Feds warn Colorado’s wolf reintroduction is out of compliance, threaten takeover

By EPN Staff

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has told Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) that it has 30 days to produce documentation regarding wolf reintroduction or face the possibility that the federal agency will take over the program.

A letter from USFWS Director Brian Nesvik to CPW Acting Director Lauren Clellan informed the state agency it must address compliance issues under its memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the federal government regarding the program. 

CPW must provide the USFWS a report on all actions taken under its wolf management program from Dec. 12, 2023, to the present and must address specific issues regarding the release of 15 wolves in January 2025 without adequate public notice and the agency's release of a wolf from a pack with a history of livestock predation. 

The Dec. 18 letter, obtained by the Coloradoan, threatened to terminate the intergovernmental MOA and to revoke the Colorado agency’s oversight of the wolf population. After making notice, the federal agency could relocate wolves in the state or remove them by lethal means. 

Why it matters

After Colorado voters narrowly approved a 2020 ballot Proposition 114 to reintroduce wolves, the state has released 25 wolves brought in from Oregon and British Columbia, Canada. Ten of the wolves have died from likely mountain lion predation, vehicle strikes, interspecies conflict, illegal poaching and being killed by CPW to stop depredation of livestock, according to The Colorado Sun. 

Wolf reintroduction has been contentious since the narrow passage of the initiative. Recently, Western Slope ranchers submitted claims in excess of $1 million to cover livestock losses during last year alone, The Coloradoan reported, exceeding the amount budgeted for that purpose. 

In response to ranchers’ concerns, the administration and Congress have taken action: 

• In December 2025, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to delist gray wolves under the Endangered Species Act. Outside of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, north-central Utah, eastern Washington and eastern Oregon, wolves are protected under the act. H.R. 845 awaits Senate action. 
• In October 2025, the USFWS sent a cease-and-desist letter to prevent Colorado from translocating wolves from Canada. British Columbia subsequently rescinded its offer. Colorado has not thus far been able to secure wolves from the northern U.S. to release this year.  

Public criticism of CPW’s management of wolf reintroduction prompted now-former CPW Director Jeff Davis, who was in charge of the wolf recovery plan, to step down in November 2025. He has since taken a job with Wyoming’s Game and Fish. 

The bigger picture

Gray wolves existed throughout Colorado until they were eradicated in the 1940s, according to CPW. Although there were no resident wolves, occasionally individuals and packs migrated in from Wyoming. 

Beginning in the 1990s, the USFWS began to restore wolf populations in Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and Wyoming. Proponents of wolf reintroduction want to establish self-sustaining gray wolf populations across the Rocky Mountain West. 

When the Colorado initiative passed, opponents of reintroduction worried that introduced wolves would prey upon livestock and ranch dogs. Colorado is a major producer of cattle and sheep. Even the presence of wolves negatively impacts livestock fertility rates. 

There were 37 reported depredations by wolves in 2025.