Colorado Senator Attempts to Block Wolf Reintroduction in Special Session

Colorado State Senator Dylan Roberts introduced legislation today in an attempt to halt the state’s historic gray wolf reintroduction program, which has already seen remarkable progress since Colorado Parks and Wildlife began reintroducing gray wolves in December 2023.

“Any effort to sabotage this program is an insult to the agencies, communities, ranchers and advocates who have been working collaboratively to give this program the best chance at success,” said Michael Saul, Rockies and Plains program Director at defenders of Wildlife. “This bill isn’t about moving or saving money to help the state, it overtly prohibits Colorado Parks and Wildlife from continuing the state-mandated reintroductions this winter. Wanting this program to fail is completely counter to what Coloradans want and is an offensive breach of the voters’ trust.”

This bill is the latest attempt to undermine the state-mandated restoration of gray wolves to their historic range in the Colorado landscape. Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Agriculture spent years carefully developing some of the country’s most comprehensive wolf conflict-mitigation and compensation programs to support livestock producers. State agencies have responded to multiple calls from the ranching community to expand these programs, from increased compensation for indirect losses to the creation of a state-funded range rider program. With these expanded resources comes the need for a greater budget.

Since wolves were first reintroduced in 2023, Defenders of Wildlife has hosted 11 community events and workshops to teach ranchers about reducing risk of wolf-livestock conflict, give recreators confidence to safely explore wolf country, and demonstrate the increasing common ground among stakeholders to restoring wolves to Colorado. Defenders also continues to deploy trail cameras, build electric fences, and hire range riders to further build relationships and support in rural communities.

Coloradans are encouraged to call their state senators and representatives and urge them to oppose 25B-0010 and to reject any attempts to undercut the voter-mandated wolf restoration program.

###