November has been a big month for Colorado’s collared grey wolves and for wolf management. A new wolf activity map, issued the last week of November, shows wolves moving south.
The map makes it look like grey wolves blanket the Western Slope but that can be misleading. Collared wolf activity is measured within watersheds. At least one GPS point from wolf collar is recorded within the boundaries of the watershed. But, that doesn’t mean that a wolf or wolves are present throughout the entire watershed nor that they are currently in the watershed. Collars are programmed to record a position every four hours.
This month, CPW states unequivocally that wolves have ventured south of I70. But, plotting wolf activity south of the interstate is tricky since some watersheds in which a wolf is detected span north and south of the highway. Maps show the entire watershed even if the wolf has only been recorded at one end.
The new map indicates wolf movement in eastern Garfield County, north and south of I70, and into western Eagle County. Last month’s map showed wolf presence in watersheds in Rio Blanco county, down into western Garfield County north of Rifle as well as deep into Lake County and the northeast corner of Pitkin County.
In other wolf news, some livestock growers, including the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, have petitioned CPW to pause new wolf reintroductions this winter until management practices can catch up to the current population.
CPW is supposed to relocate wolves from British Columbia but is having trouble, not only with ranchers opposed to more wolves but also with where to put them. Reid DeWalt, the agency’s assistant director of Aquatics, Terrestrial & Natural Resources, told the CPW Commission earlier this month that the agency met with Eagle, Garfield, Pitkin, and Rio Blanco officials to discuss the issue. The agency is considering those counties for the next wolf releases.
“Our discussion was framed by the statutory requirement that releases occur west of the Continental Divide,” he said. “We also discussed the self-imposed, 60-mile buffer from our neighboring states to protect our investment that we're making in wolf reintroduction. He added that they discussed the limitation of releases on state and private land and more. “We also talked about the biological considerations, including ungulate winter range and proximity to the other wolves that are on the landscape,” he said.
Garfield County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky has stated that there isn’t enough state and private land in the county for wolves. And Rio Blanco County won’t accept them. Discussions are ongoing. No decisions have been made about where the new wolves will be released.
Meanwhile, CPW is gearing up to provide range riders and other non-lethal control methods and training to livestock growers on the Western Slope.
