I think this measure isn't needed. Wolves have already been seen returning to Colorado, there is even a pack in the NW part of the state. I would love to see them back in South Park, but I don't think they need to be reestablished via a government program. Just let nature take its course. Wolves in Colorado would still be protected under federal and state laws.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
The wild landscape that our ancestors came to occupy in North America was, to a considerable extent, sculpted by the interplay between wolves and their prey. Wolves were wiped out on behalf of a narrow interest group in what amounts to the blink of an eye—and scientists agree that the ecological consequences were profound, compounding over time. Restoring wolves is an endeavor of intelligent stewardship. Wolf reintroduction is about rekindling a tremendously important ecological process—wolf predation.
It has been two decades since the government reintroduced wolves to Yellowstone and Central Idaho. In that time, wolves from those tiny seed populations have now reclaimed Washington, Oregon, and even northern California. Yet, northern Colorado has only seen a handful of wolves wander into the state during that same two-decade period. None of these mostly solitary wolves, including the group of four last spotted in January in far northwest Colorado, have ever established themselves in the state, and none ever yielded a breeding population. Why? Look no further than the recent story about wolves being killed just over the border in Wyoming:
www.cpr.org/2020/09/09/colorado-wolves-m...n-killed-in-wyoming/
So, it is with the above in mind that we continue to say that natural recolonization is a pipe dream at best, and the anti-wolf faction's ruse de jour. Reintroduction is the only way those brave solo explorers wandering south out of Yellowstone into Colorado will ever find a reason to settle down in the Centennial State.
