One wolf, part of the Copper Creek Pack, was connected to four depredations that happened in July, August and September in Pitkin County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials announced Tuesday. The other wolf, part of the Three Creeks Pack in Rio Blanco County, was connected to four other depredations that happened in August and September.

Both wolves were uncollared males, according to the state wildlife agency.

Livestock owners affected by the depredations had tried to minimize conflict by monitoring land using cameras, deploying range riders to increase human presence and hazing the wolves, state wildlife officials said.

“CPW’s field staff in Northwest Colorado is working hard to implement conflict minimization tools and techniques to help reduce wolf-livestock conflict in the region,” CPW Director Laura Clellan said in the release. “We remain committed to both Colorado’s livestock producers and efforts to support our growing wolf population.”

The state has killed three other wolves suspected of injuring or killing livestock. Agency policy states that CPW staff can legally kill a wolf if it is connected to chronic depredations, meaning a wolf attacked livestock at least three times within 30 days.

CPW has released 25 wolves into the state since the reintroduction of the species began in 2023. More than 19 wolf pups were born in the state in the springs of 2024 and 2025, along with an unknown number born this spring.

Since 2024, 19 wolves have died, though not all were relocated from elsewhere, and some were offspring of the reintroduced wolves.

The wolves’ territory changed little from last month and stretched generally from Gunnison to Vail and Meeker, according to .

Wolf pups born this spring have started traveling short distances with other pack members, CPW officials said. The pups are now about four months old.

The agency’s biologists are monitoring four reproducing packs and attempting to ascertain how many pups each pack added. An average wolf litter contains four to six pups.

The hunter promptly reported the Jan. 16 shooting in the northwest region of the state to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, which made the cause of the wolf’s death known for the first time Monday. The licensed hunter cooperated with the ensuing investigation, the agency said.

CPW cited the hunter for violating but will not pursue further charges. The hunter was cited for killing an animal without the appropriate license, which carries a $140 fine and CPW spokesman Luke Perkins said in an email.

The wolf, a female, was one of 15 captured in Canada and released into Colorado in January 2025.

Gray wolves are a protected species in Colorado under state and federal law. Coyotes are and can be legally killed with the purchase of a hunting license.

“Unlawful take of protected species is a criminal act that can carry serious penalties,” said Ty Petersburg, CPW’s chief of law enforcement and assistant director of field services. “Through CPW’s thorough investigative process, we recognized that the hunter made the ethical choice to immediately report the incident and take responsibility for the accident.”

CPW has released 25 wolves into the state since the reintroduction of the species began in 2023. More than 19 wolf pups were born in the state in the springs of 2024 and 2025, along with an unknown number born this past spring.

Seventeen wolves have died since reintroduction began, though not all were relocated from elsewhere, and some were offspring of the reintroduced wolves.

The female wolf who died in January is the third to be shot and killed in Colorado by a person other than a member of CPW staff, who can legally kill wolves for killing and injuring livestock. Three others have been legally shot and killed in Wyoming.

The male wolf, a member of the One Ear Pack, was connected to the injury or death of four calves on four separate days between June 29 and Aug. 1, according to a news release published Wednesday by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. CPW staff killed the yearling on Tuesday.

“The decision to lethally remove a wolf is a very difficult one and a number of factors must be taken into consideration,” CPW Director Laura Clellan said in the news release. “Unfortunately, after a thorough review, the determination of chronic depredation was made in this case. Our staff will continue to work diligently with willing producers to deploy all reasonable non-lethal tools and methods in order to minimize the need for removals.”

The owners of the calves had pursued nonlethal methods of keeping the wolf away, like using range riders and scare devices, according to CPW.

The One Ear Pack was established in the spring of 2025 by wolves brought to Colorado from Oregon in 2023 as part of the state’s voter-mandated reintroduction program and wolves that migrated from Wyoming prior to the program, according to CPW. The pack comprises one breeding pair, two other adults, at least five pups that were born in the spring of 2025 and an unknown number of pups born this spring. The yearling killed was one of the pups born in 2025.

The yearling was the third wolf killed by CPW staff because of depredations. states that CPW staff can legally kill a wolf if it is connected to chronic depredations.

CPW has released 25 wolves into the state since the reintroduction of the species began in 2023. More than 19 wolf pups were born in the state in the springs of 2024 and 2025, along with an unknown number born this past spring.

Since 2024, 17 wolves have died, though not all were relocated from elsewhere, and some were offspring of the reintroduced wolves.

Closer to home, a woman hiking the Snowflake Trail in Breckenridge had an unsettling encounter when she realized , according to news reports.

In Castle Rock, meanwhile, , leaving a tight-knit community both heartbroken and seeking answers.

Technically speaking, the Yellowstone hiker was playing by the rules, keeping to the National Park Service’s required 25-yard buffer, but many more people don’t. Photos and videos of tourists getting too close to wildlife can be found almost weekly on social media, which has collectively dubbed these individuals as “tourons,” a cross between tourists and morons.

“Wildlife is unpredictable. These are not zoo animals,” said Ben Lawhon, founder of consulting agency , who has spent decades working in outdoor education and conservation. “In my consulting practice, working with land managers across the agency spectrum, we’re seeing an uptick in human-wildlife conflict.”

While moose and elk interactions remain at “standard rates,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Bridget O’Rourke said human-bear conflicts are up in 2026 — following a 2025 that saw a significant uptick. Colorado is home to an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 black bears, the majority of which live in areas where people camp, hike, and backpack.

Our state, in case you’re curious, boasts over 960 wildlife species, including more than 350,000 elk, 300,000 deer, 80,000 coyotes, and 4,000 moose. “Part of the Colorado lifestyle,” O’Rourke said, “has to be knowing how to coexist.”

Before you head out

Your first step in staying safe — and being responsible — is to check wildlife alerts before heading out; public agencies often post information about aggressive animals reported on trails or in wildlife corridors.

There’s a reason why “know before you go” is the first principle in , a framework designed to minimize human impact outdoors, said  Erin Collier, director of education for the Boulder-based nonprofit Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, which teaches the principles. Wildlife rarely seek contact with humans, so “the onus is on us,” she added. Since wild animals become aggressive when triggered, it takes human effort to understand species-specific triggers.

You’ll also want to think about timing: The experts at recommend avoiding high-activity trails at dawn and dusk. Animals are most active during low-light hours, meaning extra vigilance is required if you’re out at twilight.

Wildlife patterns can also change seasonally (occasionally triggering temporary trail closures). So, take extra precautions during vulnerable times of year, like spring birthing and autumn mating seasons.

“Winter can also be a really stressful season for animals when food is scarce,” Lawhon notes.

Another piece of advice: carry deterrents. Bear spray remains the most reliable defense against bears and works in a pinch for other animals, too. “Buy a fresh canister every season,” O’Rourke said. Air horns and whistles are also effective tools for scaring off wildlife. Whatever you carry, Ashley Hanlon, chief communications officer for the Colorado Mountain Club, emphasized that deterrents are only useful if you actually know how to use them. Practice beforehand.

On the trail

“At Colorado Mountain Club, we emphasize that the best wildlife encounter is the one you avoid,” Hanlon said. To that effect, trail users should strive to:

Stay alert and travel together: Pay attention to your surroundings. If you hike with music, keep one earbud out. There’s safety in numbers; wildlife attacks on groups of six or more are exceptionally rare (there’s research on this) – so hit the trails together when you can, and keep kids close. Make noise periodically so bears can avoid you.

Stick to trails: Staying on marked paths protects sensitive landscapes while giving wildlife predictable boundaries. Because animals learn where humans travel, they will naturally avoid popular routes, explains Collier.

Keep your distance: General NPS rules require staying at least 25 yards from all wildlife and 100 yards from bears and predators, though local guidance can vary. Since estimating distance can be tricky, CPW recommends the classic “rule of thumb” – hold your thumb out at arm’s length; if you can’t completely cover the animal with one eye closed, back up. All that said, here’s the best distance rule to remember: if an animal changes its behavior because of your presence, you’re way too close.

Leash your dog: Dogs can easily provoke encounters with wildlife, particularly bears, wolves, and moose. When hiking in active habitat, keeping your pet leashed is “a good call,” Lawhon said. Or play it super safe and leave them at home.

Secure smellables: A bear can smell your mid-hike PBJ from miles away, which is why O’Rourke always double-bags her food when she’s hiking. When camping, anything with an odor – food, trash, scented toiletries (especially florals), and even the clothes you wore while cooking – should be stowed in a bear-resistant canister or locked vehicle. If you hang a bear bag, ensure items are suspended at least 10 feet up and 10 feet out from the trunk, a method best left to those who have mastered the technique.

Pack everything out: Leaving behind scraps, wrappers, or even seemingly harmless items like apple cores and banana peels teaches bears to associate people with food. Pack out every last bit of waste, and avoid burning food remnants in your fire ring.

If you come face to face with wildlife

If a wild animal takes a sudden interest in you, try to remain calm (easier said than done). Never turn your back on a potentially aggressive animal, and resist the urge to run, which can trigger a chase instinct. Scoop up small children and pets, speak in a firm, confident voice, and back away slowly.

“A big part of wildlife safety involves understanding the individual animal’s behavior,” Hanlon explains. Here’s how to handle a close encounter with Colorado’s most common species:

Black bears: Colorado’s native black bears are “very opportunistic eaters,” O’Rourke said, and driven to consume up to 20,000 calories a day to build winter fat. That biological urge can override their fear of humans, making accessible food and trash the primary trigger for conflict.

If you spot a bear before it sees you, back away slowly. If it notices you, stand tall, never run, and give it a clear exit route. Should the bear approach, hold your ground, wave your arms, and make noise – clapping, shouting, or using an air horn.

“For the most part, a black bear will get scared and run away,” O’Rourke explained. If it continues toward you, deploy your bear spray in its eyes. Keep in mind that many bear charges are bluffs; however, if a black bear makes contact, always fight back.

Moose: Beautiful as they are, moose are “prone to fight,” Lawhon warns. “People look at them and think of Bullwinkle, but these are huge, powerful animals,” he said, standing up to 7 feet tall, reaching 1,000 pounds, and running at speeds of 35 mph. Unlike other animals, moose aren’t even remotely scared of people. They’re naturally territorial and easily agitated, especially near water sources (hello, 2026 drought). Getting too close can prompt a slow approach followed by a full-force charge, leading to severe injuries. Enjoy them from afar using binoculars or a telephoto lens, then move along.

If you find yourself in close quarters, O’Rourke advises backing away slowly without shouting, which only irks moose further. Put obstacles like large trees or boulders between you and the animal. If you have a dog – leashed or not – let it go. “This is so difficult for people, and not our human instinct, but your dog knows to run away and then you can protect yourself,” O’Rourke explains, emphasizing that moose view all canines as immediate threats.

Wolves: Wolf reintroduction has dominated headlines since 2023; still, human-wolf encounters on the trail are practically unheard of. “Wolves are not normally dangerous to humans,” Lawhon emphasizes, even in places like Yellowstone with large, established packs. Though Colorado’s population remains small, O’Rourke feels that awareness is always key. Never approach or corner a wolf; like most wildlife, they prefer to avoid humans. Give them space and an obvious exit path, and you shouldn’t have issues.

Mountain lions: Attacks on humans are very rare, which is why they make the news when they happen. If you have an encounter (again, super rare), you’ll want to act bigger than you are by raising your arms, picking up kids or pets, or opening your jacket; stand your ground, and fight back aggressively if it attacks. For those who live in lion country, O’Rourke advises closing off the undersides of decks and porches, as cougars are known to seek shelter in these spaces.

Snakes: You’re far more likely to spot a snake on the trail than a wolf or mountain lion. Just don’t attempt a photo op, who ended up in intensive care (with a $153,000 medical bill) after trying to take a selfie with a rattlesnake in 2015. Since rattlesnakes are common in Colorado, O’Rourke advises caution: “If you hear a rattle, stop, identify where the sound is coming from, and back away from the trail altogether.” Never keep pushing forward. If you are bitten, call 911 immediately – getting to an emergency room is your top priority.

As recreationists, keeping authorities informed helps keep everyone safe. If you encounter an animal exhibiting aggressive or concerning behavior, contact your local CPW office to report the location and get advice on next steps.

“We’re lucky to live in Colorado, and we don’t want people to be afraid to go hiking,” O’Rourke said. “Just stay aware of wildlife, and remember the bottom line is to give them space.”

The Piney Ridge pack has claimed territory in Eagle County, Colorado Parks and Wildlife announced Wednesday as it also put out a monthly map tracking wolf movements.

Along with the Piney Ridge pack, CPW biologists confirmed that pups were born to three of the state’s : the One Ear pack in Jackson County, the Three Creeks pack in Rio Blanco County and the Copper Creek pack in Pitkin County.

CPW officials did not provide a total number of pups born this spring, noting that it is difficult to accurately count pups when they are young. The agency said it would provide more detailed numbers in its 2027 wolf report, to be published next spring. A wolf litter averages four to six pups.

“Detection of pups in late spring or early summer is inherently challenging, because of their use of remote habitats in dense cover, (the) secretive nature of very young animals, and time potentially underground,” CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program manager, Eric Odell, said in a news release.

Last year, at least .

One of the already-established packs, the King Mountain pack, did not reproduce this year after the deaths of its mating pair. The male died after being captured by CPW staff, and a ranch hand shot and killed the female. The pair had produced four pups before their deaths.

The formation of wolf packs benefits wolves and wildlife managers alike, CPW officials said in the news release.

Wolves that have established territory become easier to monitor and keep away from livestock, according to the agency.

Wolves in packs also have better survival rates, according to the agency’s data. Seven of the 10 wolves that died during the last wolf biological year — April 2025 to March 2026 — were not pack members.

Colorado’s collared wolves remained in the state’s central and western mountains in July, a new map of their general locations shows.

The wolves roamed the land between Walden, Rifle, Gunnison and Vail, according to the map, with the wolves’ travels more geographically constrained than in the previous month.

She spotted the print from the saddle. Although nearly certain it belonged to a coyote, it’s her job to make sure the tracks don’t belong to a wolf — like the one local ranchers had reported seeing a month earlier.

“I’m just keeping an eye out,” she said as she took a photo of the print and logged the observation on a map on her phone.

Vander Berg raises cattle, judges rodeo, and for the past two years has spent her summers patrolling 50,000 acres of rolling hills covered in sagebrush and heavy timber in Mesa County on Colorado’s Western Slope. Each summer day, she looks for signs of wolves.

She is one of 18 range riders working across Colorado to protect livestock from the state’s most controversial predator. The riders — 15 hired by the state and three, including Vander Berg, hired by the conservation nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife — are a critical part of efforts to help ranchers protect their livestock on the state’s vast summer grazing lands. When they do their jobs well, it minimizes the chances that wolves will pick off cattle and sheep.

The part-time job has placed Vander Berg, 41, smack in the middle of the yearslong turmoil surrounding the return of the native species, which the state reintroduced in 2023 under the mandate of mostly urban voters. Ranchers across rural Colorado — where more than 30 of the predators now roam — have decried the threat posed to their livestock and livelihoods.

The controversy has spawned death threats, necessitated increased security at state wildlife meetings, and caused a rippling breakdown in relationships between rural Coloradans, the state wildlife agency and wildlife advocacy groups.

“I’m not sure if our range rider program is doing this yet, because trust takes time. But my goal … is to provide holistic support to the people who are carrying the burden of this wolf reintroduction,” said Rae Nickerson, who is tasked with running one of the country’s only state-sponsored range rider programs as Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s wolf damage and conflict minimization manager.

Vander Berg, for her part, doesn’t mince words.

It’s been extremely hard, she said, to work on one of Colorado’s most controversial issues for a wildlife advocacy organization in a community where people see wolves as a threat — and see the outsiders who supported the apex predator’s reintroduction as suspicious, at best.

She tries not to get caught up in the rhetoric. Instead, she puts on her boots, straps on her handgun and swings a leg over her saddle.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what we think,” Vander Berg said on a June afternoon as she rode through the sagebrush. “The wolves have been released. Now we need to talk and collaborate and move forward.”

The idea of a range rider might conjure images of a cowgirl galloping after a wolf, hazing it from her herds. But the range riders’ job is much broader — and more complicated — than simple wolf patrol.

There’s the physical labor: tracking predator prints, learning the landscape, keeping an eye out for broken fences and sick cows.

Then there’s the tougher, more abstract mission: building trust in communities that feel unfairly burdened by the reintroduction program and often harbor skepticism toward Colorado Parks and Wildlife and advocacy groups.

“If at the end of the day, folks can’t sleep at night because they’re wondering if a wolf is attacking their livestock, having a rider up there is something tangible we can do,” Nickerson said. “Is it perfect? Is it reducing conflict? I don’t really know. But is it reducing stress? I think so.”

Vander Berg appreciates having a seat at the table on one of the largest issues roiling rural Colorado — even when it’s tough.

“I like being part of the bigger picture,” she said. “And I love a challenge.”

‘Millenia-old risk mitigation’

Sometimes, the challenge is navigating complex conversations. Other times, it’s simpler, like finding the right aspen tree on which to hang a game camera.

Vander Berg squatted in front of a slim aspen on a recent afternoon while her horse, Dollar, pawed impatiently at the ground behind her. She was placing one of the 10 cameras she uses to keep an eye on wildlife on the allotment.

She had scouted the tree several days prior and found it met most of the criteria. It’s on a natural wildlife pathway, it’s not pointing directly into the rising or setting sun, and it’s free of foliage that would block the camera’s view. She uses a camouflage-patterned lock to keep people and animals from messing with its placement. Animals love to lick, chew and rub up against the cameras.

“If I had a nickel for every time I got a picture of an animal’s mouth, I’d be rich,” Kaitie Schneider, the Rockies and Plains representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said while she watched Vander Berg affix the camera.

Photos from the cameras are just one of the data points Vander Berg collects. As she rides, she marks a plethora of information on a map: cow bones, wildlife tracks, water sources, animal scat. While wolves are her first priority, she also keeps track of all predators and big game, since ranchers are eligible to claim compensation for damage caused by other species, too.

She rides a different route every day, avoiding predictability and traversing as much of the 78-square-mile allotment as possible.

Tracking all of that information, combined with Vander Berg’s hundreds of hours familiarizing herself with the land, means that she will notice when something is awry. And she’ll be ready to respond if CPW alerts her of a nearby wolf. Many of the wolves in the state wear a collar that transmits data about their locations, allowing CPW to give ranchers and range riders a heads-up when one is in their vicinity.

Her job is more than wolf watch, though. She helps wrangle escaped cows, mends broken fences, keeps an eye on water sources, gives directions on the public lands, and monitors the thousands of cows and calves for sickness.

“It����ap a little bit of everything,” she said.

Range riders are not a new concept, Nickerson said.

“They’re millennia-old risk mitigation,” she said.

CPW launched its range rider program in 2025 with 11 range riders, who rode, hiked and drove about 14,800 miles on behalf of 34 ranchers. This year, CPW expanded the program to 15 riders deployed across the state. Each rider contracts with the agency and is assigned to an area, but agency staff can move them to other places, depending on wolf activity.

Since reintroduction, wolves have injured or killed 81 head of livestock across the state, . The agency has paid more than $1.3 million to ranchers to compensate them for those losses as well as for more tangential impacts from a wolf’s presence, like lower birth rates.

Ranchers have repeatedly told CPW leaders that the toll of the wolf reintroduction is not only on their herd numbers, but also their well-being.

“The stress that wolves create is unique compared to drought or larkspur or other things because I think, for a lot of people, that those things feel like an act of God — that is a part of raising livestock,” Nickerson said.

Illness or weather may kill more livestock than wolves, but for many ranchers it’s not about the numbers, she said.

“It’s not about the amount of loss, it’s about the amount of stress,” she said.

During calving season this spring, one ranching family near Walden split up night-watch shifts for its herds for more than two months because wolves were in the area, said Erin Karney Spaur , the executive vice president of . The husband stood guard from dusk to midnight, his mom took over through 4 a.m., and his wife then filled in until dawn, she said.

“When (producers) know that wolves are in the area, that’s all they think about, 24/7,” she said.

The producers who are working with range riders have reported positive experiences, Karney Spaur said. She hopes the range-riding programs can scale up to meet more need and span longer than just the summer grazing season. The spring calving season is also a vulnerable time for livestock, she said.

Range riders are one of the tools or strategies CPW offers to prevent depredations. Others include equipment designed to scare the predators away and management of livestock carcasses so that they do not attract wolves.

If a wolf is found to routinely kill or maim livestock, CPW will kill it.

CPW leaders have budgeted $1 million for the range riding program, which is primarily funded through proceeds from the , CPW spokesman Luke Perkins said. When drivers in Colorado choose the specialty plate, they contribute $50 to nonlethal wolf conflict mitigation programs. As of May 31, the program had raised $1.3 million.

operates separately from CPW’s, though the nonprofit frequently collaborates with the agency.

Ranger riders’ overarching job is to give ranchers a break, Nickerson said. Essentially: to be their eyes so producers can more peacefully close theirs.

“Range riding is learning the patterns of your landscape and your wildlife and your livestock so that if there’s a shift that might be signaling that something is wrong — whether it����ap predator-related, illness, injury — you can catch it in time to react more quickly,” she said.

Job requires extensive skills — and ingenuity

Riders also learn unexpected things, like how difficult it is to lift the exhaust system of a Ford F-350.

Vander Berg isn’t exactly sure what such a system weighs, but she knows it’s extremely heavy. She knows that because one time she scraped the exhaust system off her truck while working in the field. Alone, she had to use chains — ones she’d normally used to close corral gates — to hitch it to the undercarriage of her truck so that she could limp home.

“I never know what I’m going to get into,” she said.

It takes a certain type of person to succeed as a range rider, Nickerson and Schneider said: Independent but community-minded. Tough but communicative. Able to handle mishaps — such as dislocated exhaust systems — and emergencies. And a rider must be comfortable spending hours alone, deep in rugged country without cell phone service.

“There’s nobody else coming,” Vander Berg said.

Vander Berg packs her saddlebags accordingly — the supplies she carries would impress even the best Eagle Scout. There are the basics, like a first aid kit, food, toilet paper, extra-warm clothes and water. Then there’s duct tape, a hoof pick, wire cutters, saws in two sizes, a rain slicker, a flashlight, a headlamp, a dog water bowl, a portable charger, a Leatherman multitool, a whistle, matches, a lighter, a hatchet, an extra leather strap.

And there’s the equipment she needs for her job — game cameras, memory cards, a notepad, pens and pencils, rulers and measuring tapes.

Later in the summer, when the herds are higher on the hills and farther from roads, Vander Berg brings a backpacking stove and simple food like cups of ramen. She’ll spend up to 12 hours in the saddle those days, she said, and sometimes won’t return to camp until after 11 p.m.

Beyond backcountry skills, range riders also need to know how livestock behave, Nickerson said. They need to know how to identify pink eye and hoof rot, and they need to know which cow is always panicking and can be ignored — and which cow’s panic might indicate a threat.

Other skills can be taught, Schneider said, such as identifying wolf prints and determining whether a wolf caused a specific depredation.

Ranch hands, outfitters and hunters often make good candidates, Nickerson said. But they also need one more critical skill: communication.

“(Range riding) is the only nonlethal tool that gives a producer a real break in their stress and their workload,” Nickerson said. “So if you have a range rider that����ap not communicating with you, it����ap kind of against the point.”

Vander Berg didn’t grow up on a ranch or in Colorado.

She spent more than two decades in emergency services with a focus on fire investigation, a career that moved her around the country, including a stint in Colorado. In 2015, she returned to the state, this time settling down in rural Mesa County.

She learned to ranch and be a cowgirl by showing up. For years, she helped neighbors with their brandings and vaccinations. She rode in the backcountry with cowboys and bought her own small cattle herd. Eventually, local ranchers hired her on as day help. Then, in 2025, she signed on as a range rider with Defenders of Wildlife.

The trust she’s built in the community over the years is critical to her work. A multigenerational pool of ranchers graze their cattle on the allotment she’s tasked with riding. They need to know that she’ll keep herself safe, keep their interests in mind and let them know of anything amiss.

“If you do the right thing, people trust you,” Vander Berg said.

A tool in the toolbox

Vander Berg’s cell phone rings incessantly when there are rumors of a wolf.

Her neighbors want to know if she’s heard of a wolf in the area, if a paw print they found could be from a wolf, or why they spotted Colorado Parks and Wildlife trucks nearby.

The range-riding season runs from June to October, but Vander Berg has become the de facto year-round point of contact for wolf problems in her community. She makes calls to find out what’s going on or sets out to find the CPW trucks folks are worried about to ask staff members if they’re there because of wolves. (Once, it was just a team of biologists looking for toads.)

This is one of the most critical parts of Vander Berg’s job, Schneider said. She is a trusted conduit for communication and information. Much of producers’ fear and frustration stems from not knowing what the wolves or Colorado Parks and Wildlife are doing, she said.

“I think it����ap that loss of power that is so frustrating,” Schneider said.

Defenders of Wildlife began working on the ground with producers in Colorado in 2019, before the 2020 statewide vote that mandated the reintroduction.

For the last three years — even before the state launched its own program — the organization has hired range riders to help ranchers. In addition to Vander Berg, two riders are working this summer in the One Ear Pack’s territory in north-central Colorado, where wolves’ presence has been concentrated for years.

After the reintroduction, Defenders of Wildlife saw a gap in services and filled it, Schneider said. The organization hires riders where ranchers and riders have expressed interest in its program. The need is vast — even if the organization could hire 50 range riders, that wouldn’t be enough, she said.

Range riding is not a silver bullet, CPW’s Nickerson said. It’s one tool in the toolbox of conflict mitigation.

Nickerson has worked across the West on predator conflict, including in states with long-established wolf populations, like Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico. In those states, she sees hope for Colorado’s future.

“The tension between the agricultural community and the predator-advocate community is real in every state,” she said. “But time really has a benefit long term. Right now, things in Colorado feel really, really hot, and that����ap because everything is really new.

“There’s a lot of pressure to get things right the first time, but we are going to learn through our mistakes as we go.”

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It intensified when the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association joined forces with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Colorado Farm Bureau, the National Rifle Association’s electioneering arm, and the Colorado Woolgrowers’ Association to oppose Proposition 114 — a 2020 citizens’ ballot initiative requiring Colorado to reintroduce wolves to the western part of the state.

Fearmongering was a big part of the campaign to prevent the restoration of wolves to their native Colorado habitats: The hunting groups peddled the narrative that wolves would kill all the elk. The ranching interests claimed that wolves would drive cattle and sheep operations out of business.

Notably, neither outcome has materialized since the 1995 wolf reintroductions in Yellowstone and Idaho, and indeed elk populations and cattle and sheep ranches there remain abundant three decades after wolves returned. In 2020, the Stop the Wolf Coalition lost the election, 51% to 49%. But the hysteria over livestock losses from wolves was only beginning.

So it makes sense to put these fears, and the livestock industry messaging that amplifies them, into perspective.

Weather events can kill a lot of cattle. In 2007, a single blizzard caused an estimated 15,000 cattle deaths in Colorado, according to the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. In 2024, a single lightning strike knocked 100 cattle off their feet, killing 32 of them as well as a rancher, who was engaged in branding the calves. That’s more than Colorado wolves have killed in an entire year. The weather slaughters far more livestock than predators in the state.

Then there is cattle rustling. In late 2025, 23 cattle disappeared in a single incident on the High Plains of northeastern Colorado, and law enforcement characterized the incident as unlikely to be random chance and likely meant they had been stolen. In 2024, 187 cattle went missing on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Western Colorado. Fifteen of them eventually turned up, demonstrating that missing cattle are sometimes simply lost by inattentive ranchers. The Colorado brand inspector estimated in mid-December of that year that about 500 cattle were expected to be reported missing for the year in the state.

Mystery deaths and sickness also plague Colorado’s cattle herd. In May of 2025, 15 cattle in south-central Colorado in a single day. Was it eating poisonous plants? An abandoned oil well on the property? Water contamination? While some sort of toxin was suspected, there have been no definitive answers. A 2010 USDA report calculated that 38.9% of all cattle lost in 2007 died from sickness, injury, or poisoning. Only 0.1% of the losses were attributable to predators of any kind.

In Colorado, the number of cattle killed in slaughterhouses in 2025 was 2,269,600, according to the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter Report. The number of calves slaughtered in the state was “[w]ithheld to avoid disclosing data for individual operations,” but would presumably add to that total.

The most important predator of cattle in Colorado, by a vast margin, was humans. Specifically, the livestock industry has raised such a hue and cry over a comparatively tiny number of wolf-caused mortalities. We have met the enemy (of cattle, at least), and he is us.

It’s hard to tell how many cattle and sheep have been killed by wolves, because  lump together livestock that are killed with livestock that are injured, but recover.

There were 13 cattle killed or injured by wolves in the two years prior to the wolf reintroduction, or an average of 6.5 cattle per year. In the slightly more than three years since reintroduction, there have been 44 cattle killed or injured by wolves, 37 sheep and one llama. That’s an average of 15 cattle and 12 sheep confirmed killed or injured per year.

The fraction of Colorado’s livestock losses attributable to wolves is minuscule, and some of the state’s news outlets are starting to get it. The general public, and lawmakers in particular, need to be aware of the tiny proportion of Colorado’s 2.6 million cattle that are falling prey to wolves, and we can all rest easy in the knowledge that when a livestock loss is reported, and wolves are suspected, there is a full investigation.

And when a wolf kill is confirmed, the rancher in question gets a payment from the state that not only covers his losses, but might also cover up to seven times the value of the animal(s). That’s an excessive level of generosity, which creates a perverse incentive to blame wolves.

But when ranchers are getting paid – in fact, paid far more than the fair-market value they deserve – when beef is what’s for dinner for one of Colorado’s new population of wolves, who really cares whether the diner is wildlife or human?

Erik Molvar is a wildlife biologist and the executive director of Western Watersheds Project, a nonprofit conservation group working to reduce the harmful effects of livestock grazing on public lands to protect and restore wildlife and watersheds throughout the American West.

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That wolf briefly crossed the interstate in southeastern Colorado and moved through watersheds in Pueblo, Otero and Las Animas counties before returning west of the highway, officials announced Wednesday. , released Wednesday, shows the wolf moved through watersheds surrounding the city of Pueblo.

“This activity east of I-25 highlights the broad movements made by dispersing wolves,” agency officials said in a news release. “CPW is in active communication with producers who have known wolf activity near their operations and is coordinating access to conflict minimization resources.”

For months, wolf activity has been concentrated in Colorado’s central mountains. The map released Wednesday — which depicts the watersheds where wolves wandered between May 26 and Tuesday — shows at least one wolf moved through the San Luis Valley and along the New Mexico border.

Wolves also remained present near Gunnison, Rifle, Meeker, Vail and Steamboat Springs. At least 31 wolves roam Colorado, but not all wear collars that transmit their location.

After Parks and Wildlife agents “lethally removed” the uncollared gray wolf in Routt County, agency officials were able to confirm it was the same wolf that attacked livestock in Rio Blanco County in 2025 and early 2026.

Most recently the wolf attacked two sheep in Routt County on Wednesday and Thursday, state officials said in a news release Saturday.

Agency leaders did not specify whether all of the sheep attacks were fatal, and spokesperson Luke Perkins said more information will be included in a final report published on Parks and Wildlife’s website.

Ranchers tried to deter the wolf by sending out range riders, using livestock guardian dogs and “scare devices,” having herders present with the sheep and applying for non-lethal hazing permits, state officials said.

The ranchers worked with the wildlife agency to use “all viable and reasonable non-lethal tools and techniques” to stop the attacks, Parks and Wildlife Director Laura Clellan said in a statement.

“The decision to pursue lethal actions is never an easy one, but the circumstances around this wolf’s made this a difficult but necessary decision,” Clellan said.

The wolf was originally part of the Copper Creek Pack but has not been part of the pack since September 2024, state officials said.

Colorado’s handling of gray wolf reintroduction has remained in the spotlight since voters approved the measure in 2020.

Parks and Wildlife’s reintroduction efforts are being reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which received tens of thousands of public comments about the program as of last week. One comment came from a Western Slope rancher who said her employee killed a wolf in March as it was running toward cows and calves.

The state previously rejected her application and appeal for a lethal take permit, she said.

State officials also are spending more money to reimburse ranchers for wolf attacks than is allocated to the program, approving more than $1.3 million in claims compared with $875,000 set aside as of this spring. The agency has said it has the money to pay for future claims.