The Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) confirmed July 22 that a new gray wolf pack called the Piney Ridge Pack has formed in Eagle County, CO.
The pack brings the total number of packs with confirmed successful reproduction this year to four. Other packs include the One Ear, Three Creeks and Copper Creek packs. The average litter size for wolves is four to six pups.
“Detection of pups in late spring or early summer is inherently challenging, because of their use of remote habitats in dense cover, secretive nature of very young animals, and time potentially underground,” said CPW Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell. “We are continuing to monitor the four reproducing packs in Colorado and will include minimum counts of the entire wolf population in our annual biological year report next spring.”
CPW said that although there is a modest amount of data due to the relatively new nature of the wolf packs, there is a clear pattern on wolves in packs surviving longer than those not in packs. From April 2025 through March 2026, 10 wolf mortalities were noted, of which only three belonged to packs.
The agency said territories formed by packs help the field staff prioritize where conflict minimization tools and techniques should be deployed.
“CPW continues to be in active communication, specifically with producers who have known wolf activity localized near their operations and is working closely with them to ensure access to viable, reasonable, and effective conflict minimization resources,” the agency said.
Wolf sightings are encouraged to be reported to CPW at cpw.state.co.us/wolf-sightings. Documented sightings help the agency monitor and track the movements of gray wolves. — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
