Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed three new wolf families — the One Ear, King Mountain and Three Creeks packs. They join the already established Copper Creek pack, which also welcomed new pups. While the total number of pups is still to be determined there are a minimum of four pups in the King Mountain pack.
In 2020 Colorado became the first state to mandate wolf reintroduction by ballot initiative. Colorado has since released wolves in Grand, Summit, Eagle and Pitkin counties with wolves sourced from Oregon and British Columbia. The program intends to restore a self-sustaining population of gray wolves in the state, built upon the release of 30 to 50 wolves over several years.
–See CBB, Nov. 16, 2023, ‘USFWS Finalizes Designation Of Gray Wolf Experimental Population In Colorado, Wolves To Come From Oregon’ https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/usfws-finalizes-designation-of-gray-wolf-experimental-population-in-colorado-wolves-to-come-from-oregon/
Scientific research has consistently shown that wolves play a vital role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, benefiting biodiversity and improving habitat quality through natural regulation of prey species.
The presence of new packs marks a success for CWP’s science-based wolf reintroduction program. The program was launched after voters passed Proposition 114 in 2020, requiring the state to establish a self-sustaining population of gray wolves.
At this month’s CPW Commission meeting, Eric Odell, CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager, provided an update on “biologically relevant information” on the wolf population in Colorado. A key part of Odell’s presentation was a review of five wolf mortalities that have occurred since the restoration efforts in January 2025. Two of these mortalities took place in Wyoming. Three mortalities took place in Colorado. Because wolves are federally protected under the Endangered Species Act, the USFWS has the lead on conducting necropsies and determining the causes of death.
“We knew from the early stages of planning wolf restoration that there would be some level of mortality amongst translocated gray wolves,” Odell said. “We specifically built in benchmarks for when we would initiate protocol reviews based on CPW’s previous experience with reintroduction of lynx in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The mortality that has been experienced by the wolf population this year is not a reason to pause translocation efforts.”
CPW staff continues to closely monitor the health of gray wolves translocated to Colorado – as well as the yearlings and pups who have been born in the state.
Commissioners were also shown a series of animations detailing and comparing the movements of paired and unpaired wolves as well as newly acquired trail cam footage of wolf pups from the King Mountain Pack in Routt County. These animations highlighted the area covered by wolves and how the formation of breeding packs and establishment of territories aids in the management of Colorado’s wolf population. Copies of these animations and videos can be found here.
During Odell’s presentation CPW announced that there are now three recognized packs in the state in addition to the Copper Creek pack that formed last year:
- One Ear Pack in Jackson County
- King Mountain Pack in Routt County
- And Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County.
CPW recognizes packs only after a breeding pair of wolves have reproduced in late spring. While CPW staff have seen pups at some of the dens there is not a confirmed pup count for all of the packs. Detection of pups in late spring or early summer is inherently low, because of their small size, use of habitats in dense cover, and time potentially underground.
“We are continuing to monitor four dens in Colorado and will include minimum counts of the entire wolf population in our annual biological year reports,” Odell said. “Receiving reports of wolf sightings from the public – especially with high quality photos or video – is extremely helpful to CPW as we monitor and track the movement of gray wolves. This will become increasingly important as the population of uncollared wolves grows through successful restoration and natural immigration into Colorado.”
CPW is currently working on sourcing agreements for additional wolves to be translocated to Colorado in the winter of 2025-2026. The agency is currently working to schedule consultations with stakeholders in the southern release zone.
Wolves live in close-knit family groups known as packs. During denning the pack cooperatively hunts to provide food for their growing family. Young wolves can begin breeding after they reach two years of age so they can leave their pack to start their own families in new territories. These dispersals aid in recolonization of wolves in new habitats across the state.
State wildlife and agricultural agencies provide a suite of resources to prevent conflicts between wolves and livestock, including carcass removal, range-rider programs and nonlethal deterrents. These are available to livestock producers at no cost or at highly subsidized rates.
One of the primary tactics has been the use of range riders as a minimization tool when animals are on open range. CPW currently has nine range riders actively deployed with an emphasis on areas with concentrated wolf activity but flexibility to move to other areas as needed.
Gray wolves once ranged widely across the United States, including throughout Colorado, until they were nearly driven to extinction by government-sponsored extermination campaigns.
–CBB, Oct. 12, 2023, ‘Up To 10 Wolves From Northeast Oregon To Be Relocated To Colorado West Slope In Voter-Approved Reintroduction Effort,’ https://columbiabasinbulletin.org/up-to-10-wolves-from-northeast-oregon-to-be-relocated-to-colorado-west-slope-in-voter-approved-reintroduction-effort/