18-04-2025
This initiative would end Colorado's wolf releases. Many rancher groups don't support it.
First, there was a citizen initiative to reintroduce wolves into Colorado that narrowly passed. Then there were two new proposed citizen initiatives to repeal wolf reintroduction. Now there is one.
Got all of that?
Confused?
Let's start here. Proposition 114 was passed by voters 51% to 49% in 2020 to reintroduce wolves. The new measure is Ballot Initiative 13, which calls for repealing what voters approved in 2020 by putting an end to the reintroduction effort.
But wait, there's more.
It gets more perplexing when you consider the initiative to end wolf reintroduction resulted in strange bedfellows: Many Western Slope ranchers and wolf advocates are both in opposition of Ballot Initiative 13.
Ballot Initiative 13 is proposed by the group Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy.
The initiative simply reads: "Shall there be a change to the Colorado Revised Statues ending any further reintroductions of gray wolves by December 31, 2026?"
In an April 17 email, Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy said it will immediately start collecting signatures to secure the initiative on the November 2026 ballot. The group has until Aug. 27 to secure around 125,000 valid signatures to get the initiative on the November 2026 ballot.
The same group filed another citizen initiative, 35, that was challenged on the basis it violated the single topic requirement of proposed citizen initiatives. The State Title Board sided with the challenge and terminated the initiative April 16.
The failed initiative called for ending wolf reintroduction by Dec. 31, 2026, as well as removing "nongame" from the definition of wolf, adding livestock guard and herding animals as livestock for the purposes of compensation for losses caused by a wolf and prohibiting the importation of wolves into Colorado.
Stan Vanderwerf, one of two designated representatives of proposed Ballot Initiative 13, said the measure is needed to establish a law that definitively ends wolf reintroduction at a certain point.
The state wolf recovery plan calls for the reintroduction of 10 to 15 wolves over three to four years with the goal of having an established, sustained minimum population of 150 to 200 wolves.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 10 wolves captured in Oregon in Grand and Summit counties in December of 2023 and released 15 wolves captured in British Columbia in Eagle and Pitkin counties in January. Three of the Oregon wolves have died and two of the British Columbia wolves have died.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife said it is monitoring 26 wolves, including members of the former North Park pack and the Copper Creek pack, which includes five grown pups. The agency has confirmed at least two other uncollared wolves in the state.
Vanderwerf said the state's recovery plan doesn't include a definitive end date and can be changed at any time.
He added that wolf advocates aligned with Gov. Jared Polis could press for wolf reintroductions to continue past the deadline his initiative defines if wolves migrate out of Colorado, some die in the state and others continue to be killed after wandering into Wyoming.
"There is a risk relying on the management plan," Vanderwerf told the Coloradoan.
Vanderwerf pointed out the need for the initiative given the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission in January rejected a petition from 26 livestock groups to pause the reintroduction of wolves until Colorado Parks and Wildlife had fully implemented programs to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts.
"Had the commission put a pause on reintroduction, we wouldn't be having this discussion," Vanderwerf said. "We can't rely on the commission or state legislature to stop reintroduction. This measure with the force of law absolutely puts a stop to wolf reintroduction."
Opposition of proposed Ballot Initiative 13 by a coalition of ranchers, hunting advocates and western county commissions and wolf advocates is an alignment unheard of in the state.
That coalition includes the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, various stockgrowers associations, commissioners from Western Slope counties and organizations representing business interests on the Western Slope.
Reasons for their opposition center on concerns the measure will fail and create a political and social backlash and undermine current processes working to address wolf-livestock conflicts.
The coalition also believes the genie is out of the bottle since two wolf releases have taken place and at least one more round of releases will likely occur before the vote on the initiative, if it secures enough signatures to be placed on the November 2026 ballot.
There also has been concern among the coalition that Colorado Advocates for Smart Wolf Policy supporters did not adequately reach out to them for their thoughts concerning the initiatives, something Vanderwerf said is not totally accurate.
Merrit Linke is a Grand County rancher, county commissioner and member of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, the latter two of which are among the coalition groups opposing the initiative.
"I see value in shutting off reintroductions by the end of 2026, but in the meantime we have bigger problems on the ground that need the resources to address now, so I'm not sure the ballot measure does us any good," Linke told the Coloradoan, noting he was speaking on behalf of himself and not the coalition.
He said a footnote to the state budget that includes threatening further state general fund revenue for the wolf program if wolf-livestock conflicts are not appropriately addressed and a federal bill to delist wolves might be more effective than the initiative.
"Those have bigger teeth than the ballot measure," Linke said.
Rob Edward is president and co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, which spearheaded the successful passage of Proposition 114.
Edward said he sees the initiative to end wolf reintroduction as a waste of time and money.
"This is pernicious on its face," Edward told the Coloradoan. "Let's get on with actually doing what Proposition 114 was passed to do and that is to recover wolves and help bring back the complement of native carnivores."
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Colorado ranchers, wolf advocates both oppose Ballot Initiative 13
