The 10 wolves released in Colorado last month, along with two wolves from a pack that migrated here from Wyoming, have remained in the central and northern mountains, according to a map released Wednesday by state wildlife officials.
The , which shows only the general locations of the animals, indicates that between Dec. 18 and Jan. 22, wolves have roamed in watersheds that cross Jackson, Routt, Eagle, Summit and Grand counties. The region is more than 60 miles wide and runs more than 120 miles from north to south.
But there are caveats to the map.
decided to use watersheds as the base geographic unit, instead of counties, because wolves use geographic features to navigate, not political boundaries. The agency will not release any specific locations of the wolves to protect the animals from people.
“We’ve had some requests for that specific GPS data and that will not be shared, for the protection of those animals,” , Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s assistant director for the aquatic, terrestrial and natural resources branch, said during a legislative hearing Wednesday. “We (don’t) do that for other collared wildlife as well.”
If a watershed is included on the map, that means at least one wolf entered that area over the last month. The wolf may or may not remain there, and it may not have traversed every part of that watershed.
For example, some land south of Interstate 70 is included in the shading on the map released Wednesday, but no wolves have crossed south of the interstate. Instead, wolves have been in watersheds that include that land.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not have access to the real-time locations of the wolves.
All 12 wolves known to be in Colorado — the 10 released last month and the two from Wyoming — have collars that record a position every four hours.
Once a collar records four locations, those locations are transmitted via satellite to Colorado Parks and Wildlife biologists. Transmission can be delayed by weather, terrain or other factors.
Wolf pups born to reintroduced wolves will not be collared.
“It should be expected that through immigration from other states and natural reproduction of pups, the proportion of wolves that have collars will be reduced over time,” wildlife officials said in a news release Wednesday. “Therefore, the accuracy of this map will be diminished over time as the activity of uncollared wolves may not be included in this map.”
The agency will release a new map showing wolves’ general locations on the fourth Wednesday of every month.
Wednesday’s map came out as state lawmakers hammered Colorado Parks and Wildlife leaders during a budget hearing over a lack of transparency about the releases of wolves in December, the result of a voter-mandated reintroduction plan.
“For the record, your wolf release was a dismal failure for Colorado ranchers,” Rep. Richard Holtorf, a Republican representing Eastern Plains communities, said during a joint meeting of the Senate Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee and the House Agriculture, Livestock and Water Committee.
Wildlife leaders have been criticized repeatedly for failing to notify local ranchers, leaders and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission before the Dec. 18 release of five wolves in Grand County — the first to be reintroduced in Colorado.
, a Democrat whose district includes Grand, Eagle and Summit counties, said there had been a loss of trust between ranchers and the department because of the lack of communication.
“That’s accurate — there are landowners that were willing to work with us on conservation efforts that are now telling our staff they don’t really want to work with us anymore,” , executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, told Roberts in response. “And that’s painful because a majority of wildlife live on private lands, even though we have a lot of public lands on the West Slope.”
The state wildlife agency will not release more wolves this winter and instead has said it will wait until next winter to transport the next batch, which will come from tribal nations in Washington.
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