March 23, 2023 |
Photo – Wolf – Bigfoot99 file photo
A new Colorado law requiring wolf reintroduction on the western slope by the end of the year has exposed a deepening cultural divide between the metro/Front Range area and the rural parts of the state.
In northern Colorado, resentment and contempt bubbled over at a meeting in Craig last week as Moffat County ranchers expressed their concerns with the wolf reintroduction plan.
The meeting last Wednesday in Craig was hosted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take public comment. Ranchers were not shy about offering their opinions, which were mostly negative. At one point, a biologist with the federal agency reminded the crowd that Colorado voters approved the plan—not state or federal wildlife officials.
82-year-old Moffat County rancher Ron Lawton offered a straightforward response about who is responsible for bringing wolves back to the rural areas of Colorado. “Somebody ought to introduce a bill that the people who voted to introduce these wolves ought to be taxed to the point they pay for it,” Lawton said.
Ranchers said any livestock losses they incur because of gray wolves will never be compensated fully. They also noted they are paying additional taxes for wolf introduction and will incur additional expense and time to guard their herds.
Just over the Wyoming border in North Park, ranchers in the Walden area have been dealing with wolf depredations to their herds and to their dogs for over a year now. The pack that set up shop there originated in Wyoming, in Teton County. The ability of the wolves to travel far and wide is one of the concerns expressed at the March 15th meeting.
Backed largely by Front Range voters, Proposition 114 narrowly passed in 2020. The ballot measure mandates that the state reintroduce gray wolves west of the Continental Divide by the end of 2023. West slope ranchers expressed anger that those in Colorado’s liberal urban areas, which supported reintroduction, will not have to deal with the consequences of their vote.
