Editor鈥檚 note: KUNC news has teamed up with to report a two-part series on this month鈥檚 reintroduction of gray wolves in Colorado. Part one from OPB explored why Oregon is donating 10 of its wolves to Colorado and the mixed feelings about it. KUNC picks up the story in northern Colorado, where ranchers and environmentalists have been preparing for years for release day.
If any of the wolves released on Colorado鈥檚 Western Slope ever make it to the sprawling hills near the Stanko ranch in northwest Colorado, the family hopes the predators won鈥檛 want to go near Samson. The 11-week old Turkish Boz Shepherd didn鈥檛 look menacing on a cold day last month when he playfully pawed at a bone his sibling was chewing near the livestock pens. But each week, Samson is putting on pounds, developing a deeper bark and bonding with the dozens of pigs, cows and hens he鈥檚 being raised to protect from the new wolf packs.
He鈥檚 also spending more time just staring out into the hills surrounding this ranch, which is home to more than a hundred bird species and a cattle operation the Stanko family has run for more than a century.
Even Samson鈥檚 ears were cropped to prevent a predator like a wolf from grabbing onto him during a skirmish.
鈥淗e's pretty fearless, which is kind of a surprise for a puppy,鈥� Jan Stanko said of the dog she鈥檚 been training for guard duty. 鈥淭hat could be a good thing, or a bad thing.鈥�
Like hundreds of other ranchers in Colorado, the Stanko family is anxious about wolf packs being airlifted back to this state, where they were eradicated by the 1940s.
The Stankos 2,000 acre cattle ranch is in Routt County. Upscale restaurants in nearby Steamboat Springs serve locally-raised beef, and 60% of the county鈥檚 voters opposed the 2020 ballot question to reintroduce wolves.
Three years and dozens of contentious public hearings later, the first five wolves from Oregon were released Monday in neighboring Grand County.
"Just watching the animal leave the crate and run up the hillside, I think anybody that was there that had a chance to see it, it's a pretty majestic thing," Colorado Parks and Wildlife Species Conservation Manager Eric Odell told KUNC hours after the release. "It's a pretty, pretty awesome thing to see."
Up to ten more wolves could be released on the Western Slope in the coming weeks.
Some ranchers have been fighting the upcoming wolf releases at the statehouse, and as recently as last week, in a federal courtroom. Jo Stanko, Jan鈥檚 mother in law, said the family took a different path.
She said they quickly accepted the outcome and started preparing for this weeks release, even before voters cast the final votes to approve the reintroduction of wolves in 2020. That鈥檚 why four years ago, they went dog shopping. Now they have three big dogs raised specifically to deter wolves.
鈥淚f there's enough of you dogs, the wolves will be like, let's just skip this property,鈥� Jan Stanko said as she gave Samson a pep talk last month. 鈥淵ou guys will protect the sheep and the birds and the calves and the pigs.鈥�
Jo Stanko said having any cattle attacked by wolves would feel like losing the lottery. She thinks often of the worst case scenario: finding one of their animals still alive, but suffering, after a wolf attack.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 emotional, because not being able to support your family and not being able to take care of your livestock kind of gives you a feeling of being unsuccessful, and that鈥檚 hard,鈥� she said.
But Jo Stanko said they鈥檙e also approaching the situation with some levity.
鈥淵ou can either laugh or cry,鈥� she said. 鈥淪ometimes we wonder, jokingly: Will Maverick, our biggest guard dog, even recognize a wolf? How is he going to know it's a wolf and, you know, not a coyote or those kinds of things?鈥�
Just another predator
To the south of the Stanko ranch, people living within the designated wolf drop zones have other concerns.
Lisa Langer, the tourism director in Glenwood Springs, said people living in her resort town are more leery of wolves than excited about their arrival.
鈥淭his is just another predator now, so another thing to watch out for with children and small animals,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e just have to be cautious.鈥�
showed a significant number of state residents believed the addition of wolves would 鈥渆nhance tourism opportunities鈥� in the state. Shops in Glenwood Springs and other tourist towns regularly sell shirts and apparel adorned with bears, moose and other wildlife. Could wolves become a new form of marketing for the town?
Langer isn鈥檛 convinced.
鈥淣o, I don't think the wolf introduction will be a boon to tourism,鈥� Langer said. 鈥淚 think that it may be a detriment in some ways.鈥�
Langer worries that because wolves are predators, they might even scare away some visitors from the hiking trails near Glenwood Springs, just as mountain lions do.And while other areas, including Yellowstone National Park, have developed a dedicated group of wolf watchers, Langer said it will be different in Colorado.
鈥淭hose situations in a national park are isolated to a national park,鈥� Langer said. 鈥淲e're talking about communities in Colorado with a lot of public lands surrounding us. However, we don't know where those wolf packs are going to be.鈥�
The state鈥檚 tourism office also doesn鈥檛 appear to be howling with enthusiasm for the arrival of the wolves, either. Officials declined an interview request from KUNC to talk about what impact they see wolves having on tourism.
Tears of joy
On the other side of Colorado鈥檚 continental divide, Rob Edward isn鈥檛 anxious at all about the incoming wolves. The director of the is overcome with emotion as he talks about how excited he is to witness a reintroduction he鈥檚 been pursuing for more than a quarter century.
Edward sees wolves as a vital part of Colorado鈥檚 landscape. And he predicts that in the coming decades, their return will have a ripple effect. He said elk and deer will become more mobile as they avoid the predator. That means more willow and aspen trees will grow, bringing more songbirds. Even the rivers, he said, will benefit from this chain of events.
鈥淚t's a manifestation of my life's work, and I feel extremely fortunate to have spent my life doing something that culminates in the world being a better place from an ecological perspective,鈥� he said.
Edward is planning to go on a wolf watching trip once he finds out where the wolves are. He predicts the wolves won鈥檛 be making a beeline for city centers after they take their first steps from their cages.
鈥淭hese big dogs are going to be pretty freaked out,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o they're going to try to get away from all the hubbub as quickly as possible. Hopefully they鈥檒l keep tabs on each other and travel together, and ultimately mate. And maybe even by this spring we can have pups on the ground in central Colorado. That鈥檚 huge.鈥�
Adrian Treves, an environmental studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, also said he thinks wolves are poised to improve Colorado鈥檚 landscape. Treves points to studies showing the presence of wolves to invasive plants and
鈥淲e hear a lot about farm animals being lost, and, 鈥極hhh, this is such a terrible cost.鈥� But it鈥檚 less than 1% of farms everywhere it鈥檚 been studied, or less than 1% of the standing livestock, that are ever affected by wolves,鈥� Treves said. 鈥淪o those costs are completely dwarfed by these economic and ecosystem benefits that wolves are generating.鈥�
Fighting to the end
As recently as Friday, it wasn鈥檛 clear if Colorado would be allowed to move ahead with plans to start releasing wolves from Oregon this week. The Colorado Cattlemen鈥檚 Association and the Gunnison County Livestock Growers Association sued Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the federal government to pause the process.
The ranching groups have opposed the reintroduction since it was approved by voters, saying wolves will kill livestock and create stress for ranchers as they spend more of their time guarding against the predators. The lawsuit alleged state wildlife officials should have to do an environmental impact study before proceeding with the wolf release.
鈥淚 think the economic impact to rural communities are not adequately addressed, or even addressed at all,鈥� said the Colorado Cattlemen鈥檚 Association Vice President Erin Karney. 鈥淲hen people in rural communities are attacked and not heard by the government, I think this is our way of saying, 鈥楬ey, we are citizens of Colorado, and we deserve to be heard.鈥欌��
The state has taken several steps to prevent or lessen the financial blow of wolves attacking livestock. to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for equipment and programs designed to prevent wolves from attacking livestock.
Colorado has also created a compensation program that will pay ranchers up to $15,000 for each animal killed by a wolf, including livestock and working dogs. This is double the amount the state originally proposed to spend and is designed to cover the 鈥渇air market value鈥� of an animal.
The state also held dozens of public hearings and convened a working group of biologists, ranchers, hunters, outfitters and conservationists to create a wolf management plan.
A federal judge on Friday denied the ranching groups鈥� request to pause the reintroduction. The judge said because voters mandated it through a ballot measure, according to reporting from the Associated Press.
Making allies
Back on the Stanko Ranch in Routt County, Jo Stanko was ready for this week's release.
鈥淟et鈥檚 get it over with,鈥� she said last week as uncertainty swirled amid the federal lawsuit around reintroduction. 鈥淟et鈥檚 recognize how hard everybody worked and let鈥檚 get it over with.鈥�
She praised Colorado Parks and Wildlife for how the agency has managed the reintroduction. And she said the sooner wolves arrive, the sooner there can be a sense of normalcy surrounding life with wolves in the state.
Jo Stanko isn鈥檛 your average rancher, though. Not only does Stanko have a bigger dog pack keeping an eye on the hills around the ranch, she鈥檚 also spent time building relationships with wolf advocacy groups. Last year, she invited three dozen wolf advocates and livestock producers to her ranch so both sides could learn more about each other鈥檚 feelings about the reintroduction process. If wolves do cause problems in the coming weeks, she has wolf biologists on speed dial she can call to find solutions.
鈥淲e're both highly involved in environmental issues, and we want what's best for the environment,鈥� she said of ranchers and wolf reintroduction advocates. 鈥淲e just have had a disagreement on how to do it.鈥�
