For the most current information on Wolves in Colorado visit the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Website.

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Wolf Wars Move To The Ballot Box

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The Colorado Secretary of State’s office confirmed an Initiative sponsored by extreme environmental groups calling for a forced introduction of wolves into Colorado will appear on the 2020 state ballot.  RMEF strongly opposes this ballot initiative. Here’s why:

$6 million in new spending for unnecessary wolf initiative during COVID-19-related budget shortfall

• COVID-19 triggers major detrimental impacts on health, employment, education & higher education, revenue generation, tourism, tax collections and other wide-ranging aspects of Colorado’s economy for fiscal year 2020-2021.

• Original projections of COVID-19’s impact on Colorado’s state budget ballooned from $300 million to $800 million to $1 billion and now $3 billion (or 10 percent of the state’s $30 billion budget), yet the full impact may not be known for months or even years.

Wolf ballot initiative proponents ignore the massive revenue shortfall, offer no funding for their measure & continue to push a forced wolf introduction projected to cost Coloradans $6 million in NEW spending.

• Colorado’s General Assembly is tentatively scheduled to resume its session in mid-May. Unlike the federal government, Colorado may not borrow money or deficit spend but is constitutionally obligated to pass a balanced state budget “spending only what it has available to it each year in revenue and savings.

• A Legislative Council Staff memorandum indicates enacting voter-approved tax increases, reducing state spending on a temporary or permanent basis, using “rainy day” funds, refinancing expenditures, etc. as options to deal with a budgetary shortfall.

• During economic struggles, the demand for local/state/federal human services may rise significantly contributing to budgetary pressures.

• Tax filing deadline extended to July 15 so the state is unable to gather additional revenue until then.

• As of April 1, 2020, the budgets of some cities and towns are ailing.

Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) already confirms an active wolf pack in northwest Colorado

• 1/8/2020: Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) reports an eyewitness account (including video) indicated a likely presence of multiple wolves in Moffat County in northwest Colorado

• 1/22/2020: CPW confirms a previous wolf sighting is Moffat County is likely an active wolf pack of at least six wolves

• 2/13/2020: CPW cites genetic tests confirm the presence of wolves in Moffat County

• 3/10/2020: CPW announces wolf pack is again verified with an additional sighting, this time with seven wolves

• After the initial release of 34 wolves into central Idaho in 1995-96, wolves naturally spread throughout Idaho and across state lines into Montana, Washington, Oregon and California. Professional and state federal wildlife managers saw no need to artificially introduce more wolves for the sake of genetic diversity or for any other reason as those wolves continue to multiply on their own. At last count minimum estimated populations number 1,000 wolves in Idaho, 900 in Montana, 158 in Oregon, 145 in Washington and 7-10 in California.

• Given the recent and past history, other wolf packs either may already be in Colorado, on the verge of entering Colorado or individual members of the current Colorado pack may break off and create their own packs.

• 2019: CPW confirmed the sighting of a collared wolf in Jackson County from Wyoming

  • At last word, it is still in Colorado

• Additional past sightings:

  • 2015: small-game hunter mistakenly killed what he thought was a coyote near Wolford Mountain Reservoir, a few miles north of Kremmling. After an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, agency biologists positively identified the animal as a gray wolf.

  • 2015: a trail camera near Walden captured photos of an animal that appeared to be a wolf

  • 2009: a radio-collared gray wolf was found dead north of Rifle

  • 2007: two CPW wildlife officers captured video of an animal with strong wolf-like characteristics along the Colorado-Wyoming border, a few miles north of Walden

  • 2004: wolf killed in a vehicle collision on Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs.

Initiative will cost Colorado taxpayers million upon millions of dollars

The Colorado Legislative Council Staff’s Initial Fiscal Impact Statement breaks down costs for FY (Fiscal Year) 2021-22 & FY 2022-23. An open records request reveals an estimated breakdown of funding for the first eight years of initiative:

FY 2021-22                $344,363 (see Fiscal Impact Statement)

FY 2022-23               $467,387 (see Fiscal Impact Statement)

FY2023-24                $818,427

FY 2024-25               $788,427

FY 2025-26               $830,027

FY 2026-27                $846,927

FY 2027-28                $821,427

FY 2028-29               $782,927

Total                           $5,719,812 Million

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