It’s official: Voters decide to reintroduce wolves in Colorado

Unleash the hounds. Proposition 114 was decided Thursday as votes from heavily populated Front Range counties pushed the wolf reintroduction plan to victory. The measure, which tasks Colorado Parks and Wildlife with crafting a plan by the end of 2023 to reintroduce wolves into the Western Slope, was too close to call on Tuesday night and all day Wednesday. The tightest statewide ballot issue in Colorado’s 2020 election, Proposition 114 was ahead by a narrow margin that veered close to triggering an automatic recount. Opponents of the measure conceded the race on Thursday. Even though there were more than 300,000 votes yet to be counted, a lead of more than 20,000 votes out of 2.97 million cast appeared insurmountable. Coloradans Protecting Wildlife, the group opposing Proposition 114, said in a statement that it believed “forced wolf reintroduction” into Colorado is bad policy that should not have been decided by voters. “All along, our opposition campaign was led by those who would be directly impacted by this measure, including real Coloradans, sportsmen, farmers and ranchers, outdoor enthusiasts, and more,” the statement from the group’s spokesman Patrick Pratt, reads. “Despite a small group of wealthy, and often out-of-state, activists spending in excess of $2.1 million to pass this measure, our campaign, with less than $800,000 was able to illustrate why forced wolf introduction is wrong for Colorado.” Few issues raise hackles in the West more than wolves. Farmers, ranchers and hunters fear the return of wolves could damage rural economies that are based on livestock and hunting. Advocates who have pushed to introduce and protect wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona argue that Colorado is a final step in a 40-year effort to return wolf populations that were hunted into extinction in the 1920s. Colorado is the first state to reintroduce wolves at the direction of voters rather than federal wildlife biologists working under the Endangered Species Act. Last week, Interior Sec. David Bernhardt announced that the gray wolf population in the U.S. was recovered and no longer needed protection under the Endangered Specials Act, which has protected the canines since 1978. The federal delisting transfers management of wolves to states. A delisting of wolves in the Northern Rockies in 2008 legalized hunting and trapping of the predators. Colorado already has a law protecting wolves as a “species of concern,” making it illegal to kill the animals. Supporters of Proposition 114 said the delisting emphasizes the need for additional protection of wolves that comes with reintroduction. Opponents argued the federal delisting proved that wolf populations are healthy enough in the Northern Rockies to migrate south and establish packs in Colorado. Earlier this year, Colorado wildlife biologists confirmed the presence of a wolf pack in the northwest portion of the state. Opponents of the measure hope the narrow margin factors into policy discussions as Colorado Parks and Wildlife gathers public input and assembles a plan for reintroduction. That plan, per the ballot language, requires statewide hearings and includes building a system to reimburse ranchers who lose livestock to wolves...MORE