Zandon Bray, who is a member of a multi-generational ranching family and District 9 board member for the Colorado Farm Bureau, confirmed with the Forum on Jan. 24 that last week yet another wolf in the state’s wolf release program had perished, but he wasn’t aware of the cause of death.
On Jan. 21, the state announced it won’t be releasing additional wolves into Colorado for reintroduction this year, as part of the voter-approved ballot initiative. Bray said he’d heard as many as 15 could’ve hit the ground in 2026, and he’d also heard Gunnison was one spot state officials were considering.
The ballot question to bring the wolves into Colorado passed in 2020, largely with Front Range support. In 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife began the releases as part of their five-year effort.
At this point, the Colorado Sun reported last week that half of the wolves reintroduced so far have died, and even producers on the Western Slope have questioned how fair the program is for the wolves, which have been a challenge to source.
With approximately $10 million spent on the project so far, the budget is also a point of debate.
“Just the cost to release has been a lot higher than what was advertised or anticipated when the ballot initiative was passed,” Bray said.
His opinion is that the program was rushed, and that a mentality of “wolves on the ground at all costs” didn’t seem right.
“Everything moved so fast,” he said. “There was an attitude that we will put wolves out, no matter what it takes, whether we are ready or not.”
The compensation for producers has been another tough side of the issue. Wolf depredation is supposed to be covered in the program, only Bray said a small number of claims have depleted the fund, and nobody can say how the reimbursement money is allocated. He said it’s not clearly defined, regarding how much and where the funds come from — another part of the process that was rushed.
For ranchers like the Brays, having the state-mandated pause on the wolf reintroduction issue is a relief. He hopes state officials can spend time working on challenges and important details of the program.
“With the pause, it’s very welcome news and a good time for the program to go under a lot of review on how it moves forward, from depredation to finding wolves to releases and release site,” he said, “and one of biggest challenges farmers and ranchers face is knowing where these wolves are.”
Bray said people were supposed to be notified if wolves were in the area, but that hasn’t been happening. The lack of communication creates chaos and is frustrating for producers.
He said the West End is not in the bulls-eye and won’t ever be, because of state borders’ close proximity and other land conflicts. Still, wolves could be in the region, and the pack animals travel. They’re still trying to find mates and establish their dens.
As a producer, Bray has empathy for those farmers and ranchers in other parts of the state, for example the north-central portions that have been release sites. Producers there have not been adequately or timely notified when wolves hit the ground, and that’s created stress.
Overall, Bray welcomes the time-out. He hopes state officials really analyze how well, or not, the program is working.
“One of the biggest sentiments has been the rush, how it was pushed through extremely fast,” he said.
