Gov. Jared Polis is facing backlash after saying at Colorado’s winter conference that ranchers are responsible for the cost of this year’s wolf reintroduction program.
The topic of wolves at the Colorado county meeting arose in response to Polis’ comments about the increasingly tight state budget. The association represents 63 of the state’s 64 counties.
State economists estimate the state budget will be short by about $1 billion in 2025-26 due to lower inflation and the end of billions of dollars in temporary federal funding due to the pandemic. .
“I bit my tongue and tried to sit up straight, but I just couldn’t,” Grand County Mayor Merritt Rinke began.
He said the questions from the audience were all about funding for roads, schools, child welfare, etc., but he said the state spent $5 million to buy 10 Oregon wolves, and only seven remain today. said that only. The province plans to bring in 10 or 15 more machines from Canada, but Linke questioned whether it would be cost-effective.
“Why couldn’t you just stop and think about what would be the most cost-effective way to do it before you do it? What I want to ask is, why can’t you just stop and think about what is the most cost-effective way to do it?” ”, there was a big round of applause from the audience.
A coalition of 26 agriculture-based organizations, including a county association, is asking the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission for a rulemaking hearing to suspend the next round of wolf reintroductions, and asking the Canadian government to do the same. Sent a request. Predators are expected. The Colorado Conservation Alliance also made that request last week.
“It’s the law,” Polis replied.
Livestock producers previously argued that Prop. 114, which was narrowly adopted in 2020, only requires states to reintroduce wolves by the end of 2023, which they have already accomplished, and they do not require anything more. He pointed out that he had not done so. Additional wolves are associated with the state’s wolf management plan adopted by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission.
“Wolf restoration will be successful,” Polis told the audience. “Until the law changes, that’s what we have to do and we’re going to do it.”
He added: “Once the law is in place, it’s just a matter of getting on board and making it successful.”
He said costs would have been lower if ranchers hadn’t said, “Don’t buy from Wyoming, don’t buy from Idaho.”
“We could probably do it for a quarter of the cost,” Polis said.
He added that if ranchers such as Grand County’s Middle Park Ranchers had wanted wolves in Wyoming, the state likely would have given them to Colorado.
The governor’s office said Wednesday through a spokesperson that the Polis administration is “committed to successfully implementing the will of Colorado’s voters while supporting our agriculture industry.”
The statement highlighted Polis’ efforts to expand agricultural exports, the new bipartisan agricultural tax credit law, the National Right to Repair Act, and President-elect Trump’s proposed tariffs that he called “damaging.” pointed out the opposite. our economy and agricultural sector. ” Polis called on lawmakers to join them in speaking out against his plan, saying it would increase costs.
Regarding his claim that ranchers drove up the cost of the wolf program, the governor’s office said: “In reality, the state initially sought to source wolves from Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, but these common-sense requests were denied after special interests and lobbying efforts.” It also includes political games played by organizations. ”
“As a result, CPW has procured wolves from Oregon to continue Colorado’s voter-approved wolf introduction plan,” the governor’s office said.
The statement also said that the Colorado Department of Agriculture and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department are providing “grant funding, site assessments, conflict specialist efforts, ranch rider efforts, carcass management, and depredation response,” and that the governor is “funding the ranch.” I am proud of the work CDA and CPW are doing to implement the will of the voters in a way that addresses the Lord’s concerns.”
Local Republicans in the state House and Senate on Tuesday accused Polis of blaming ranchers for the program’s costs.
“The governor’s comments about Colorado’s counties shift the blame for mismanagement and misrepresentation of costs onto hard-working ranchers, whose lives are already affected by these challenges,” eight rural Republicans said in a statement. “Policies are putting us at risk.”
The statement by Trinidad Polis Assistant Minority Leader Ty Winter “demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of the challenges facing ranchers. Colorado’s ranchers are essential to our communities and economy. Rather than denigrating ranchers, the governor should address the increasing costs of the programs he has supported, even as the burden on taxpayers increases. ”
Last year, virtually all Western wolf states refused to send additional wolves to Colorado, prompting the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department to cull wolves due to their impact on caribou herds. We lobbied the province of British Columbia, which is currently in the That comes at a price. The increase in chronic wasting disease in game animals can be dangerous for people who consume game animals.
Delta Air Lines Rep. Matt Soper added that the Wolf initiative was advanced with misleading cost estimates and “subsequently ballooned into a multi-million dollar program.”
“Ranchers are already enduring the threat of livestock loss and harassment, yet remain committed to feeding Colorado. It is shameful that they are being made political scapegoats.” said Soper.
Sen.-elect Mark Catlin of Montrose said ranchers have repeatedly raised concerns about the program, but CPW leadership has dismissed those concerns.
“To suggest that ranchers are to blame for the state’s budget shortfalls ignores their sacrifices and contributions to the state,” he said.
The Polis administration has ignored the agricultural industry, and wolf reintroduction is “one place where concerns have fallen on deaf ears,” added Sen. Cleve Simpson of Alamosa. “Police must stop this blame game and work with ranchers to find responsible and cost-effective solutions.”
Sen. Rod Pelton, R-Cheyenne Wells, said the governor should focus on addressing urban-rural disparities and working with ranchers to find real solutions, rather than pointing fingers. said.
State Sen. Byron Pelton of Sterling added that the governor has not taken responsibility for his failures, “so I’m not surprised that he’s unfortunately blaming the state’s ranchers.” The lawmaker called for working with ranchers to ease the burden he said the governor’s policies are placing on the state’s agricultural industry.
Polis has long been accused of being unfriendly to the agricultural industry.
One source of controversy is that his agriculture commissioner, Kate Greenberg, had virtually no experience in production farming before her appointment, breaking a tradition that goes back at least 40 years. Sources told Colorado Politics that most of the agricultural community has never warmed to Greenberg.
In 2019, he encouraged Greenberg’s Department of Agriculture, which is responsible for marketing beef, the state’s largest agricultural export, to support meat-free options like the Impossible Burger. He told Colorado Politics at the time that his goal was not to destroy the livestock industry, but to encourage farmers and communities to look to the future. At the time, the Impossible Burger was made primarily from soybeans, which were not grown in Colorado.
The wolf reintroduction program and the way it is implemented has sparked outrage from the agricultural industry and a breakdown in relationships between private landowners and the state wildlife agencies that rely on those lands for conservation, hunting, fishing access, and access. It led to other programs.
A wolf released last December has killed dozens of livestock and working dogs this year in Grand, Jackson and Routt counties, according to ranchers dealing with the predators. The state’s response through parks and wildlife officials was said to have been slow. A year after the initial reintroduction, the Wildlife Service and the Department of Agriculture announced a program to reduce conflicts.
