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Help restore the natural balance. Help restore wolves to Colorado.

Paul,

For the first time, Coloradans - not politicians, not bureaucrats – "We, The People", may decide whether to reintroduce gray wolves to Colorado. We will only have this choice, though, if we can get the gray wolf on the 2020 ballot.

State officials recently approved our ballot proposal, Initiative 107, that if passed would:

Direct the State of Colorado to restore gray wolves to public lands west of the Continental Divide Require our Colorado Parks and Wildlife to implement a science-based wolf restoration plan Fairly compensate livestock owners for livestock losses caused by wolves Now, we need your help to get the wolf on the 2020 ballot ... We must collect at least 160,000 petition signatures by December 2019 to put the measure before Colorado voters.

We need wildlife lovers – tree huggers and elk hunters, birders and anglers, backcountry enthusiasts and long-time ranchers – everyone who loves Colorado’s wild lands – to help to collect the 160,000 signatures needed.

Yes, I'll Help! Voter research has consistently shown that, if given a choice, a majority of Coloradans want wolves restored to our wild public lands. If we then win, we come a huge step closer to restoring gray wolves to their historic range by reestablishing the connection between gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and their brethren in New Mexico and Arizona.

And we come an enormous step closer to passing on a Colorado with a natural balance that enriches future generations.

Please volunteer to collect signatures to get the wolf on the 2020 ballot. We’ll be offering training – in person and online – to form a team gathering signatures from friends, families and communities around the state. Once you sign-up, we’ll contact you with the next steps to get started.

Sign Me Up! We hope you share our vision of a Colorado where wolves roam their historic range again. Please sign-up to elect the gray wolf in 2020.

For the wild and wolves,

Delia G. Malone Wildlife Team Chair Sierra Club, Colorado Chapter

I am insulted to believe that the first initiative presented, claimed that the gray wolf would only be release on public land and only west of the Divide. What a false narrative that is, but a good way to get Front Range votes, ie, Ok not in my back yard or ok just on public land. And now you come up with another false narrative for wolf introduction and this narrative is based on Want and not Need. While your group and I would guess mostly from outside of Colorado Want the gray wolf, the Colorado Wildlife Commission is on record that they do not support or need the the Gray Wolf in Colorado unless it wanders into Colorado where it is protected. I do not know of a single hunter or hunter Organization that supports the forced introduction of the Gray Wolf to Colorado. We had seen that the gray wolf, once established, will do to the moose population and the elk population and we have seen in the past the the pro wolf groups will never settle until there are more wolves than planned and they will do this through the Courts using you high paid or volunteered attorneys. Where as hunters do have quotas, licenses, and seasons to manage the wildlife, the wolf has no limits on range and no limits of seasons, ie, no control of big game animal take (kill) and domestic stock. Ranchers and private citizens prize their animals as they are just not "dumb animals" out there on the range and if they lose a few to wolfs , it is a big deal, like losing a family member. But you say, "OH, we will pay for the loss" as it is just a dumb animal that can be replaced".

Seventy five years ago there were 1.5 million people in Colorado. This is when the wolf may have been eliminated in Colorado, but because of this fact, you give the reason why the gray wolf needs to be forced introduced into Colorado as this is their historic range, and they have plenty of room for them to roam. Lets see, today Colorado's population is approaching 6,000,000 and within the next 20 years that growth is projected to 10,000,000.

Wolves on only public land! Wolves only west of the Divide! Wolves will bring back the balance of nature? When was Colorado's nature out of balance? Using the North American Conservation Model and funding from hunters and fisherman, Colorado's nature is in balance.

While you might WANT the gray wolf in Colorado, we sportsman who support the CPW and the Colorado Wild Live Commission understand that there is no NEED for the forced introduction of the gray wolf to Colorado.

Your false narrative is only that, a false- hood supported mostly from out of state pro wolf organizations and to also, help sway the non educated person to vote for your cause.

We as hunters and supporters of CPW scientific based studies and the CPW Commission who is on record opposing the forced introduction of the the Gray Wolf stand ready to fight against your initiative.

Most of you are probably aware the USFWS held a public hearing in Minnesota this week re: removing the wolf from the endangered list. About 300 people attended and a 81 were able to speak to both sides of the issue. Been involved in these kinds of meetings many times and they don't really accomplish much. Even if the agency takes them off the list those opposed will find their judge of choice and sue to stop the action. I guy needs to wear a hard hat when dealing with this stuff.

Mn has been way WAY over "packed" for many years and the radicals still push for an "endangered species" listing. UGH, so damn frustrating.

Til then, nope.

The vast majority of the citizens who will sign the petitions for the introduction of the wolf will do it based on emotion and not science or knowledge, will truly believe that they are doing the right thing for the environment, cool to see or hear the wolf, the balance of nature in Colorado, their contribution to the Green Movement, and the survival of the wolf species to roam free from Canada to South America. Interesting, is that the the wolf species in Arizona and far south of Colorado ( never had a historic range here), will make contact with the Gray Wolf and its genetic base will be diluted.

Many of these same persons have no idea of the North American Conservation Model and the contribution that hunters have made to help develop strong and viable big game populations here in Colorado.

The supporters of the wolf introduction state they want at least 250 wolves in Colorado but we know from past experiences in Montana, Idaho, and Wyo. they will continue to fight to have more and more wolves, well beyond their first WANT. Not NEED but WANT. my best, Paul

Just like when the clusterfluck DOW merger with Parks and Recreation, some people here still think the wolves aren't going to happen in the near future. Colorado tree huggers are going to find a way to fast track this from Boulder to Denver, straight down Colfax to the steps of the State Capitol where it will be accepted without a whimper.

I am as anti assisted wolf introduction as anybody here, and will sign every petition and ballot against introduction I cross paths with, and will donate to any group that is fighting it but It's going to happen. There are just way too many people with no skin in the game willing to sign off on it just because it sounds cool.

Every hunter better be packin’. Pop and gone. No discussion. No recovery. No quarter.

Rose Pray, Colorado Sierra Club Wolf Team Member Peak & Prairie, July 2019 1

“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then and have known ever since that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain.I was young then, and full of trigger-itch;I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean a hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.” Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac

Once, millions of bison and elk roamed the West, watched by two million gray wolves, who kept the world in balance. When the gray wolf, apex predator of the West, was replaced by another – man with his rifle – he nearly joined the ranks of extinct species such as the passenger pigeon. Today, there are fewer than 6,000 gray wolves existing in less than 15 percent of their historic range. One critical piece of the range is our great State of Colorado. The last gray wolf was killed in our State in 1945 – the missing link to a wildlife corridor that would sustain the gray wolf population from Canada to Mexico.

Why is the Gray Wolf so Vilified? We have examples where people rallied for the wolf: A feisty Yellowstone alpha female wolf named 06 (who single-handedly took down an elk to feed her puppies because her alpha male was still a playful teen), became a star in a National Geographic documentary (She Wolf) and in a best-selling novel (American Wolf).

OR 4 was the alpha male of the first pack to live in Oregon since 1947. For years, a state biologist tracked him, collared him, counted his pups, weighed him, photographed him, and protected him. OR 4 fathered over 30 puppies and survived far beyond a wolf’s life expectancy. The wolf and the biologist grew gray together. But in the end, both 06 and OR 4 were targeted and felled by man.

The gray wolf has faced misconceptions and long harbored fears since man came to his home. Some say wolves will devastate big game. The wolf is not a wanton killer. Life for him is a constant struggle to survive. 80 percent or more of hunting attempts end unsuccessfully and with great injury to the wolf. Wolves target sick and elderly prey, thus helping to maintain a healthier game population. Declines in elk, deer and moose numbers are as likely due to drought, over-grazing, and takes by other predators such as grizzlies, black bears, cougars, and coyotes. The viability of big Bring the Gray Wolf Home: The Time is Now

Rose Pray, Colorado Sierra Club Wolf Team Member Peak & Prairie, July 2019 2

game herds outside of Yellowstone is close to a 25-year high, with wolves fully restored. Recent documentation of increasing biodiversity has been attributed to the return of the wolf, an apex species, which has helped to restore the balance between prey and habitat.

Some say that wolves will destroy the cattle industry. In fact, more cattle die from digestive ailments, respiratory and metabolic problems, weather, poaching, accidents and coyotes than by wolf predation. Only 0.06 percent of total cattle deaths in the Northern Rockies (2010) were attributable to wolves. Most states handsomely compensate ranchers who lose livestock to wolves.

Are wolves a threat to humans and pets? Since the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park (YNP) in 1995, not one of the over one hundred million visitors to YNP from 1995 to 2018, and 2.7 million tent campers in developed campgrounds or in the backcountry has been injured by a wolf. There is no known transmission of hydatid disease from a wolf to a human. Wolves are very shy around humans and their pets. The dogs killed by wolves have been hounds which were pursuing prey in wolf territory, seen by the wolves as competitors and interlopers.

Perhaps the Gray Wolf will come back to Colorado on his own. Wolf sightings have been few and far between. The few lone wolves which had successfully migrated to Summit County, for example, over the last ten years were either run over, or mistaken for coyotes and shot. A lone wolf cannot raise a family and establish a pack. We have a chance to bring the Gray Wolf home to Colorado. For the first time, Coloradans – not politicians, not bureaucrats – We, The People, may decide whether to reintroduce gray wolves to Colorado. We will only have this choice, though, if we can get the gray wolf on the 2020 ballot. State officials recently approved our ballot proposal, Initiative 107, that if passed would: ? Direct the State of Colorado to restore gray wolves to public lands west of the Continental Divide ? Require our Colorado Parks and Wildlife to implement a science-based wolf restoration plan ? Fairly compensate livestock owners for livestock losses caused by wolves We need to gather 200,000 signatures by mid-December to put the gray wolf on the 2020 ballot.

Bring the Gray Wolf Home: The Time is Now Rose Pray, Colorado Sierra Club Wolf Team Member Peak & Prairie, July 2019 3

Give Colorado voters a chance to weigh in. Give them a chance to review the history and science of the Gray Wolf and do the right thing. Please, help restore Colorado’s balance by helping to restore gray wolves to Colorado. You can help by volunteering to collect petition signatures or by donating to our Gray Wolf

Restoration Fund. Volunteer to collect signatures to get the wolf on the 2020 ballot. We’ll be offering training – in person and online – to form a team gathering signatures from friends, families and communities around the state. Once you sign up, we’ll contact you with the next steps to get started. Or, if you’d prefer to make a donation, the Sierra Club Foundation has established a taxdeductible way for you to help wolves return to Colorado. Your charitable donation to the Colorado Gray Wolf Restoration Fund will support the Colorado Sierra Club's wolf education and outreach efforts. Help us return the call of the wild. Join the Sierra Club and many other wildlife organizations to bring the gray wolf home to Colorado. “A mountain with a wolf on it stands a little taller.” Edward Hoagland, Red Wolves and Black Bears Sign Up to Volunteer Make a Donation

Thanks for the correction, Paul

"I have spent my whole life nurtured by a love of animals – from my childhood dog Toby to my wife's and my dog Teddy who now serves as big brother to our daughter, animals have always been a source of comfort and peace for me and have been cherished members of my family.

Starting from the very first day I arrived in Congress, it has been my honor to stand-up for animals - from the pets that are treasured members of our families to the wildlife that roams the world - just as they have always been there for me.

Fighting against the delisting of gray wolves With just a few thousand left in the world, Gray Wolves need to remain protected While Colorado is part of the Gray Wolf’s native range, they were erased from the state by the 1940s. Over many years, the dedicated work of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and animal rights groups has helped restore Gray Wolves to Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona, and more and more of them are coming into Colorado and the Rockies during their natural migrations. It was this work that brought wolves back from the brink of extinction, and it will be the continuation of this work that fosters the wolves survival long into the future. The Administration has actively worked to delist Gray Wolves from these protections, which is why I authored a letter, along with my colleague Congresswoman Diana DeGette, to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service insisting on a longer public comment period and a public hearing in Denver on the decision to delist these wolves. And the people responded! As of July 15 over 1.8 million comments have been submitted in opposition to the delisting, which is one of the highest comment totals ever for a federal decision involving endangered species. I joined in those comments by signing a letter to the agency explaining the hazards of the potential decision to delist and stating my strong opposition to that decision. Wolves deserve and necessitate champions in each of us, and I’m proud to join in such strong advocacy. Each and every day that I have the honor of serving this community, I will continue this work." There was also some blurb about expanding Grizzly protections.

I live in Loveland. Dems and the gerrymandering put us in with Boulder. First we had Polis, then this guy. My vote no longer matters, while life ain't fair, it sure can piss a guy off.

I have yet to see or hear from them, what does that mean, using wolves to "restore the critical balance of nature"?-- in this day and year, 2019. in Colorado. The huge issue I see is that to the uneducated person about wolves in the Colorado landscape, is that this all sounds so cool, so good, so wonderfully emotional, so green, so good for the environment, and by supporting this introduction, they are doing something good and wonderful. It is all about WANT and not NEED.

I visited a Flat Top Wilderness lodge this week where I was elk scouting. At the lodge while having lunch, I asked the question to two people, would you support the Initiative 107, wolf introduction. Both said YES! After a lengthy conservation, one still said yes, and other stated, "I can see your points", but then, when it comes down to a vote, I bet she will vote yes.

There is no doubt that Ballot Initiative 107 will get all of the support it needs and will be on the Ballot for Colorado Voters to approve or not.

It will be interesting to see if the Pro Wolfers sue the USFWS next March over delisting the wolf nation wide. If so and likely, this issue could be hung up in the courts for a year or so. Then, even if Initiative 107 is approved by Colorado voters, and if the USFWS still has control over the listed/ protected status of the wolf in Colorado as they do now, hard to tell what the future might hold. Will the USFWS, if the wolf remains protected in Colorado, demand that Colorado develop a PLAN for the wolf like they did in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho? Unlikely but then who really knows.

One thing is for sure, the Pro Wolfers will never stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BTW, Del McCoury and Rhonda Vincent were awesome!

@glutnwork...

fair point. However hunting is still allowed their(as well as fishing). Yearly they cull the bison herd with help of the native americans.

And @ grasshoper....

I dont see an account of 1 animal attack is really relevant? Did you know that yellowstone used to average near 40 bear attacks a year. Back when you used to be able to feed them. Now they average only about 1 a year. Mainly due to the fact that bears aren't purposely fed anymore, and the fact that they now have more carcass to scavenge thanks to the wolves. It's fairly well known that wolves are hard to see even at a half mile. Attacks on humans are beyond rare

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunting

guess what, the native americans didn't only hunt from sun up to sundown between september 1st and september 30th lol

@treeline... great rebuttal

all I did was state an interesting factoid that I learned during a trip to wyoming about wolves in that particular ecosystem. Not one person has stated anything substantial of fact on the matter.

Look at the long history of wildlife mismanagement that had occurred under the US Parks Administration - fire suppression, anti-anthropogenic hunting, extirpated predators (including humans) followed by a quantum shift to excessive predation with introduced non-native alpha predators.

Beautiful.

Yellowstone and the rest of the US Parks system is the poster child for how to take a special place and totally screw it up by experimenting with nature.

Humans are a part of the ecosystem. The Parks system does not recognize that fact and is significantly flawed due to that oversight. Ignoring the lessons learned from sustainable wildlife management, NPS is doomed to continued boom and bust wildlife population cycles in any of the areas under their control.

Those boom and bust cycles are extreme and, with inclusion of humans and controlled harvest to the equation, can be leveled out for long term sustainability.

Humans have the ability to provide for long term sustainable production and use of those big game animals.

Wolves do not have that capacity and will eat themselves to death, causing significant big game population swings over time.

very true for a lot of that. The fire bit was a huge thing at yellowstone. Now they more or less allow fires/do prescribed burns.

As far as boom and bust cycles in regards to wolves in yellowstone. It's true they did just drop a bunch of apex predators in. The wolf population boomed, and the elk population plummeted. This(as explained by many a ranger) was due to the simple fact that the elk had lived so many generations predator free. And then one day, boom, wolves. Since then however the elk population has climbed back up and is level. And they said the wolf population hovers around 70-80 wolves naturally... that they do not add to or remove any wolves/dont manage the population.

As far as humans being able to "use and manage those animals". Yes and no, I'd say a natural balance of wolves and prey will always balance itself better than humans and prey could, especially when the ecosystem is essentially 100% natural little human interference as is the case for Yellowstone. And since humans 99.9% of the time can't hunt in a national park(a good thing IMO) a predator to control the population is needed. Especially when that predator had been there for a millennia already.

I have no idea what Isle royale is/what your reference is in regards to...? I just googled it, a relatively small island that was made a national park in 1940.

edit... ah found some stuff.

https://www.minnpost.com/environment/2018/10/restocking-wolves-on-isle-royale-raises-questions-about-which-species-get-rescued/

an interesting one, since it sounds like the first wolves did get their naturally, yet also died naturally. However without a predator on the island it sounds like it's getting destroyed by moose. However if that's the natural course, than the island will adjust. So in this case reintroducing a wolf species that happened to barely get to the island in 1949, and was naturally wiped out isn't a good thing... or the same comparison to the wolves of yellowstone.

Perhaps this is another example like in yellowstone where man should do nothing.(like not removing the existing wolves in the first place)

The pro wolfers claim that "once established here in Colorado, the wolf will bring back a "critical balance in nature". What critical balance in nature? I do not see Colorado's big game species, in a critical unbalance.. Personally, I have yet to hear what that means here in Colorado. I am insulted as a hunter, a conservationist, and a supporter of the CPW and the North American Conservation Model as we have spent millions of dollars in user fees to support scientific game management here in Colorado. The general public does not spent a dime for game management and the general public that might vote yes for the introduction of the wolf do not have a clue about game management. To them is is all about emotion and getting a false narrative from the prowolfers. The uneducated public believe they are doing their part for the Planet, or for the Green Movement, or for Global Warming, etc,. The DOW, now the CPW, has spent millions of man hours and million of dollars for the past 110 years, to establish the ten big game species we have now, to maintain the BALANCE OF NATURE, here in Colorado. We have some of the most robust big game species populations on the Planet and they are all managed through science base studies and population control using hunters and hunter dollars.

The prowolfers state, "the wolf was eradicated from Colorado by the early 1940. That may be true but the population of Colorado at that time was less that 1.2 million people. Today, Colorado's population is closing in on 6,000,000 and in the next 20 years, Colorado's population is estimated to be 10,000,000. Compare this with Montana's current population of 1.5 million and Wyoming, 666,000. The point here is, CHANGE, change in Colorado's population and population density across the state. Hardly room for man or beast. Room for a new Apex predator, the gray wolf? NOT!

The prowolfer state, the wolf will only be released on Public Land and if on private land no regulations will be developed to discriminate. Another false narrative for sure.

The prowolfer state, the wolf will only be released west of the Divide. That may be true but does the wolf know where the Divide is. Another false narrative for sure.

The prowolfer state that a fund will be established to pay for domestic animal wolf kills. Sure, user fees, ie, hunt and fisherman license fees, (game cash that would have been use to scientific study other big game species, law enforcement, infra structure, etc.

At one of the Commission meeting where the prowolfers were protesting, a rancher testified that his cattle, his horses, his sheep, his etc, were not just dumb animals but part of the family to be carried and looked after and he was insulted that if a wolf killed one of his animals, he would have to prove it was a wolf kill, and then he might be paid that the animal was worth, an animal he had cared for. ie, just another dumb animal according to the prowolfers.

THERE IS NO NEED FOR THE FORCED INTRODUCTION OF THE GRAY WOLF TO COLORADO. There is no doubt the WANT comes for a few prowolfer organizations and about what they think is best for Colorado. Ballot Initiatives are not the way to manage Colorado's wildlife. Too bad we are being dealt that hand.

WANT and NEED, there is a BIG difference. my best, Paul

and as far the yellowstone wolves, and the "disney video" it's hard to refute the correlations between wolves disappearing, the subsequent negative changes, and then the return of the wolves and the subsequent reversal of nearly all those negative changes. That's not "smoke and mirrors" from some video. That's decades of environmental science and field observations and studies that have correlated just that.

And I never said in this thread there was room for wolves in colorado, I agree to an extent that it's difficult to turn back time like you say(for colorado)... and we aren't yellowstone with 2 million plus continuous acres of pure wilderness for wolves to roam.

"As far as humans being able to "use and manage those animals". Yes and no, I'd say a natural balance of wolves and prey will always balance itself better than humans and prey could, especially when the ecosystem is essentially 100% natural little human interference as is the case for Yellowstone."

And I suggested you look at Isle Royale. That island has never been "in balance". Either the moose are starving out, or the wolves are starving out. How is that balance?