With a deadline of December 2023 looming to come up with a plan to reintroduce wolves to the state of Colorado, the Wolf Restoration and Management Plan Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) has submitted their recommendations on impact-based assumptions that support a flexible wolf management framework.
SAG members’ recommendations note that wolves in Colorado will have both positive and negative impacts, and they will be left wherever they are if they do not cause issues. However, if wolves show up where conflict is likely, the group advises nonlethal actions should be taken first.
“Lethal management should not generally be a first line of defense, however there may be certain conditions under which lethal take may be used first to support effective conflict management,” the group wrote.
The management framework is based on three phases of wolf reintroduction:
• Phase 1: State endangered status.
• Phase 2: State threatened status.
• Phase 3: State delisted, nongame status.
Livestock interactions
The management summary details considerations for livestock-wolf interactions. SAG members reached consensus on the following recommendations:
• Lethal control — Allowing lethal control by state and federal agents for wolves caught in the process of biting, wounding, grasping or killing livestock or working dogs. A state statute requires permits for lethal control of a state-listed species in Phases 1 and 2, as well as reporting and investigation.
• Chronic depredation — Allowing Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) to determine whether a situation is characterized as chronic depredation, and if so, what management actions should be taken, including any lethal options.
• Depredation events — Allowing the lethal control of chronically depredating wolves following depredation events after an evaluation of the circumstances by state and federal agents across all phases and by producers with limited duration permits in Phase 3.
• Translocation — Not allowing the translocation of wolves when they are present but not causing conflict or when livestock depredation occurs.
A total of 14 out of 15 voting members supported the following measures:
• Limited-duration permit — Allowing the lethal take of chronically depredating wolves by a producer or agent with a limited-duration permit in Phases 1 and 2.
• Chasing — Allowing lethal control by state or federal agents for wolves caught in the act of chasing in all phases and by producers or their agents with a permit and a record of prior depredation in Phases 1 and 2.
Other situations
SAG agreed there should be allowance for translocation of wolves in Phases 1, 2 and 3 when ungulate populations are significantly below their objective levels. Members did not agree on the lethal control of specific wolves or packs found to have an unacceptable impact on wild ungulate populations. Members also did not agree on the lethal control of wolves attacking pets and/or hunting dogs.
Other items of consensus included:
• Allow lethal control of wolves involved in attacks on humans.
• Allow removal of a wolf pack denning within municipal boundaries or in a high-density population area.
• Do not allow regulated public hunting of wolves in Phases 1, 2 and 3. However, hunting could be allowed later once the reintroduction was a success.
• Allow additional provisions for agency operations, typically involving agreements and arrangements where state and federal wildlife agencies work in cooperation on wildlife management activities.
All recommendations in the report are pending approval and are not final.
Advocate resistance
Wolf advocates say the CPW’s 17-member Technical Working Group and 19-member SAG have “tilted what should be an aspirational conversation towards a cynical one that has focused on livestock owner compensation, artificially limiting populations and when, where and how to kill wolves.” As such, a group of over a dozen conservation groups in late July submitted their own “science-based restoration plan” to guide wolf reintroduction and recovery in Colorado.
“Our alternative wolf-restoration plan proposes common-sense rules to prevent conflict between livestock and wolves,” said Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity.
“It gives livestock owners incentives to take responsibility for their deceased livestock, which can attract wolves to vulnerable cattle and sheep. It also prohibits the killing of wolves for preying on livestock on the public lands we all share.”
Experimental population
CPW has requested the designation of an experimental population under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act to provide increased management flexibility. In response, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is initiating a process to develop an experimental population rule.
“The proposed rule would set forth regulations to manage reintroduced gray wolves in Colorado and potentially adjoining states to reduce potential impacts to stakeholders while ensuring reintroduction and management of wolves is consistent with federal regulations,” the proposed rule read.
The agency must first conduct a National Environmental Policy Act review and prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS will consider the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the potential 10(j) rule and the associated management flexibility.
USFWS opened a 30-day comment period for public input about the scope of the EIS. Comments must be submitted by Aug. 22 at regulations.gov by searching for docket number FWS-R6-ES-2022-0100.
USFWS will then consider the comments in developing the EIS and alternatives and draft a 10(j) rule. There will be a separate public notice and comment period once the draft EIS and draft 10(j) rule are complete. — Anna Miller, WLJ managing editor
