DENVER–The Washington State Fish and Wildlife Commission on Saturday rejected a Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) request to supply 15 gray wolves for release in Colorado, adding to the ongoing woes of the wolf importation scheme narrowly passed by Colorado voters in 2020.
As previously reported by Complete Colorado, the cost of the ambitious plan has already blown past the estimates used to sell the measure at the ballot box.
During a Nov. 15 meeting, Washington commissioners sided with constituents voicing concern that the state’s wolf population is too fragile to undergo such a transfer, citing a 9% population drop last year.
Colorado voices also weighed in on the transfer, with Grand County commissioners issuing a letter to the wildlife commission urging the wolves remain in Washington, while also requesting CPW delay any new wolf releases for another year.
Lorena Smith, Washington Fish and Wildlife Commissioner, says this decision was rooted in both policy and public opinion
“This is really not a biological issue; it is almost exclusively a policy issue,” she said at the Saturday meeting, “We have heard over yesterday and this morning a rare and beautiful level of consensus across the spectrum of our stakeholders, that there is no support for translocating Washington wolves to Colorado.”
Rick Enstrom, a former Colorado wildlife commissioner notes Colorado’s wolf program is growing increasingly unpopular.
“This introduction of a different species of wolf into Colorado is not popular, not in the ranching community and not in the environmental community,” Enstrom told Complete Colorado, “It’s failed public policy that was run on emotion, without science, and now we’re reaping the rewards.”
No to Canadian wolves as well
Colorado’s request to Washington comes after the newly appointed U.S. Fish and Wildlife Director, Brian Nesvik, barred CPW last month from sourcing wolves out of British Columbia.
Nesvik sites Colorado’s 10(j) agreement with the federal government permitting Colorado to only source wolves from states in the Northern Rockies, that are not on the federal endangered species list.
However, Colorado is running low on options as this was the second failed attempt to obtain Washington wolves. The Coville Tribe agreement in 2024, in which a coalition of Washington State native tribes agreed to give Colorado 15 wolves, fell through due to concerns over CPW’s relations with Colorado tribes.
Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming all declined participation in Colorado’s wolf importation program in 2023. Colorado has already transferred ten wolves from Oregon in 2023, leaving Utah as the only state left for potential sourcing.
Colorado’s importation plan recommends releasing 30-50 wolves within the first 3-5 years. CPW has released 25 wolves in the first two years, with 10 from Oregon and 15 from British Columbia. Colorado had signed an agreement to obtain another 15 wolves from British Columbia this January, which will no longer happen under the federal order.
CPW is still planning for a third release this winter, though the source of the wolves remains unknown.
