{"id":5920,"date":"2023-12-20T09:44:22","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=5920"},"modified":"2023-12-20T09:44:22","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T16:44:22","slug":"colorado-cheers-release-of-wolves-wyoming-ranchers-not-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2023\/12\/20\/colorado-cheers-release-of-wolves-wyoming-ranchers-not-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Cheers Release Of Wolves, Wyoming Ranchers Not So Much"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you&#8217;re visiting Northern Colorado wilderness, be aware that you could encounter a wolf pack. And you could possibly see them in southern Wyoming if they migrate north. And remember that mountain bikers and joggers mimic prey behavior and could be pretty enticing to a hungry wolf pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2023\/12\/19\/colorado-cheers-release-of-wolves-wyoming-ranchers-not-so-much\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2023\/12\/19\/colorado-cheers-release-of-wolves-wyoming-ranchers-not-so-much\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ub-divider ub_divider ub-divider-orientation-horizontal\" id=\"ub_divider_a8f9fe80-fa9c-4c60-aea5-352c590c52f1\"><div class=\"ub_divider_wrapper\" style=\"position: relative; margin-bottom: 2px; width: 100%; height: 2px; \" data-divider-alignment=\"center\"><div class=\"ub_divider_line\" style=\"border-top: 2px solid #ccc; margin-top: 2px; \"><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\">As Colorado officials cheered the release of five wolves Monday, ranchers on the Wyoming side of the state line say it\u2019s only a matter of time before they have to deal with them.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p>By Mark Heinz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.imgix.net\/Wolves-released-colorado-12.19.23.jpg?ixlib=js-3.8.0&amp;q=75&amp;auto=format%2Ccompress\" alt=\"One of five wolves reintroduced to northern Colorado on Monday.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One of five wolves reintroduced to northern Colorado on Monday. (Jerry Neal, Colorado Parks and Wildlife)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Colorado\u2019s long-anticipated wolf reintroduction program got underway this week, as wildlife agents released five wolves on state land in a remote section of Grand County in northern Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The wolves were captured after being shot with tranquilizer darts from the air in Oregon on Sunday. They were placed in crates, flown to Colorado, and then trucked to the release site Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was on site to personally open one of the crates and release the wolf inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Not Everyone Excited<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>During a virtual press conference late Monday, Polis said these initial releases came roughly 80 years after wolves in Colorado were essentially wiped out. He hailed the initiation of the wolf reintroduction program as a success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOur ecosystem will be healthy and balanced again,\u201d Polis said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, a former Wyoming legislator who ranches on the Wyoming-Colorado state line told Cowboy State Daily that he and many other rural Coloradans on the other side of the state line aren\u2019t happy to see the wolves coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople on the Western Slope of Colorado, the rural people (there) are angry,\u201d Pat O\u2019Toole said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Toole\u2019s family runs the Ladder Ranch, which straddles the Wyoming-Colorado state line roughly 50 miles north of Steamboat Springs, Colorado. It\u2019s about four hours from the general area of the wolf release site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-vimeo wp-block-embed-vimeo\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Colorado Wolf Release 12-18-23\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/896009008?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"1290\" height=\"726\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/896009008\">Colorado Wolf Release 12-18-23<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/cpwvideo\">Colorado Parks &amp; Wildlife<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\">Vimeo<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Three Yeas In The Making<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>Colorado\u2019s wolf reintroduction program was initiated by Proposition 114, which Colorado voters passed in 2020 by the slimmest of margins, 50.91% to 49.09%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The program set a Dec. 31, 2023, deadline to begin the first round of wolf releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Wyoming and other neighboring Rocky Mountain states refused to provide wolves for Colorado\u2019s program, Oregon this fall agreed to give up to 10 wolves for the initial round of releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Releases should continue in small batches, with perhaps 15 wolves being reintroduced to Colorado over the next two or three years, officials said during the virtual press conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They also acknowledged that the vote on Proposition 114 was divided along Colorado\u2019s urban and rural lines \u2013 with rural residents being overwhelmingly opposed to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even so, rural people won\u2019t be forgotten, said Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be standing side-by-side with our rural communities,\u201d said Greenberg, who is a non-voting member of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colorado will encourage \u201cnon-lethal\u201d methods of keeping wolves away from livestock, but will retain the option of wildlife agents shooting wolves that repeatedly attack livestock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There won\u2019t be public wolf hunting seasons in Colorado anytime soon, as there are in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Colorado will also offer monetary compensation to ranchers who lose livestock to wolves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">But Will They Stay Out Of Wyoming?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>As to how Colorado plans to keep wolves from crossing over into Wyoming, where they can legally be shot on sight, CPW Director Jeff Davis said in the short term, his agency is banking on a 60-mile \u201cbuffer zone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meaning, the release sites in Colorado will be at least 60 miles away from Wyoming, the Utah state line and sovereign Native American tribal lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the long term, Davis said he plans to stay in touch with \u201cmy counterparts in Wyoming\u201d in tracking the wolves\u2019 possible movements between the states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Toole said that despite wildlife agents\u2019 best efforts, he doubts that the Colorado wolves will stay out of Wyoming, Utah or the Colorado Eastern slope region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He also thinks it\u2019s only a matter of time before the Colorado wolves venture into Wyoming, where they can legally be killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not how wildlife works. It just doesn\u2019t work that way,\u201d he said. \u201cWolves don\u2019t stay put, and neither to elk or antelope or anything else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Political, Not Biological<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Toole said that Colorado\u2019s wolf reintroduction was more about politics than biology, and highlights that state\u2019s urban Front Range vs. rural West Slope divide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t a management-driven deal. This is a political-driven deal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said if the vote on Proposition 114 were taken today, the measure would likely fail. That could be due in large part to the troubles caused by the North Park wolf pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That pack of northern Colorado wolves was founded in 2020 by wolves that traveled on their own into Colorado from Wyoming. Some of those wolves might have been shot in fall 2022 after crossing back over into Wyoming. CPW officials said earlier this year that the North Park pack has effectively ceased to exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But while it was active, wolves from that pack killed several livestock animals, as well as at least two dogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Setback For Game Herds<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Big game herds on both sides of the Wyoming-Colorado state line are still reeling from the devastating effects of the winter of 2022-2023, which killed tens of thousands of deer, antelope and elk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>O\u2019Toole said in light of that, it\u2019s a bad idea to bring apex predators such as wolves back when those herds are still struggling to recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt could be a generation or more before we get the wildlife back that we had here before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;re visiting Northern Colorado wilderness, be aware that you could encounter a wolf pack. And you could possibly see them in southern Wyoming if they migrate north. And remember that mountain bikers and joggers mimic prey behavior and could be pretty enticing to a hungry wolf pack. https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2023\/12\/19\/colorado-cheers-release-of-wolves-wyoming-ranchers-not-so-much\/ As Colorado officials cheered the release [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5920"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5921,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions\/5921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}