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Conservation Group Urges Celebration & Coexistence with Long-lost Carnivore

Denver, CO-Feb. 8. Evidence is mounting that a wolf pack has set up camp on a remote ranch north of DeBeque, a development that conservation groups are cautiously celebrating. Scat of large and small wolves, tracks and a sighting are the extent of the evidence, though results of DNA testing of the scat will not provide irrefutable confirmation for a few months. While there have been sporadic reports of lone wolves in the state over the past decade, this is the first account of reproducing wolves since the last breeding wolves were exterminated in the 1940s.

The area that the wolves have selected is remote and little known area north and east of Grand Junction. Though the majority of the land is public land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the small parcels of private land restrict access and greatly limit human visitation to the Book Cliffs. The High Lonesome Ranch where the wolves appear to have set up a home range is a large private hunting and fishing ranch, which controls nearly one million acres of public land through its grazing permits. The ranch owners support wolf recovery.

“We are delighted by the news of wolves returning to the state. This is cause for celebration - for these wolves and for Coloradans. Let’s bring out the welcome mat,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring of WildEarth Guardians.

Scientists have shown that wolves play important roles in their ecosystems. By keeping prey, such as elk and deer, on the move, wolves have an ecological ripple effect. Since the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, biodiversity has soared, as streamside areas have bounced back due to reduced grazing pressure form elk and deer. In turn, beaver populations have rebounded, providing healthy habitat for a wide range of birds and aquatic species.

Colorado’s ecosystems are likewise suffering from the largest elk population in North America, and one of the biggest deer populations. A 1994 study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service indicated that western Colorado’s large population of elk and deer and vast federal lands could support more than 1,000 wolves. Subsequent scientific reports back that estimate.

WildEarth Guardians has had a long history of involvement in wolf issues in Colorado, most recently challenging in court a plan by Rocky Mountain National Park that failed to seriously consider wolf reintroduction as a means of culling the Park’s overgrown elk population. That litigation is ongoing. The organization conducted a scientific analysis of where viable wolf populations could be restored to Colorado and has petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other federal land and wildlife management agencies to promote a full wolf recovery plan in the Southern Rockies.

As Keefover-Ring put it, “Colorado needs wolves, and wolves need Colorado.”

Public opinion studies have found that 71 percent of Coloradans support wolf protection in the state, including 65 percent of citizens west of the Continental Divide. The return of wolves - by natural recolonization or reintroduction - could prove an economic boon for the state. Restoration of wolves to Yellowstone National Park brings in over $35 million each year in tourism revenue for local economies.

Wolves in Colorado are an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. WildEarth Guardians is urging state and federal government agencies that the wolves north of DeBeque should be protected from harm.

“The wolves north of DeBeque have voted with their feet for Colorado. Colorado should respond in kind,” stated Keefover-Ring.

View A Vision for Wolves in the Southern Rocky Mountain report (PDF)

View the Petition for Recovery and Designated Critical Habitat for the Gray Wolf in the Southern Rocky Mountains (PDF)


 

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