he Colorado Parks and Wildlife board of commissioners Wednesday approved a final plan to restore wolves in Colorado. 

Concluding two years of work — and hundreds of hours of meetings across the state — the commissioners unanimously approved a 301-page plan to begin restoring wolves, as mandated by voters in November 2020. 

Commissioner Dallas May said it was “morally imperative” for the commissioners to approve the plan and hand it off to CPW wildlife managers on schedule. The agency is on track to begin introducing wolves on the Western Slope by year’s end – per the voter mandate in November 2020 – even though there are many challenges ahead that threaten to derail that schedule.

“We now have the opportunity to place this in the hands of people who are absolutely the best team that can be assembled to enact it,” May said. “Is it a perfect plan? Probably not. It is an assemblage of give-and-take, of trying to find the middle of the road. There will be many things that we did not anticipate.

“This is where the CPW team of dedicated professionals will begin their difficult and arduous task to fulfill their mission,” May said. “It is not our job to micromanage their work. Our job is to give them this plan and let them do what they do best.”

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