The most important coalition of hunters, fishermen and state conservation groups have announced today that it would officially oppose initiative # 35, the 2026 proposal which would repeal most of the Wolf reintroduction program.
THE Colorado fauna conservation project Includes 22 different organizations, including Ducks Unlimited, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Coloradans for responder Wildlife Management (which led the opposition to proposal 127 of last year) and Safari Club International, which set a lawsuit this week with Colorado Parks and Wildlife on two CPW commissioners who wrote an element of opinion The support of Prop 127, which led to affirming that the commissioners violated state meetings.
The letter to Patrick Davis, who directs the defenders of Colorado for Wolf Smart’s policy, said they appreciated the open dialogue and the opportunity to provide comments on the initiative proposed in recent months. They said that they share the concerns concerning the 2020 voting measure, proposal 114, which won close approval from voters and was rejected by almost all the counties of the Western slope, including the counties where wolves have been reintroduced and have now shot dozens of livestock and work dogs.
The coalition agreed that new reintroductions of wolves should be suspended until the management policies of the management plan are “fully adopted and operational”.
However, the initiative does not satisfy other concerns, pushing the group to oppose efforts. This specifically refers to the failure of the initiative to “provide significant political protections to landowners and state fauna managers while having a minimus impact on the capacity of the State to fully carry out the proposed reintroduction efforts”.
The group wrote that efforts should improve the management capacity of the CPW wolf, offer breeders protection against depreation and meet continuous management needs.
The group said that the schedule for the measurement of the ballot does not work, as the State will likely reach the desired reintroduction objectives before the November 2026 elections.
The wolf management plan provides that up to 50 wolves are reintroduced, although the voting measure requires only wolves to be reintroduced by December 31, 2023, without specified number. This was accomplished, with 10 Oregon wolves transplanted in Colorado in 2023 to the counties of Grand and Summit and 15 others from British Columbia to the counties of Eagle and Pitkin in January.
The group wrote that the initiative is not for the “gaps” of the wolf management plan, such as the problems concerning the transfer of the management authority of us, Fish & Wildlife, to CPW or the radiation of gray wolves from the list of endangered species pending a federal radiation decision.
The continuation of the initiative n ° 35 will divert “the equity of community perspiration and the limited financial resources to a company which promises a little return on investment at a time when aggressive and proactive political measures which deal with future conditions are necessary,” wrote the group.
Davis told Colorado politics that Smart Wolf Policy sees “the synergy of a multi-actions approach which includes 1) the recommendations of the stakeholders for better management, 2) our voting measure that treads the management cost while adding Flexibility and management authority3) The potential of radiation At the federal level and 4) the recent recommendations of the state legislature. “”
These combined approaches, he wrote. “are important, powerful, reinforced mutually and include a serious strategy for better results. We support all of the above and hope that all stakeholders will also do.”
Patrick Davis
The initiative has another problem: a challenge with the state board of directors.
There are two voting measures: initiative No. 13 has approved its petition and is now officially granted for the signing collections, due on August 27. This initiative simply says that the wolf reintroduction program would end on December 31, 2026.
The other, initiative n ° 35, has been challenged for violating the law of the State requiring the voting initiatives to tackle a single subject.
Steven Ward, represented by lawyer Suzanne Taheri, disputed the measure of the ballot, which has four subjects. Ward stresses that the program will end before voters decide on the measure of the ballot.
The second subject deletes the status of “non-game” of Gray Wolves and places them in the status of fauna, which, according to Ward, would revoke the protections and the declaration requirements contained in the CPW rules. It also prohibits all the reintroduction of the wolf, which Ward wrote to extend the importation of importation beyond the gray wolf.
Ward wrote that this would have an impact on “school ends in captivity, zoological or educational recognized under the current law on colorado”. Another subject concerns breeding animals; The voting measure redefines livestock to include breeding animals, which is outside the main objective of the measure, to end the reintroduction of the wolf.
Ward wrote that the final subject prohibited the import of wolves, not just gray wolves from the outside of the state.
A similar challenge was filed by the residents of the Plata, Clint McKnight and Florence Gaia.
Davis continued to send calls for donations for the initiative and castigated those who contest the voting initiative in an email this week to “help us to stop the special interest (sic) Lawfare” mounted by “Denver Lawyer-Lobbyist”. None of the challengers are lobbyists registered with the Secretary of State, and Davis did not respond to a clarification request.
A first fund collection report is scheduled for next week.