Tim Ritschard, fifth-generation rancher in Grand County, is also the president of the Middle Park Stock Growers Association and runs a number of cows on his family’s operation. The Forum spoke with Ritschard last week, as many followed — or tried to follow — what was happening with wolf releases in Colorado.
In 2020, voters in Colorado, primarily the Front Range, decided wolves should be reintroduced to the state. Yet, those wolves are being released into rural Colorado on the Western Slope, where livestock producers stand at risk of losing sheep and cows. Hunters, too, have expressed worry over deer and elk.
Ritschard, like many on the Western Slope, remained unclear of all details about the recent wolf releases, the first of which happened in his area in 2023. He said he agreed wolves were probably being released last week, and that was supposed to be a part of the state plan, though he wasn’t sure why the silence. He’d heard there may have been security worries, threats to CPW employees. He said nobody he knew would do such a thing.
“None of us in the ag world are doing credible threats,” he said. “We just want to know.”
Ritschard said it’s true ranchers want to negotiate. They filed a petition in September, letting CPW know the state is unprepared for additional wolf releases. He said ranchers need the definition of “chronic depredation,” range riders, a rapid response team, increased communication and more.
He thought the most recent releases were in Pitkin, Eagle and Garfield counties, but that was speculation.
Last Friday, the Forum contacted Rachael Gonzales, public information officer for CPW, with a series of questions about the wolves and if they’d been indeed released in the last few weeks. On Sunday, Gonzales sent the Forum a press release CPW made public that day, Jan. 19.
That press release — cpw.state.co.us/news/01192025/cpw-concludes-second-year-gray-wolf-capture-and-release-efforts — states that CPW did complete a second round of wolf releases.
“Fifteen wolves were translocated from the central interior of British Columbia to Colorado,” the press release states. “Separately, the agency also successfully completed the release of five members from the original Copper Creek Pack. All wolves were released in Eagle and Pitkin counties, continuing the agency’s efforts to create a permanent, self-sustaining gray wolf population in Colorado. No further releases are planned for the 2024-2025 capture season. This is the second of three to five release seasons of wolves.”
The press release adds that safety and security were the reasons for the secrecy, since “CPW offices were watched and threatening social media posts and phone calls were received.” It added two of the wolves in the last round were illegally shot, and since those wolves are on the Endangered Species list, fines of up to $100,000 and jail time can be served as sentences.
“Because of the safety risk and security needs of our staff and the animals, CPW did not share wolf release details while the operation was underway,” the press release said.
The press release did confirm the Pitkin and Eagle counties releases were on Jan. 12, Jan. 14 and Jan. 16.
The wolves total seven males and eight females from British Columbia, because the predator count there is high and caribou are suffering.
Additionally, the Copper Creek female with four wolf pups, which were all captured in September, came from Middle Park where Ritschard does ranch. Those wolves had been with an adult male who’d been feeding them. The male is deceased, but had been found guilty of multiple livestock depredations.