Colorado Wolf Management Plan Update
(Rob Edward - Sinapu)

In February of 2004, the Colorado Division of Wildlife began to develop a management plan for wolves in Colorado. Notably, the state has not hosted a breeding population of wolves since the early 1940s. The first phase of the planning process ended in March of 2004, with the completion of six meetings held around the state to inform the public about the upcoming planning effort. All six meetings, well attended by citizens and the Colorado Division of Wildlife, heard a concise and unified message regarding restoring and protecting wolves (in contrast to their focus on “wolf management”).

In the months since, state officials have appointed a “working group” — including conservationists, sportsmen and livestock producers—to develop a draft wolf plan. The group has met twice, and made some progress toward the goal of developing a plan. Although the chasm between viewpoints within the group is daunting, all the members have thus far gone the extra mile to be civil to each other. That is the good news. The bad news is that, in typical “it’s all about me” fashion, the discussions have been almost entirely focused on potential negative impacts that wolves might have, with no attention to the needs of the wild places of the Southern Rockies—places crying-out for wolves. During the second set of meetings, the group heard from a variety of different guest speakers—from ranchers, to biologists, to bureaucrats, and a lone conservationist from Defenders of Wildlife—regarding a variety of topics. Highlights included; wolves may cause localized impacts on big game populations within a specific management unit, but other factors including weather and other predators play an equally important role. The federal government believes that it has fulfilled its role in wolf recovery (with wolves now roaming less than five percent of their historic range); the sheep producers in Wyoming believe that all of Wyoming’s big game will be wiped-out by wolves as soon as 2008, and the demise of the sheep industry will probably precede that. Montana somehow, managed to get a similar bunch of folks to agree to a reasonable plan. Finally, Defender’s of Wildlife will not be discontinuing the compensation program, despite the rumors continually generated by the ranching industry. Whew! That was a mouthful! Imagine sitting through ten hours of it!

Having eased into the high-powered role of “planners” by sitting through the presentations, the group did spend approximately a third of the meeting on actual planning and decision-making. One of the first decisions the group made was to use the Montana Wolf Management plan as a framework for developing the Colorado plan. In general, that decision sits well with the conservationists in the group, because at-least the plan has a very clear conservation focus, while acknowledging the need to protect the interests of ranchers and hunters. However, sub-groups will spend the next couple of months customizing the plan for Colorado, and all bets are off as to how closely it sticks to its conservation roots.

The second significant decision the group made was to recommend to the Colorado Wildlife Commission that the Commission make changes to present management regulations so that wolves north of I-70 (when or if any appear in Colorado), can be managed in a manner consistent with federal regulations. Presently, wolves north of I-70 are listed as “threatened” under federal law and “endangered” under Colorado law. In essence, under federal law a person could legally kill a wolf north of I-70 if he/she found it attacking his/her livestock, but under state law that person could still be prosecuted for killing a state endangered species. Although one could argue that, the inconsistency is appropriate because wolves do not yet exist in Colorado; this was good political strategy to clear up the regulatory muddle that such inconsistency causes, given the much harder bargaining will inevitably play-out, as part of the planning process.

In the coming months, the group will have to wrestle with hard questions about what role wolves will play in Colorado (if any), and will have to agree on the details of wolf management and program funding. Any of these difficult points along the road could result in a stalemate—it has happened in Utah already—but with perseverance and some thoughtful howling, hopefully, a draft will hit the streets late this fall. That is where you come in, dear reader. Once the draft is ready for public review and comment, it will be critical that those who share the vision, of Nature restored, review and comment on the plan. Future generations will judge us all accordingly.

For more information, visit: www.sinapu.org Rob Edward is the Carnivore Restoration Program Director for Sinapu. He also sits on Colorado’s Wolf Management Plan Working Group as one of four conservationists. You can also visit the DOW web site for updates at: http://www2.merid.org/graywolf/

Wildlife Sanctuary Bill Wins Approval
(CO HB-1135)

Congratulations to Representative Paul Weissmann (District 12) for all the work he put in to get Bill HB-1135 passed. Gov. Owens signed the bill on May 28, 2004. This bill amends CO Statute to allow nonprofit wildlife sanctuaries to exist in Colorado.

Wildlife Sanctuaries are those that DO NOT; (a) Use the animal for any type of entertainment; (b) Sell, Trade, or Barter the animal or the animal’s body parts, except as promulgated by the commission; or (c) Breed the Animal.

Although Wolf was one of the organizations which were grandfathered, without this bill, no new nonprofit, wildlife sanctuaries, like Wolf and others, would have been allowed in Colorado. Likewise the existing, grandfathered, facilities would not have been able to open or move to new locations. This could have been devastating for wildlife needing sanctuary.

The Division of Wildlife is authorized to issue a special license to Wildlife Sanctuaries. The fee for the license is $100.

There are certain requirements that must be met in order to receive this new license. They include: (I) The purpose shall be to operate as a place of refuge where abused, neglected, unwanted, impounded, abandoned, orphaned or displaced wildlife are provided care for their lifetime. (II) The sanctuary shall be operated under the direction of a professional staff that has generally recognized formal or practical training with the types of wildlife kept at the sanctuary. (III) The sanctuary shall have a State-Licensed Veterinarian on staff or under contract with the sanctuary and available to provide professional consultation and care when needed.

To apply for a Wildlife Sanctuary License, the organization must provide the following: (I) The name, complete street address, mailing address if different from the street address and telephone number of the facility; (II) Evidence of the wildlife sanctuary’s status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal Internal Revenue Code; (III) The specific location where wildlife is housed; (IV) The current wildlife census, including the common and scientific name, gender, age and origin of each animal; (V) a signed statement by a licensed veterinarian stating the veterinarian is the veterinarian of record for the applicant and the veterinarian’s complete address, telephone number and license number. The veterinarian shall certify that he/she has observed each of the applicant’s animals at least once during the previous three months and that the wildlife have been appropriately immunized and cared for.

Although to some this may seem like a lot, these are things that Wolf has been doing since it came into being. I hate to even imagine what would have become of the animals who need sanctuary, so again Wolf sends congratulations and many thanks to Representative Paul Weissmann and the many people who worked so diligently to get Bill HB-1135 passed.


Donor Recognition
(2003 ‘Spirit Of Wolf’ Awards)

We apologize for the tardiness of this information. We try very hard to get all of the data together so that your support can be recognized in a more timely manner. This year we have struggled to get the help we needed to accomplish this sooner.

Every year Wolf presents “The Spirit Of Wolf Award” to some of those individuals and organizatons who have gone above and beyond in their support of the animals of Wolf. We wish we could recognize everyone who has supported our mission, but alas funds restrict what we can do. This year the awards were presented to the following:

The Ahimsa Foundation
King Soopers-Arvada
Precision Water Well, Inc.
G. N. C. Water Well
S. Henneman Family
M. Strauch
Overland Foods
M. Kiang
A. Stewart
Y. Montoya
C. Montoya

A sincere Thank You to all for the many lives you have touched. There are many of you who have given of your time, energies and financial resources. We cannot list you all but if you do not see your name here, realize it is not because we do not appreciate what you have done for Wolf, we appreciate each and every one of you, it is only lack of space preventing us from listing every name.

Sanctuary Sponsor Level:
Ahimsa Foundation         Animal Health Options       Babcock Family
WalMart Distrib. Ctr.      Nestle-Purina                     King Soopers-Ft.Collins
D&T Freezer Meats          Overland Foods                   King Soopers-Arvada

Pack Sponsor Level:
Wildlife Legacy Trust      Precision Water Well          GNC Water Well
S. Henneman Family       G. Daugherty                       J. Hathaway
M. Strauch                      K. Thompson                      M. Kiang
E. Scholl                         PetCo                                  H. Harrison
Journey Books & Gifts     S. Flint                                Heska Corp.
D. Donnelley-Moller       A. Stewart                           L. Campbell
DVM Pharmacuticles      E. Flessner                           D. Breen
L. Masten                       M. Taylor                             J. Yochum Family
Popular Arts Entertainment

Adoption Level:
Warren Family                Joslyn Family                      Lockman Excavating
Pepsi Bottling Group       Y. Montoya                         M. Eaton
Hebert Family                 C. Montoya                         Poudre Pet & Feed
A. Radich                        R. Daley

Save Level:
University Animal Hosp.  K. Ausfahl                          J. Pleban
C. Kuzia                          Howlin’ Wolf Creations      Piscani Family
J. Newberg                      Doverspike Family              K. Clay
C. Noie                            Petsmart                            P. Prichard
A. Rice                            A. Richards                         J. Story
The Sanctum                   North Star Vet Clinic           Jennings Family

Fed Level:
Runners Roost                 Poudre Valley Pools            Kiah Family
M. Wilson                       Oliver Family                     D. Stock
P. Weixelman                  Zebold Family                    D. Nayduch
L. Lichtfuss                     C. Watson                          Vetline, Inc.
R. Petrocco                      Martinez Family                 Deschenes Family
D. Haggerty                     Hardes Family                    P. Schupe
T&S Optical                     Vern’s Restaurant               Jones Family
T. Teaford                        S. Shaffer                           K. Skrien
S. Vankirk                        L. Kranz                             S. Sharp
S. Fussner                        N. Koeller                           G. Buchanan
Mountain States Bank      TAOS                                 Wagner Family
Weishaar Family              L. Salisbury Gallery            B. Douglas
Konieczka Family             McGough/Barnes Family

Sponsor Level:
Mountain Vet Sup.           B. Russell                           M. Schmidt
Thompson Media              T. Ockander                       T. Needy
C. Belpedio                       L. Brown                            L. Ciezczak
Corsaut Family                 Gaea Foundation                Geist Family
J. Gould                            Jenkins Family                   L. Knobleock
J. Masi                             T. James/R. Post                 Mountain View Lumber
D. Tracy                           Z. Neff                               Newmont Mining Corp.
S. Welker                         H. Bartages                        C. Berkness
Findlater Family               M. Weideman                     M. Williams
J. Hand                            M. Harris                            A. Starling
F. Magula                         J. Ebelke                             Rapp Family
R. Attleson                       Bergstrom Family                D. Boihem
M. Coursey                      P. Gardiner                         M. Harder
A. Thompson                   T. Henneman Family            M. Lyons
D. Martin                        Stonebridge Herbary            D. Tanner
N. West                           K. Williams                         D. Turner
Roberts Family                 C. Vogel                              T. Friedrichs
L. Bertram                       A. Schoenfeld                      H. Hixon
S. Bowater                       Padmos Family                    A. Diaz
Hicks Family                    G. Kuepfer                          Oschmann Family
Pabian Family                  B. Tippet                             A. Rowland