Colorado Parks and Wildlife releases potential counties for gray wolf release

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - On Wednesday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife listed three counties where they are considering to re-release the gray wolves.

CPW said they were considering Pitkin County, Eagle County and Garfield County.

CPW officials said they were assessing counties based on criteria based on the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan alongside feedback from community members and local elected officials.

The gray wolves were originally reintroduced into Colorado in Dec. 2023, but they began an operation in August to capture those wolves after concerns about wolf-livestock conflicts.

CPW said they did consider Rio Blanco County but ultimately decided to remove the county from the list after concerns of livestock, impact to elk and deer herds, risk of conflict and limited state-owned sites.