Adopt A Wildlife Acre

As we described in a past report, NWF expanded its Adopt a Wildlife Acre Programs to support the reintroduction of wolves into Colorado thanks to the passage of Proposition 114 in November of 2020. Since that time we have been busy on a number of fronts to ensure that Colorado winds up with a robust and healthy population of wolves. For background, Proposition 114 mandated that the state of Colorado release the first group of wolves by December of 2023, which the agency successfully accomplished by releasing 10 wolves captured in Oregon. A second group of 15 wolves, these from British Columbia, were released in January of 2025. By most accounts, these first years have been successful, but not without some problems along the way. On the positive side, there are now four recognized wolf packs and during the last biological year (April-March) there were four litters born in Colorado. In addition, their range substantially expanded. While the wolves spent most of their time in northwest Colorado, data from collared wolves showed their range expand to the south.

Unfortunately, there were also conflicts with livestock resulting in depredations. NWF has long been an organization that looks for pragmatic and lasting solutions to wildlife and livestock conflicts and we are actively implementing a program to do just that in Colorado to: (1) reduce or stop the depredation of livestock by wolves, (2) build relationships and trust with the ranching community, and (3) demonstrate successful practices and partnerships that address ranchers concerns while reducing opposition to the presence of wolves in rural Colorado. In our view, cattle ranchers present the constituency that is the most impacted by having wolves on the landscape and also the most powerful voice of opposition. Given that, we see our efforts to minimize the rate of cattle depredated by wolves to be the most effective strategy in terms of addressing ranchers concerns and hopefully in minimizing their opposition.  In such a polarized political climate, we view this as a critical contribution to the goal of building a sustainable and healthy population of wolves in Colorado. 

As a result of our work to date, NWF has been called out as an important NGO partner by the Colorado Department of Agriculture as well as Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Our great success has been to convene ranchers in areas with wolves in a series of workshops and clinics that provide education and techniques for how to manage cattle in ways that make them less vulnerable to wolf depredation.  Our clinics advance practices and approaches that are sustainable over the long term vs. conventional coexistence approaches based on scare tactics and tools that don’t solve the underlying cause of conflict and are not practical on the open range. By highlighting the co-benefits of stockmanship beyond preventing wolf-livestock conflict, we are more quickly and easily able to gain rancher interest and buy-in, which is key to our success.  Each of the clinics and workshops are conducted in large part, by knowledgeable ranchers, who have extensive experience handling conflict and teaching stockmanship, and will host approximately 20 ranchers/ranch operations and wildlife agency personnel. 

As word of this work spreads throughout the ranching community, many ranching operations are reaching out for our assistance. At the request of Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Agriculture, NWF conducted six more stockmanship/wolf coexistence clinics to provide education and training to ranchers in areas that either already have or will likely have wolves in the near future, and additional clinics are planned as well. We are also being responsive to emerging needs and saw an opportunity to provide for relationship building and understanding across groups, and in partnership with Colorado Parks and Wildlife we hosted two community meetings in order to explore the realities of wolves and livestock on the landscape, provide an opportunity to hear directly from a Colorado ranch family, and discover a better way forward for wolves, livestock, and people. Both events were very well attended and supported important bridge-building that is a key part of long term support and success.

This is a critical time to lay a positive foundation for the future of wolves by building relationships with ranching communities and cultivating support for solutions that proactively reduce conflict with wolf populations that will continue to grow. All financial support will fund our coexistence efforts to ensure wolves' long-term survival by providing essential funds to cover travel, lodging, meals, supplies, and clinician time to host these workshops. Together, we can lead the way in creating a new legacy in the West—one that promotes a brighter future for wolves, ranchers, and the lands they call home.