DENVER — Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) announced it reached an agreement with Indigenous tribes in eastern Washington to capture and transport up to 15 wolves to Colorado.
The agreement with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation will allow CPW to catch the apex predators on tribal lands during the capture season that spans from December 2024 to March 2025.
“We are grateful to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for working with our agency on this critical next step in reintroducing gray wolves in the state,” said CPW Director Jeff Davis. “This agreement helps CPW to continue to meet our unanimously adopted Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan goal of translocating 10-15 gray wolves per capture season for a total of 30-50 wolves.”
Tribal representatives will work with CPW to identify target packs, CPW said. The agency said they will avoid packs with known active chronic depredation behaviors.
"The Colville Tribes is very pleased to partner with Colorado Parks and Wildlife to restore the wolf population in Colorado,” said Chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Jarred-Michael Erickson. “The Colville people strongly believe in preserving our environment, including its fish and animals. We are thrilled that our restoration efforts on our own lands have progressed far enough that we can share some of these magnificent creatures with the citizens of Colorado."
While CPW could catch and release up to five more wolves this season, they said they will wait until next capture season before releasing more.
CPW caught 10 wolves and relocated them to Colorado from Oregon in December. The wolves were released in Grand and Summit counties.
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