A 2024 bipartisan bill introduced by then-Senator, current GarCo Commissioner Perry Will called for Colorado Parks and Wildlife to restore the large weasel to the state starting next year. On January 15, CPW revealed the Colorado Wolverine Restoration Plan, the first step in a four part process to bring Gulo gulo luscus back to remote, sub-alpine habitats across the Rockies. Here's Delia Malone, an ecologist with the Roaring Fork Audubon.
Malone: They're a big weasel that has been restricted because of us to high elevation habitats, and it's a big weasel that is very much endangered by climate change and by habitat loss and fragmentation. They're kind of scary-looking because they are big. They're like a big Pine Martin, but Pine Martins are the cutest on the planet. These guys are just big. They're actually beautiful. Their fur.. It's probably one of the things that got them into trouble.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a somewhat mixed record when it comes to reintroducing predators. Perhaps the agency’s most famous success began in 1999 when the lynx returned to our boreal forests. Lynx were nearly nonexistent here in the 70’s due to trapping, predator poisoning, and massive habitat loss. Today, it’s estimated that there are 200 lynx living in the San Juan Mountains.
More recently, the Gray Wolf reintroduction project has attracted criticism from conservationists and ranchers alike. The first wolves were brought here in 2023, and while the project is ongoing, it’s hit several bumps including livestock depredation and one wolf being killed by a car. Currently CPW has no plans for translocating additional wolves this release season, but is exploring options for the winter of 2026/2027.
Commissioner Perry Will is not a fan of the gray wolf reintroduction, calling it a “failed program” at a CPW meeting last June. However Will was a primary sponsor of the wolverine reintroduction bill during his time in the Senate.
Will: Part of my incentive for running that bill was to, to really show the governor, and really the people of the state how to reintroduce the species the right way, not by ballot box biology.
We got Proposition 114 and the wolves by ballot box, you know? Ballot box biology is the absolute worst way in the world to manage our wildlife resources in this state.
So part of that was that, 'hey, let's do this the right way.' Run a bill, let the wildlife professionals deal with it.
Will says his opposition to bringing back the wolves is largely due to their potential conflict with people and livestock.
Will: I don't dislike wolves. I just don't think it's fair to the species because, because they will be in constant conflict and you know, we're such a populated state.
Wolverines are, or were, native to Colorado until they were wiped out in much the same way as the links through unregulated trapping and poisoning.
Malone: Back in, you know, the 1860s and so on, when we were moving West, they [wolverines] had this amazingly beautiful dark brown fur with this blonde lateral stripe, and so I'm guessing they ended up as a lot of women's coats.
The reintroduction plan addresses many of the same concerns that Coloradans had with gray wolves, such as livestock, depredation, and human infrastructure. Commissioner Will says that he expects very little in the way of conflict.
Will: Oh, they'll be a lot less expensive, and Wolverines, I just don't think there'll be any compensation. I just, they depredate on livestock so rarely.
Wolverine releases will begin next year, primarily on the Western Slope in the Sasquatch Range, Elk Mountains, and West Elk Mountains. It is still unclear where CPW is planning to source the animals, but they will spend time recuperating after capture at a facility in Frisco,
Malone: Wolverine, just up here on McClure Pass, just up the Crystal River, historically were trapped up there. They will be coming home.
This is a developing story that KDNK will continue to cover. Full restoration document here.
