OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission gave a cool but indefinite reception Thursday, June 22, to Colorado’s request for wolves, while Gov. Jay Inslee’s office indicated it was willing to talk about sharing wolves.

Colorado wildlife managers are shopping for wolves to release into western Colorado. Colorado also has feelers out to Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon last month gave a firm “no.”

Inslee’s office has spoken with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ office about the possibility of relocating wolves, Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith said in an email.

“We have not made any commitments or taken a position at this point, but are open to the discussion,” she said.

Colorado has a handful of known wolves in the northwest corner of the state, bordering Wyoming. Colorado voters in 2020 narrowly approved jump-starting the population by importing wolves.

The measure was popular among voters in eastern Colorado, separated by the Continental Divide from where wolves will be released.

A Fish and Wildlife Commission subcommittee on wildlife took up Colorado’s request at a meeting in Seattle.

Commissioner Lorna Smith said she didn’t want to “close the door completely,” but suggested telling Colorado that now wasn’t the time to consider its call for wolves.

The commission must first grapple with a recommendation by wildlife biologists to take wolves off the state’s endangered species list, she said.

Smith said she happened to see Colorado Parks and Wildlife director Jeff Davis at a conference in Colorado recently. “I told him that I really didn’t think it was very likely,” Smith said.

The wildlife subcommittee officially has four members, but since the other commissioners showed up, it was a de facto meeting of the commission.

Commissioners not on the wildlife subcommittee said they weren’t ready to tell Colorado anything as definite as now was not the time to talk about giving it wolves.

“What’s the harm in opening discussions with Colorado?” asked Commissioner John Lehmkuhl.

“What do they want exactly? And how many wolves do they want? When would they want them? It seems like that would inform whatever decision we make,” he said.

Commissioners agreed to talk about the request at a future meeting.

Colorado’s wolf plan calls for capturing 10 to 15 wolves from several packs over three to five years. Colorado plans to draw from the population of Rocky Mountain wolves that originated with the release of Canadian wolves into Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s.

Colorado plans to release wolves at least 60 miles from neighboring states and tribal lands in southwestern Colorado.

Wolves are well established in Eastern Washington and north-central Washington, leading biologists to recommend designating wolves as a state “sensitive” species rather than an endangered species.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has resisting moving wolves from Eastern Washington to Western Washington or south-central Washington to speed-up recovery objectives.

According to research posted on the department’s website, relocated wolves have a strong tendency to try to return to where they came from.