Colorado is looking to jump-start wolf recovery using wolves from Washington. The Centennial State also is reaching out to Oregon, Idaho and Montana for wolves.

Colorado wildlife managers have asked for wolves from Eastern Washington to release into western Colorado to kick-start wolf recovery in their state.

Colorado also is reaching out to Oregon, Idaho and Montana, hoping to get 10 to 15 wolves a year for the next three to five years, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis.

Davis was Washington’s conservation policy director before being hired in Colorado in April. He requested wolves in a letter in May to his old boss, Fish and Wildlife Director Kelly Susewind.

A Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission subcommittee has the call for wolves on its agenda for a meeting Thursday, June 22, in Seattle. The four-member committee may discuss the letter, but can’t make a decision.

Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Staci Lehman said it was premature to answer questions such as whether Washington can spare wolves to help Colorado.

Republican state Rep. Joel Kretz, whose northeast Washington district is saturated with wolf packs, said he doubts Washington will give up any wolves. But if it does, he’ll help.

“Hell, I’ll deliver,” he said. “We have plenty to spare up here.”

Colorado has a few wolves near its border with Wyoming. With 50.9% support, a 2020 proposition directed wildlife managers to turn loose wolves into western Colorado so the state can have hundreds of wolves.

Colorado’s biggest cities are in eastern Colorado, separated from the proposed wolf country by the Continental Divide. Denver County, the state’s largest, supported the measure by 66%.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission approved a wolf plan May 3 that relies on the help of other states. The department must start reintroducing wolves by the end of the year, Davis stated in his letter.

Davis didn’t respond to an email June 16. Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Bridget O’Rourke said in an email that requests went to the four states. The only progress she reported was Washington’s upcoming meeting.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon in May said he opposes Colorado taking his state’s wolves, mostly because the wolves may turn around and cause trouble as they reenter Wyoming. Other states have been less clear.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesperson Michelle Dennehy said in an email the department received the request and planned to meet with Colorado “to get more information about their needs.”

Colorado’s wolf plan calls for trapping, netting or darting wolves and driving or flying them to Colorado. The plan rules out accepting wolves from areas with chronic attacks on livestock.

“I don’t blame them,” said Scott Nielsen, president of the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association in northeast Washington. “Obviously, they’re not going to want our problem wolves, they are going to want our good ones.”

Washington Fish and Wildlife and the Colville tribe counted 216 wolves in 2022, none of them in Western Washington. Wildlife managers say they are confident wolves will colonize Western Washington, but have resisted moving wolves to speed-up recovery.

“Before we start shipping wolves out of Washington to Colorado, we better ship them to our own regions that don’t have them,” Nielsen said.

Kretz has tried to get Fish and Wildlife to consider moving wolves intrastate so that all of Washington can experience wolves. He hasn’t been successful.

“I would support taking wolves from our area. They are clearly overpopulated, and it would take a little heat off here,” he said. “I’d like to send them to Bainbridge Island, but Colorado would be a good second destination.”

“Before we start shipping wolves out of Washington to Colorado, we better ship them to our own regions that don’t have them.”

— Scott Nielsen, president of the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association