Stakeholders request suspension of ballot initiative to stop wolf releases
March 21, 2025
The Fence Post
Despite a request from a long list of stakeholders requesting that the ballot measure effort to repeal wolf reintroduction be suspended, proponents are moving forward to place a measure on the November 2026 ballot. The Title Board set a title that asks voters to vote to end reintroductions of gray wolves by Dec. 31, 2026.
As currently written in the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, releases were to begin in December of 2023 and releases of 30 to 50 animals would occur over a three-to-five-year timeframe. After five years, “active reintroduction will stop, and post-release monitoring will apprise managers if the effort to establish a self-sustaining wolf population in Colorado has been successful.” The benchmarks of a successful effort include a high rate of survival of released wolves in the first six months following release (less than 70% survival rate would initiate protocol review); released wolves demonstrate low mortality rates over the initial two to three years post-release; wolves remain in Colorado; reintroduced wolves successfully form pairs and reproduce, establishing packs; wolves born in Colorado survive and also successfully reproduce.