Wolves need Colorado’s Rocky Mountains, and the Rockies need wolves. That’s the essential premise and promise of Proposition 114 – restoring a natural balance that has been lost since the 75 years of their extirpation from Colorado. 

Wolves have profoundly positive ecosystem impacts. At the top of the food web, they have a positive effect on prey species, and, in combination with other keystone species such as American beavers, can protect plant life, restore wetlands, promote biodiversity, bolster aquatic habitat and even increase water quantity in the ecosystems where they roam. Wolf predation benefits elk herds. By selectively removing the weak and diseased, wolves slow and potentially stop the spread of disease, such as chronic wasting disease. And 27 years of evidence from the Northern Rockies informs that wolves have not harmed the livestock industry – with about 1,900 wolves alongside 2,000,000 cattle, about 148 cattle are lost to wolves annually and producers are compensated for losses – just as they would be in Colorado. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commissioners will soon be deciding on a wolf management plan. Commissioners should insist that the plan enable both a sustainable wolf population and a population with wide geographic distribution. Best available science informs that a self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado requires a minimum of 750 wolves. The “Colorado Wolf Restoration Plan”, put forward by conservation and wildlife groups, identifies 13 zones, located on public lands on the west slope, for wolves to be reintroduced and re-establish themselves. 

Nearly 12 million acres of prime wolf habitat are present on Colorado’s west slope. Most of these lands need wolves. Wolves enhance biodiversity. As climate change continues to impact Colorado and biodiversity is lost, wolves should be encouraged to do their part in healing native ecosystems and increasing resilience across Colorado’s West Slope. 

CPW Commissioners can realize the vision of Proposition 114 by working with agency staff to align the plan with current best science, as directed by Proposition 114. Such a plan would ensure a minimum population of 750 wolves that are well distributed across Colorado. 

Colorado can be different from our neighbors to the north and the south. We can have a restorative relationship with the natural world. We can demonstrate our humanity by creating a gray wolf restoration plan that recognizes the intrinsic value and need for wolves in Colorado.

Rainer Gerbatsch, Arvada