Take Action for Colorado Wolves!
Comment on the Colorado Wolf Restoration Plan
A Plan for Coexistence
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has released its draft Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. While it holds some promise, CPW’s plan falls far short of Proposition 144’s mandate to base decisions on the “best scientific data available” or restore a “critical balance in nature”. However, there is still time for CPW’s Commissioners to make necessary improvements to the plan before it’s finalized in May. The public comment period will play a significant role in those improvements.
The Colorado Wolf Restoration Plan that WildEarth Guardians and partners, including Colorado Sierra Club, put forward this summer, provides a path to wolf recovery and coexistence. (The CPW Plan has some serious flaws).
HOW TO TAKE ACTION- PLEASE COMMENT
The draft plan will now be considered by the CPW Commissioners who will receive public comment in-person and virtually through April 2023. The public input meeting schedule can be found on the CPW website. Commissioners will have the opportunity to amend the plan before it is ratified on May 4, 2023, at a Commission meeting in Glenwood Springs. Please write to the Commissioners with your opinion on how wolves will be managed in Colorado. You can comment here:
https://www.wolfengagementco.org/.
This comment form will be open through February 22, 2023
Consider including one or more of the following points:
- NO TROPHY HUNTING, TRAPPING OR SNARING, EVER
- BEFORE WOLVES ARE REMOVED FROM PROTECTED STATUS, THERE MUST BE A MINIMUM POPULATION OF 750 WOLVES IN COLORADO DISTRIBUTED IN AT LEAST 10 OF 13 RECOVERY ZONES
- RANCHERS SHOULD BE REQUIRED TO USE COEXISTENCE STRATEGIES ON PUBLIC LAND TO PREVENT CONFLICT BETWEEN WOLVES AND LIVESTOCK.
- COMPENSATION FOR LIVESTOCK OWNERS IMPACTED BY WOLVES NEEDS TO BE FAIR TO BOTH LIVESTOCK OWNERS AND THE COLORADANS THAT ARE THE OWNERS OF PUBLIC LANDS ON WHICH RANCHERS GRAZE THEIR LIVESTOCK. COMPENSATION FOR LOSSES SHOULD ONLY BE PROVIDED IF LIVESTOCK OWNERS HAVE PROPERLY IMPLEMENTED CONFLICT AVOIDANCE STRATEGIES.
Delia Malone, Wildlife Chair, Colorado Sierra Club Conservation Committee
Full article in Dec, 22 Peak & Prairie, Sierra Club’s Colorado Chapter newsletter.