Colorado Parks and Wildlife has reached an agreement to capture up to 15 more gray wolves for its reintroduction efforts in the state.

The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington will provide up to 15 wolves from tribal lands between December 2024 and March 2025.

As part of an agreement between the states of Colorado and Oregon, 10 wolves already have been relocated from Oregon to Colorado.

“We are grateful to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for working with our agency on this critical next step in reintroducing gray wolves in the state,” said Jeff Davis, director of CPW.

“This agreement helps CPW to continue to meet our unanimously adopted Colorado wolf restoration and management plan goal of translocating 10 to 15 gray wolves per capture season for a total of 30 to 50 wolves,” Davis said.

Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, said the Colville Tribe was pleased to partner with CPW to restore wolf populations in Colorado.

“The Colville people strongly believe in preserving our environment, including its fish and animals,” Erickson said. “We are thrilled that our restoration efforts on our own lands have progressed far enough that we can share some of these magnificent creatures with the citizens of Colorado.”

Tribal representatives will provide guidance to CPW on target packs, avoiding packs with known active chronic depredation behavior.

In December, CPW released 10 gray wolves onto public lands in Summit and Grand counties. CPW won’t capture and release more wolves in the current capture season which runs until mid-March. The next releases won’t occur until the December 2024 to March 2025 capture season.

Although the agency could release up to five more wolves this capture season according to its wolf restoration and management plan, Davis said the additional time will allow the agency to assess the releases in December and let CPW staff adjust to any increased workload of having wolves on the ground in Colorado as well as allow time for the additional resources for CPW and the Colorado Department of Agriculture to support ranchers.

“After an incredibly successful first release of wolves from Oregon last month, our focus will be on refining our internal processes, continuing the work we’re already doing to bolster our staff expertise and honing our notification structure so the public is well informed regarding release efforts, while also balancing the need for the safety and security of staff and gray wolves,” Davis said.

For more information about wolf reintroduction efforts, visit the Colorado Parks and Wildlife stay informed page at https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/Wolves-Stay-Informed.aspx.