DURANGO, Colo. — The wolf discussion at Wednesday's Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting lasted several hours, ranging from approving and tabling two depredation claims to the latest map showing wolves in the Ralston Creek watershed.
The CPW Commission met in Durango on Wednesday for the first day of its two-day gathering to discuss a myriad of topics, including the latest on wolves. They initially touched on a wolf claim that they decided to approve, and later had a lengthy discussion regarding a claim that they ultimately, with the rancher's agreement, tabled for another time. Lastly, the commissioners heard from the leaders of the CPW wolf reintroduction program about the status of the wolves, where they had moved, denning updates and the latest on conflict minimization tools available to producers.
CPW Commission talks through 2 wolf depredation claims — approving one, tabling another
The CPW Commission heard from Travis Black, CPW's northwest regional manager, and Don Gittleston, a Jackson County rancher, who had filed a wolf depredation claim in 2024 amounting to $2,542.41. Depredations are wolf attacks on livestock or working dogs that result in serious injury or death.
When a wildlife damage claim is submitted to CPW, the agency can either recommend the commission accept the amount, renegotiate with the producer, or deny it.
In this case, Black was quick to note that while Gittleson's claim was recommended for denial by CPW, it is a bit more complicated than that. Both Gittleson and CPW agree on the majority of the claim, but disagree on a $435 portion of the cost, which Gittleson included as his labor costs and incorporated care prescribed by a veterinarian to ensure the attacked heifer did not die of her injuries. He said he calculated his labor costs at $15 an hour.
“My time on this animal is a loss that I incur," he explained to the commission. "This was not an animal that I needed to treat once or twice and then we were done with. This took a little over three months to get her back to where she would be sound and we weren’t going to have a problem with her. My time that I put on this, and the amount that I charged you for this, was quite a bit below if I had had the vet come out and take care of this situation for me.”
He said the outcome was positive: The heifer, who had an injured hind leg, survived and had a calf this year.
The commissioners then discussed challenges surrounding access to veterinary care in rural Colorado, animal wellness, and how or if the commission can act outside of its regulations, which would not have covered the $435. Many acknowledged that Gittleson's request was a fair one, but were concerned how an approval could hurt the commission in the future and end in much larger payouts.
“I’m not comfortable going outside our regulations," Commissioner Dallas May said part-way through. "This obviously is not something that is going to make or break Mr. Gittleson, but the decision has far-reaching implications.”
Gittleson confirmed this — saying he would prefer to keep the claim singular.
“It needs to get settled at your level," Gittleson told the commissioners. "... So, I am good with waiting until you get this resolved. That’s what needs to happen. I do not need payment this minute. This needs to get resolved.”
A few motions were made about ways to move forward, but the CPW Commission ultimately voted to table the subject. They decided to do this so they can start a process to identify what documentation would be required and what kind of labor for vet services could be approved, so they can bring Gittleson's claim back up once that system is in place. As noted by CPW Commissioner Eden Vardy, this would avoid setting a precedent where the commission would spend a lot more money.
It's not yet clear when the commission will bring this topic up again.
In addition, earlier in the day on Wednesday, the commission discussed a separate $32,768 claim that included compensation for two confirmed wolf depredations on calves, plus 14 missing calves, in 2024. Black said a district wildlife manager did a site assessment with the producer and came up with a list of tools that would help at the property. The producer also used their own range rider. The producer had been issued an injurious nonlethal hazing permit in March 2024, but never had the opportunity to use it, Black said.
CPW had previously recommended that the commission approve this claim. On Wednesday, after some discussion and questions, the CPW Commission unanimously approved it.
In 2025 so far, CPW has confirmed four depredations:
- Feb. 5: One cow in Jackson County
- March 3: One yearling heifer in Pitkin County
- March 9: One dog in Jackson County
- March 29: One calf in Eagle County
Read Colorado's full gray wolf restoration and management plan below or here.
Previously, on Feb. 27, CPW recommended the approval of two high-value claims made by two ranchers who had filed claims for wolf depredations on their livestock. About a week later, CPW Commission discussed their recommendation and unanimously approved the two claims. One claim was out of Grand County for $56,008.74 and the other was out of Jackson County for $287,407.63. The second claim was filed for about $400,000 in loss and the remaining amount was still being discussed between the rancher and CPW.
Compensation for wolf depredations comes from the General Fund, the Species Conservation Trust Fund, the Colorado Nongame Conservation and Wildlife Restoration Cash Funds, or other sources of funding for non-game species, according to the CPW.
After the approval, Denver7 spoke with the two ranchers to hear their take on the approvals. Watch our interview with them in the video below.
Latest updates on Colorado's wolf reintroduction program
The wolf program update began around 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday and was led by Brian Dreher, assistant director for CPW's terrestrial wildlife branch, and Eric Odell, manager of the wolf conservation program.
Colorado is currently home to 26 known wolves, and possibly two others that are not collared. Of the 26, 24 of them have active and working collars. This is how CPW can track their movements and possible denning activity, though the latter has not been confirmed this year as of Wednesday afternoon, Odell said.
They are monitoring a few pairs though, and will know more in the coming days.
The collars also indicate deaths, which Odell said is "part of the game" with wildlife management.
“These mortalities are unfortunate in our sense of trying to establish a self-sustaining population of wolves, but it does not, in any way, indicate a failure of the program," he said.
This is why CPW's reintroduction plan lists three to five years of releasing 10 to 15 wolves, with the understanding some may die. Odell said no plans have been solidified for the next round of reintroductions.
In total, six reintroduced wolves have died since the December 2023 reintroduction effort began. Three died from the initial release that December and three have died from the second release in January 2025.
Denver7 has been tracking the number of known wolves, wolf pups, wolf deaths and unconfirmed reports of wolves across the states. As of Wednesday afternoon, this is the breakdown of wolves in our state:
- 7 wolves surviving from the original 10 that were released in December 2023 (one died of a likely mountain lion attack, a second died from injuries sustained prior to his capture as part of the Copper Creek Pack relocation effort, and a third wolf became sickly and died)
- Five wolf pups born in the spring of 2024
- 12 wolves surviving from the 15 that were released in January 2025 (one was shot and killed by Wildlife Services in Wyoming earlier this month, a second died of unknown causes in Wyoming and a third died in Rocky Mountain National Park)
- Two wolves that moved south from Wyoming several years ago
- One uncollared wolf that was last known to be in northwest Moffat County in mid-February
- Possible, but unconfirmed, wolf in the Browns Park area
The wolves currently in Colorado have made sweeping movements around the state.
Below is CPW's latest version of the wolf movement map, which it updates and publishes online on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
Odell was quick to note the eastern-most watershed — which encompasses Ralston Creek — which appears to have a finger reaching into western Denver.
“We do not have wolves in highly metropolitan and urbanized areas," he said. "That’s just a function of an animal being in the very far western portion of that watershed.”
He also focused on a solo female wolf, which was responsible for the large swath of purple along the southern edge of the map. That wolf, which was brought to Colorado from British Columbia in late January, has traveled about 1,700 miles since then — about the same distance as Denver to Washington, DC, he said.
“Pretty amazing movements," he said.
Want to learn more about Colorado's wolf reintroduction? You can explore the timeline below, which outlines all of Denver7's coverage since the very beginning. The timeline starts with our most recent story.
Brian Dreher, assistant director for CPW's terrestrial wildlife branch, also provided a brief update on the wolf conflict minimization program.
He said 11 range riders — which are free for producers to request — are currently under contract with CPW and they are evaluating the need for a possible 12th rider. Those range riders, as well as riders outside of CPW and other interested community members, attended a four-day training last week.
Four of the 11 range riders were deployed in April in Rio Blanco, Eagle and Routt counties.
“All four producers expressed extreme gratitude for having our riders out there and especially grateful for the speed at which we deployed them," Dreher said.
The remaining range riders are being deployed this week near potentially denning wolves, he said. The range riding program is mostly covered by the Born to be Wild license plate sales, which has brought in about $819,000.
Outside of range riding, Dreher said fladry was also set up this spring, 196 site assessments on ranchers' properties have been completed, and nine wildlife conflict specialists — with a 10th coming in June — have been hired.
You can read the full wolf-livestock conflict minimization program in the PDF below.