DENVER–Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is in the final stages of a development plan to bring wolverines into the state, with a target date of late 2027 at the earliest for actually getting paws on the ground.
The effort was prompted by the bipartisan passage in 2024 of Senate Bill 171, authorizing “restoration of the North American wolverine” into Colorado. According to CPW, the current draft of the plan identifies three “release zones” across the state: the “northern zone” north of I-70 near Rocky Mountain National Park, the “central zone” located in the central mountains spanning from Aspen to Gunnision, and the “southern zone” encompassing the San Juans between Montrose and Durango.
CPW says that while the exact release locations have not yet been decided, each general release zone will receive between 10-15 wolverines every year for three years, roughly 20 percent of the population researchers say Colorado’s habitat can support overall.
Dan Gates, executive Director of Coloradans For Responsible Wildlife Management, says if CPW can follow the necessary plans of action, this could a conservation success.
“As a conservationist, they should be able to do what’s necessary to re-establish species dictated by the science, which was not the case with the wolf introduction,” Gates told Complete Colorado.
CPW plans to capture wolverines during the winter months between November and January and bring them to Frisco Wildlife Rehabilitation Center for microchipping and GPS collars.
While the official management plan is still underway, the wolverines will most likely come from Canada and won’t be released until late 2027 at the earliest.
CPW confirmed to Complete Colorado that that the agency still needs to enact a rule regarding compensation for any depredation of livestock that may occur, as well as establish a 10(j) rule with the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service, which designates reintroduced species of endangered or threatened animals as an experimental population.
CPW is also working to complete the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process.
Gates notes that unlike wolves, wolverines are not that serious a threat to livestock, and thus could be a positive addition to Colorado’s wildlife ecosystem if done right.
“While I’m displeased with the way the wolf introduction has gone down this road of the abyss, I’m hopeful that science-based wildlife management will eventually prevail.”
