DENVER — Within the span of just about four minutes, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission approved Laura Clellan as the agency's new director on Monday after nearly three months of her standing in as acting director.
A special virtual public meeting was held on Monday afternoon to consider Clellan for the director position.
The vote to approve the resolution appointing her as the next director of CPW was approved unanimously by the commission.
CPW Commission Chair Richard Reading, along with others on the commission, congratulated her over the brief call.
"I look forward to taking on this challenge," Clellan said, and thanked them.
Clellan assumed the role of acting director on Dec. 1 after Jeff Davis, CPW's former director, agreed on Nov. 22 to resign from his post. He is now the deputy director of Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Denver7 obtained settlement documents in December that show he resigned to avoid being fired.
On Feb. 9, the CPW Commission and Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced that Clellan was the sole finalist for the director position.
The DNR noted that she has "extensive management, organization, and military experience" and has served as the chief of leadership and employee development for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and has also worked as the adjutant general and executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
While the duties for CPW's director vary greatly, Denver7 has pressed the director of CPW about the gray wolf reintroduction program. That has included a 30-minute sit-down interview with former CPW Director Davis where we brought ranchers' concerns about the wolves to him.
In a statement released on Jan. 21 — the same day CPW announced it would not reintroduce any gray wolves this season — Clellan said CPW will continue to meet with producers and other stakeholders, including the USFWS, to “explore how to maximize the restoration effort” next winter while protecting both livestock and wolves.
We also heard from Clellan in early February after the death of a wolf in the King Mountain Pack in Routt County. The animal died while biologists were trying to capture it and fit it with a new, fully charged GPS collar. Clellan explained that all wildlife capture operations come with risks, though staff prepare the best they can. There is always a possibility that an animal does not survive the encounter, she said.
