Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases new wolf map depicting locations of February activity

Colorado Parks and Wildlife released its latest wolf activity map on Wednesday, depicting where collared wolves have been in Colorado over the past 35 days.

The map shows where wolves traveled between Jan. 23 and Feb. 27 and is part of an effort from CPW to inform the public where wolves have been without revealing where they are at any current point in time.

The map doesn’t show actual locations, rather it depicts watersheds where the 12 collared wolves in Colorado have been. Those watersheds can reflect a broader region than the wolves actually traveled, for example, the Eagle River Watershed in Eagle County south of I-70 was shown on the January wolf map, but CPW confirmed at the time that a wolf had not yet been located south of I-70. That region is not shown on the February wolf map, meaning the wolves have not traveled into that watershed since Jan. 23.

The wolves’ collars are programmed to record a position every four hours. Once four locations have been recorded, they are then transmitted via satellite to CPW biologists.

CPW, along with releasing the latest wolf activity map on Wednesday, said two wolves had traveled broadly from western Routt County into eastern Moffat County.

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In addition to moving into Moffat County, February’s map differs from the map released in January in showing less activity near the I-70 corridor and more activity in the northern part of the state near the Wyoming border. The February map also shows the wolves moving farther east into Larimer County.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 gray wolves onto public land in Summit and Grand counties from Dec. 18 to Dec. 22, and plans to release more wolves during the next capture season, starting in December.

“Although the agency could release up to five more wolves this capture season according to its Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, the additional time will allow the agency to assess the releases in December and let CPW staff adjust to any increased workload of having wolves on the ground in Colorado, as well as allow time for the additional resources for CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture to support ranchers proposed in the Governor’s budget to become effective July 1,” CPW said in a release.

In addition to the 10 wolves reintroduced in December, two male wolves captured in the North Park area of Colorado in February 2023 have been fitted with collars and are part of the map data, as well.

The 10 wolves released by CPW were obtained from Oregon, where CPW worked with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife during the 2023 capture season.

Those wolves caused some controversy at the Capitol, with Sen. Dylan Roberts, pointing out that two of the wolves brought to Colorado were from a pack that had killed livestock in the past.

The next wolves brought into Colorado will be from the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and CPW, in a release, said tribal representatives will provide guidance to the agency on target packs, avoiding packs with known active chronic depredation behavior.

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The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will be a source for up to 15 wolves for the Colorado during the next capture period, which runs from December 2024 to March 2025.

CPW is aiming for a total wolf population of 30-50 wolves.