Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding wolf reintroduction in the state.
The agreement intends to establish a framework for collaboration to minimize impacts to the Tribe’s reservation area in southwestern Colorado. The MOU also recognizes the sovereign authority of the Tribe and the Tribe’s treaty-protected off-reservation hunting, fishing and gathering rights in the Brunot Treaty Area.
Under the agreement, CPW and the Tribe will work to minimize wolf conflicts, memorialize a process for information sharing and confirm the Tribe’s intent to participate in Colorado’s compensation program. CPW will ensure that a 60-mile buffer exists between wolf release sites, the Utah state line and the exterior boundaries of the reservation, and will not conduct wolf releases within the treaty area.
