fear and frustration in the uncertainty of when they would be deployed.
“These measures will not be in place at the time of the planned introduction, promising more conflict,” said Erin Karney, executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. “The success of the program must be demonstrated before even thinking about more introductions.”
At the meeting, several wildlife advocates requested that Parks and Wildlife pause reintroduction until the agency creates requirements for producers to utilize nonlethal mitigation methods before compensation is offered or kill permits are issued.
“The current wolf management plan is not working,” said Delia Malone, speaking as wildlife chair of the Colorado chapter of the Sierra Club. “Colorado’s Wolf Management Plan must be amended to require removal of attractants like livestock carcass dumps and compliance with basic nonlethal measures to protect livestock.”
Many of these requests included insinuations that the situation in Grand County with the Copper Creek Pack killing livestock was due to baiting and a refusal by ranchers to deploy mitigation methods. However, Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis addressed this saying that the situation in Middle Park “was a perfect storm for all of us.”
“These things showed up and we all learned a lot really, really quickly,” he said. “I want to clarify, there were nonlethal measures deployed in Middle Park … from my perspective, we were all in the soup together, learning in the moment and I don’t feel like any of that was done intentionally by any party there.”
The commission has made no ruling or decision to pause reintroduction efforts but has indicated an effort to help support the use of nonlethal tools. It is likely to take up a decision at its next meeting in November.
“We’ve said this would be adaptive management,” said Chairman Dallas May. “We now have the chance to adapt to the things we have learned. … There can be blame in a lot of places, but right now, we should be focusing on that shared common ground to make this a success.”
