Colorado Republicans oppose suspension of chronic wolf depredation directive, conservation community voices support
In a letter to Colorado Parks and Wildlife on Friday, the Colorado House Republicans denounced the agency's decision to suspend its chronic wolf depredation directive. Meanwhile, members of the wolf conservation community have been voicing their support for the move.
The issue stems from CPW's recent announcement that it will take a more conservative approach when dealing with the lethal removal of wolves due to concerns over maintaining a stable population. They said that under the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, CPW will take an adaptive, context-specific approach to wolf management.
The announcement drew pushback from Colorado House Republicans, who say the decision negatively affects residents and ranchers in rural Colorado. In a letter to CPW, they called for a public comment period for residents to voice their concerns.
The letter accused CPW of poorly managing the wolf reintroduction process, allowing for repeated livestock losses and eroding the community's trust.
Colorado House Minority Leader Jarvis Caldwell said, "Governing bodies must recognize when the policies put in place negatively impact those they are intended to serve. Colorado's rural communities have paid the price for these policies for too long, and it is time that we put the power back into the hands of those to whom it belongs: the people of Colorado who are living with the real-life consequences of CPW's decisions."
Meanwhile, several supporters of wolf conservation efforts in the state have voiced their support for CPW's more conservative approach.
"We applaud CPW for suspending lethal control for livestock at this critical moment for Colorado's wolves," said Delaney Rudy, Colorado Director for the Western Watersheds Project. "With survival rates running low, disease concerns in the population, and no foreseeable source population for this year's reintroductions, every wolf on the landscape matters, and the best available science does not support lethal control as a solution to chronic depredation."
"We know from decades of experience that where nonlethal conflict prevention methods are used appropriately and in a timely manner, wolves and livestock successfully coexist. This decision by CPW, to suspend the lethal removal of wolves, honors both wolves and Coloradans who voted to restore wolves to our state and recognizes that we have a legal and ethical obligation to restore a natural balance to our vast public lands by recovering wolves in our state. Today's decision by CPW brings with it the hope that we can restore our relationship with the natural world to one where both wolves and ranchers thrive. CPW's decision provides both humans and wolves with the opportunity to adapt nonlethal conflict prevention strategies from what we've learned to successfully live with wolves," said ColoradoWild Ecologist and Board President Delia Malone.
