Let Colorado Manage Wolves — Not Trump’s USFWS

Colorado voters made history when they passed a ballot measure to restore gray wolves to the state. That decision was clear: bring wolves back, manage them responsibly, and build a future where wildlife and people can coexist.

Now Trump’s U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is trying to muscle into Colorado wolf recovery — and we can’t let that happen without a fight.

According to reporting, USFWS is threatening to take control away from Colorado Parks and Wildlife and insert federal authority into a state-led program. That is a direct attack on Colorado voters, Colorado science, and Colorado’s right to manage its own wildlife.

This is not about “helping” Colorado. It’s about making wolf recovery easier to sabotage.

USFWS Director Brian Nesvik has a long record of hostility toward wolves, and his leadership raises a flashing red warning sign: if Trump’s federal wildlife agency takes over, it could mean more wolves killed — not because it’s necessary, but because powerful ranching interests want it.

Before taking the reins at USFWS, Nesvik built his career in Wyoming — a state infamous for some of the most aggressive anti-wolf policies in the country. Under that “management” model, wolves weren’t treated like wildlife worth conserving — they were treated like a problem to eliminate, with endless pressure to expand lethal control to satisfy livestock interests. That’s the mindset Nesvik would bring  to Colorado: a politics-first approach where ranchers get the final say and wolves pay the ultimate price. Colorado didn’t vote for Wyoming-style wolf policy — and shouldn’t be forced to live with it now.

Colorado’s wolves are just beginning to establish themselves. They deserve a real chance to survive — not a federal takeover that turns recovery into a pipeline for “lethal control,” trapping, and killing whenever ranchers complain.

We know what happens when anti-wolf officials such as Director Nesvik gain power: wolves are treated like pests, not native wildlife. Public lands become killing fields. And a voter-mandated recovery effort becomes meaningless.

Because of this federal interference, Colorado has now been forced to pause wolf reintroductions — halting new releases this winter after USFWS blocked wolves from Canada and insisted they only come from “Northern Rockies” states. Most of those states — including Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana — have flat-out refused to send wolves, leaving Colorado without a source and the voter-mandated recovery plan in limbo. USFWS’s claim that Colorado must import only from those states misreads its own rules and serves as a political roadblock, not a scientific necessity, slowing progress and putting wolves at greater risk.

We’re calling on Trump’s USFWS to stay out of Colorado wolf recovery and stop threatening the state’s authority.

Our message is simple:
Hands off Colorado’s wolves.
Hands off Colorado’s vote.
Hands off Colorado’s wildlife management.

Leave wolf recovery to Colorado Parks and Wildlife — and let wolves live.

Sign the petition to demand that USFWS Director Nesvik and Trump’s USFWS stop interfering in Colorado wolf recovery.

The petition to USFWS reads: Colorado voters made a clear decision to restore gray wolves, and that state-led recovery must be respected — not undermined by federal interference. We demand that USFWS Director Brian Nesvik stop threatening Colorado’s authority and stop paving the way for wolves to be killed to satisfy ranching interests. Hands off Colorado’s wolves — let the state lead and let wolves live.

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Source:

https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/u-s-fish-wildlife-service-colorado-gray-wolf-control/