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Repopulation of wolves in Colorado
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<p> In the 1940s, the <a href="/facts/Gray_wolf/ed7IVbIf">gray wolf</a> was nearly eradicated from the <a href="/facts/Southern_Rockies/ef1xA0eM">Southern Rockies</a>. The species naturally expanded into habitats in <a href="/facts/Colorado/IgIHrJI5">Colorado</a> they occupied prior to its near <a href="/facts/Extirpation/DbRYtFPq">extirpation</a> from the <a href="/facts/Conterminous_United_States/yx414G7a">conterminous United States</a>. Wolves were reintroduced in the northern <a href="/facts/Rocky_Mountains/rDc3cU0E">Rocky Mountains</a> in the 1990s and since at least 2014, solitary wolves have entered Colorado. A resident group in northwestern Colorado was confirmed in early 2020. In June 2021, <a href="/facts/Colorado_Parks_and_Wildlife/pmup8m1d">Colorado Parks and Wildlife</a> (CPW) reported that the first litter of wolf pups had been born in the state since the 1940s. Voters narrowly approved a <a href="/facts/2020_Colorado_Proposition_114/69LLEI8z">November 2020 ballot measure</a> that directed the commission that oversees CPW to develop a plan to begin to <a href="/facts/Wolf_reintroduction/85vIF1vm">reintroduce wolves</a> by the end of 2023, somewhere on the <a href="/facts/Colorado_Western_Slope/QvtKeTQ1">Western Slope</a>. The wolves would be managed and designated as a non-game species, meaning they cannot be <a href="/facts/Wolf_hunting/wxhw0TUM">hunted</a>, with fair compensation being offered for any livestock killed by the predators. Wolves were protected as they are listed as <a href="/facts/Endangered_species/L7cIweSW">endangered</a> under federal and state law. As part of the reintroduction effort, the federal government in 2023 granted Colorado the authority to manage and kill wolves in specific circumstances. Colorado wildlife officials released 10 gray wolves from Oregon into a remote forest in <a href="/facts/Grand_County%2c_Colorado/HJPwnHuI">Grand</a> and <a href="/facts/Summit_County%2c_Colorado/lj1YrfMt">Summit</a> counties in late December 2023 as Colorado became the first state where <a href="/facts/Popular_initiative/Ws42Dks6">voters directed</a> the reintroduction of gray wolves rather than the federal government. Another fifteen wolves were released in <a href="/facts/Eagle_County%2c_Colorado/d1Y75rII">Eagle</a> and <a href="/facts/Pitkin_County%2c_Colorado/zKDA9jo9">Pitkin</a> counties in January 2025. </p>