Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioner Tai Jacober said it’s “ugly” right now for Pitkin County livestock producers.

In the June 11 CPW Commission meeting, he said when a particular pack of wolves, the Copper Creek pack, were causing problems for livestock producers, CPW and the commission made decisions that have landed the wolves and the producers again, in a problematic situation. Jacober criticized the decision to go “against the management plan and capture the wolves, went further against the management plan and rereleased the wolves, and here we are today.”

“Not only is it a blunder on the agency, it’s a blunder on the wolves, and it’s really difficult on the ranchers,” he said. “It seems we’ve removed one wolf — a yearling wolf that was kicked out of the pack, trying to survive — and I think we need to be accountable for a mistake that we made, putting this depredating pack back on the landscape and make a quick, fast discussion about how to move forward with clearly, unfortunately a bad pack of animals.”

Jacober said if CPW doesn’t deal with a depredating pack, “it will continue to rub on all of us and on the program and make it unsuccessful.” He said there are multiple animals on the landscape not causing problems, but the decision to manage against the management plan has resulted in failures to the reintroduction program.

MOVING FORWARD

Director Jeff Davis, when Jacober asked how the agency would move forward quickly, said there’s no fast solution.

“Biologically this is not challenging, the most challenging part of all this is the social factor,” Davis said.

He went on to say the Copper Creek pack is not a chronically depredating pack as not every animal in the pack has been a part of the depredations. He said the animal removed by CPW referenced by Jacober was not dispersed from the pack, but still a part of it. Davis said the pack is one of the most monitored groups of animals he’s ever seen, and CPW is working to respond quickly to calls requesting depredation investigations.

“You can’t avoid or set aside from our public trust responsibilities, right,” he said. “That’s the glory of being a public servant, you don’t get to pick just one group of people and say, ‘you’re right, everyone else is wrong’ or vice versa.”

Davis said the agency will continue to act according to the management plan.

Chair Dallas May said it was a year ago that the commission was listening to discussion about the Copper Creek pack and this year, the conversation is again centered on that pack. He said he understands that the livestock producers in the area wrought with depredations have taken multiple nonlethal precautions, including cleaning up carcass pits.

“As I read this and understand this, (these producers) are doing everything in their power to not only protect their cattle, but to protect the wolves,” May said.

Davis said with the range rider program fully in place, the program is not where it was a year ago. Davis also said Ginny Harrington, secretary of the Holy Cross Cattlemen’s Association, helped connect range riders to area producers.

Travis Black, Northwest Regional Manager, said one range rider is in the area, dedicated to the pack and the other in the area and flexible enough to respond quickly as necessary. He said ranchers and their employees are also in the area maintaining a human presence, especially overnight.

Commissioner Jacober said he understands the social side of wolf management very well and reiterated the difficulties posed to livestock producers. He said the situation that led to depredations and the eventual removal of the Copper Creek pack has been referred to repeatedly as the perfect storm with limited opportunity for CPW to intervene, livestock presence, and other factors that led to multiple depredations last year.

“It’s a perfect storm again up there,” he said. “I don’t see how it could be viewed differently. In fact, I believe there’s been more animals lost up there than when it was going on in Middle Park by the same group of animals. I’m a commissioner. I’m a rancher. I continually hear the transparency thing.”

SHARING DATA

Jacober said it’s important for producers to realize that in the future, not all wolves will have collars and CPW will not always have the level of data now available. While the agency does have access to that data, he said, it should be shared with ranchers so range riders and other nonlethal deterrents can be shared in the most efficient way. He offered the example of Tom Harrington, who is the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association president and the manager of the Silver Springs Ranch where multiple confirmed depredations have occurred. Jacober said range riders were deployed in that case but were not on the correct allotment.

“Producers feel like they’re being left in the dark and you have all this data,” he told Davis. “The Harringtons are the perfect example. The wolves were up there, they killed a calf, they got the news the next day. They had a range rider riding around on an allotment that wasn’t even the right place. Why wouldn’t we just call the producer and tell him we have a wolf over there, we have a range rider, can you come help get him in the right place or send somebody so we’re actually doing something effective?”

Jacober said there is a lot of frustration and recognizes the good work CPW is doing.

“But as I’m watching it in my backyard, the more I’m realizing there’s some truth to this and this frustration has some backbone, and the sad part about it is it’s one group of animals that was removed causing a problem, and put over here and causing the same problem,” he said. “Why are we blundering an entire wolf program with one group of animals? That’s enough.”

Commissioner Marie Haskett said the wolves have “set up shop” on private land and it’s important for the agency to work with landowners as all the depredations in the state have happened on private land.

“Our wildlife, not just wolves, cannot be supported without the private lands and we have to figure out a way to help these people and work with these people,” Haskett said. “I’ve talked to all three producers and the emotional toll this is taking on people and the people from last year — I’ve talk to all those producers, too — I get calls all the time from all these producers. It’s a huge toll and I hope we can do better, and figure something out, and do something about the problems.”

Commissioner Murphy Robinson said as a policy board, the role of the CPW Commission is not to complain month after month and by doing so, it doesn’t show the public what the commission’s role in this is. Robinson said it would be more productive for stakeholders to suggest to commissioners what can be done from a policy side to help resolve challenges.

In his director’s comments earlier in the meeting, Dir. Davis said he has heard much concern about wolf mortality. Not including the male Copper Creek male removed by CPW, there have been five mortalities of wolves since January, all in the most recently released group of wolves from British Columbia.

As stated in the Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, a survival rate of less than 70% in six months following release will trigger a protocol review of the translocation process. Brian Dreher, assistant director for the terrestrial wildlife branch at CPW said the threshold for review is 70% survival rate and the BC wolves are at 67% mortality. He said the purpose of the review is to determine if there is anything that can be changed in the translocation process to raise survival rates.

Davis also thanked the two Commissioners who were participating in their final meeting. Marie Haskett from Meeker has termed out as a representative of sportspersons and outfitters, and Karen Bailey, a member at large representative from Boulder.