{"id":517827,"date":"2026-01-15T11:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517827\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T11:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T11:45:09","slug":"colorado-planning-wolverine-reintroduction-here-are-the-details","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/517827\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado planning wolverine reintroduction. Here are the details."},"content":{"rendered":"

Ready for wolverines?<\/p>\n

Colorado is planning on reintroducing wolverines in the near future. As state officials work to finalize the rollout of these predators, we want to know what questions you have. Email reporter Tracy Ross<\/strong> at tracy@coloradosun.com<\/a> with subject line Wolverines<\/strong>. We may ask your question at an upcoming virtual conversation.<\/p>\n

Wolverines will take a bite out of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Denver on Thursday when agency biologists unveil their plan for restoring the long-haired predators with bone-crushing jaws to the state.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll be the first predator released in Colorado since 25 wolves were uncrated in Grand, Summit, Pitkin and Eagle counties between December 2023 and January 2025. Canada Lynx were reintroduced into the same habitat wolverines will be released starting in 1999<\/a>, with CPW releasing 218 of them into the San Juan Mountains. They\u2019ve since established a self-sustaining population with documented reproduction.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

No date is set for releasing wolverines, as CPW has several steps to move through before they can put the animal\u2019s considerable claws on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But finalizing the 106-page plan is a big step toward bringing more \u201ccharismatic critters\u201d to Colorado, says Luke Perkins, agency spokesperson. And release of the plan is timely, as it comes a day after wildlife advocates filed a complaint<\/a> against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for failing to designate critical habitat for wolverines in Montana following their 2023 listing<\/a> as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Somewhere between 300 and 400 wolverines live in the Lower 48 states, and the largest member of the weasel family is native to Colorado. But the last wolverine here was killed in 1919. CPW conducted a dozen surveys in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s searching for wolverines across the Western Slope and found none.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A single GPS-collared male was radio-tracked traveling from northwestern Wyoming into Colorado in 2009<\/a>, however, and someone snapped his picture within 24 days of his arrival. None have been seen since.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But with Colorado having \u201cprobably 20% of wolverine habitat in the Lower 48,\u201d according to Robert Inman, CPW\u2019s wolverine program manager, \u201cif we can reintroduce them here and get a population going, it will be a significant increase to the overall population\u201d within the contiguous United States.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Varmint legislation\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Colorado lawmakers in 2024 overwhelmingly approved the return of wolverines<\/a> to the state\u2019s alpine landscape. Legislation for the reintroduction passed with bipartisan support after cosponsors Sen. Dylan Roberts, a Democrat from Avon, and Sen. Perry Will, a Republican from New Castle, billed it as being \u201ccompletely opposite of wolf reintroduction.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 171<\/a> allows the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate an experimental population of wolverines in Colorado, which gives CPW the ability to manage reintroduction, like they\u2019ve been able to with wolf reintroduction. That federal approval of a state-managed population of federally protected animals is allowed under section 10(j) in the Endangered Species Act. Designation will come only after the federal government reviews the reintroduction plan under the National Environmental Policy Act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CPW is under intense scrutiny by Fish and Wildlife over what the service says are violations of the 10(j) rule during wolf-reintroduction activities, however. In a letter dated Dec. 18 service director Brian Nesvik told the agency it had 30 days to do a full accounting of all gray wolf conservation and management activities occurring since Dec. 12, 2023. If CPW does not comply, after 60 days, Fish and Wildlife could revoke the state\u2019s authority and take over Colorado\u2019s wolf project. CPW said it\u2019s unclear if or how that situation would impact wolverine reintroduction, because it could still be years off. The agency is complying with Fish and Wildlife\u2019s demands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 171 also called for establishing a funding tool so ranchers who lose livestock to wolverines can be compensated. There is no deadline for when Colorado Parks and Wildlife should return wolverines to the state. But Perkins said the following requirements must be met:\u00a0<\/p>\n