Thank you so much for alerting us to the Colorado wolf introduction issue, I am a new member of the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association, and through their information and listening to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife meeting I was able to discover the reason for the governor”s request to expedite. Please feel free to share this with your readers. It is somewhat complicated but I will try to explain in a simple manor.

Since the grey wolf was recently delisted by the federal government, the management of the wolf reverts back to the states. This is why there are wolf hunts allowed in Wyoming and other states now. In Colorado the wolf is listed as protected. Therefore the state of Colorado is free to manage its own reintroduction without federal oversight. (The opinion in the federal ranks is there are plenty of wolves now in the U.S. and we don’t need any more reintroductions).

Environmental groups have filed intent to sue to bring back the grey wolf listing, with their goal of getting an injunction which would take anywhere from six months to a year and a half at least to obtain, mainly to stop the hunts. If they are successful the grey wolf listing would return, thus returning the grey wold management in Colorado back to the federal government, since the grey wolf reintroduction is likely not supported by the feds, the whole reintroduction effort might me scuttled in Colorado, this is why the governor wants to hurry the process.