Joint Budget Committee considers delaying wolf reintroduction in Colorado to save money
Dec 3, 2024
Photo credit: Andyworks (iStock)
With a $1 billion hole in the 2025-26 state budget to fill, which includes tapping the state reserve below its required statutory levels, budget writers are looking for every coin in the couch cushions.
According to the Joint Budget Committee staff, one option is to delay introducing wolves on the Western Slope in 2025-26, which could save about $2.1 million in general fund dollars.
The analysis noted that in 2023-24, the second most significant increase in general funds for the Department of Natural Resources, which houses the Colorado Parks and Wildlife division, was for more funding to assist with wolf reintroduction.
The analysis also suggested that the committee look at a 50% cut in the compensation paid to ranchers who lose livestock to wolves, from $350,000 to $175,000, as well as in general fund dollars. It noted the agency didn't spend the full amount of the appropriation in the last fiscal year.
The analysis noted the agency didn't spend all the money it was appropriated for the reintroduction program in both 2022-23 and 2023-24, underspending by $528,000 in the past fiscal year. Within its 2024-25 appropriation, CPW has already spent almost $600,000 of its $2.1 million in annual funding for the wolf program.
Kelly Shenn, the JBC analyst, told the committee she would recommend that the wolf depredation fund be tapped only for one year, a change that would require legislation.
That drew pushback from Rep. Rick Taggart, R-Grand Junction, who didn't like the idea of cutting the fund when plans were made in early 2025 to release more wolves on the Western Slope in counties with a lot of livestock.
"Could we cut the reintroduction funding?" asked JBC Chair Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, somewhat half-seriously.
Shenn launched into discussing just that, noting the program has reverted some of its funding in the past three years. However, the program's newness means it has only three full years of expenditures to analyze. That includes start-up years, which may not reflect ongoing spending, she explained.
But it was JBC Vice-Chair Rep. Shannon Bird, D-Westminster, who took the discussion to its next step: "Would an option be to pause the program and save the $2 million?"
That drew Bridges to suggest they discuss it with the department in a hearing scheduled for Dec. 11.
Gov. Jared Polis has recommended an overall budget reduction of almost $10 million for the Department of Natural Resources, which is about 22% of the agency's general fund appropriations.
Meanwhile, the effort around bringing wolves to Colorado from British Columbia continues to result in pitched battles between those who support wolves and those who want to protect livestock from the apex predators that have killed more than two dozen livestock and working cattle dogs in three counties since April.
Last week, a coalition of livestock organizations pleaded with the Canadian government to halt its plans to send wolves from British Columbia to Colorado. CPW turned to the Canadian government for more wolves after being turned down by multiple states and one Native American tribe.
Livestock groups plead with Canadian government to halt wolf relocation to Colorado
A news release Tuesday from Defenders of Wildlife and partners said, "Livestock industry pressure has driven multiple states and tribes to refuse participation in sourcing wolves, leaving British Columbia as one of the few remaining viable partners." That coalition pleaded with the British Columbia government to "stand firm against pressures."
Rob Edward, president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Project, said, "Efforts to undermine this agreement are nothing short of an attempt to sabotage Colorado’s democratically mandated reintroduction program. British Columbia’s wolves are uniquely suited to help establish a thriving population in Colorado, as they once did in Yellowstone National Park and Idaho. We must not allow special interests to derail this shared conservation success story.”
British Columbia has embarked on a program to kill wolves, more than 2,200 since 2015, because of concerns the predators are decimating caribou herds. That's part of the reason the government is willing to send wolves to Colorado.
However, an analysis last month said that wolf culling could lead to more cases of chronic wasting disease, not only in caribou but also in other ungulates such as deer, goats, and sheep, and it could spread to people through consumption of those animals.
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