Colorado’s reintroduced wolves tour new counties in latest activity map 

In the final month of spring, the movements of Colorado’s collared gray wolves continued to be spread across the Western Slope, with some activity pushing further south and west than in prior months. 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s latest watershed map — which shows the collared wolves’ activity between April 22 and May 27 — shows movements that appear more compacted within Colorado’s northwestern counties than the April activity. 

In the last month, the wolves were active in watersheds along the eastern portions of Moffat, Rio Blanco and Garfield counties as well as in Routt, Jackson, Eagle, Grand, Pitkin, Summit, Gilpin, Clear Creek, and Lake counties. 

Additionally, after Parks and Wildlife reported “brief movement” in western portions of Larimer, Boulder, and Jefferson counties in April, the most recent map shows continued activity in the western halves of both Larimer and Boulder counties. 

“Similar to last month, these areas are highlighted due to brief movement on the western fringes of these watersheds,” said Travis Ducan, a public information officer with Parks and Wildlife. “As always, highlighted watersheds do not mean that wolves were or are currently in high human-density areas.”

In Larimer County — as well as in Routt and Moffat counties — the map shows activity pushing up to the Colorado-Wyoming border. Two of Colorado’s wolves have died this year after crossing into Wyoming, where the species is not protected by the Endangered Species Act and state law allows hunting of wolves in most of the state. 

In addition to the northern region, the May watershed map shows movements in more southwest watersheds than the prior 30 days, with travel extending down into watersheds touching San Miguel, San Juan, La Plata, Archuleta, Mineral, Rio Grande,

In several of these counties that include ​​tribal land and the Brunot Treaty area, Parks and Wildlife has an agreement with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe regarding wolf monitoring and management. 

The shading on May’s map makes a donut shape around these southwest counties, which Duncan reported was likely due to “the natural topography of Colorado and how a wolf or wolves are using and moving through that terrain.”

In April, Parks and Wildlife reported that the movement to the south was from a single female wolf that, as of the May 8 Parks and Wildlife Commissioner meeting, had traveled over 1,700 miles since the January releases. This is comparable to the distance between Denver and Washington, D.C. 

When asked whether the southwest activity was still tied to this single wolf on the most recent map, Duncan reported that the agency had “no additional comment on individual wolf movement to accompany this month’s map.”

Parks and Wildlife confirmed the first wolf depredation of a calf in Gunnison County on May 6. This was the first confirmation made in the southwest, with all previous incidents occurring to the north. 

The wildlife agency is also currently investigating several potential wolf-livestock depredation events in Pitkin County that reportedly occurred over Memorial Day weekend. Local ranchers and cattlemen’s associations reported that wolf attacks took place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at operations in the Roaring Fork and Crystal River valleys and were carried out by the Copper Creek pack. 

Five members of the Copper Creek pack — the adult female and four pups — were released back into the wild in January following several months in captivity. The pack was placed in captivity last fall after being tied to repeated livestock attacks in Grand County. The four pups are now around 1 year old. 

In the time since the pack’s capture, Parks and Wildlife created guidance around what qualifies as “chronic depredation” and what would trigger lethal management. A wolf or wolves connected to three or more confirmed events — requiring evidence — within a 30-day period would meet the chronic definition. From there, many elements will be considered by the agency before it takes lethal action. 

As of May 7, the wildlife agency had working GPS collars on 24 wolves. However, on May 15, a female collared wolf died in northwest Colorado, marking the fourth death this year. The cause of death is under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

The agency is also continuing to monitor four pairs of wolves that could be denning to have pups, Duncan said.