Colorado Moves Forward With Plan To Reintroduce Wolverines Back Into The Wild
Colorado wildlife officials are taking steps to restore one of North America’s most elusive species, the wolverine, which sadly disappeared from the state over a century ago due to trapping, habitat loss, and human expansion.
The Colorado Wolverine Restoration Plan outlines a careful reintroduction into high-elevation wilderness areas where conditions still support their survival. Wolverines depend on cold, remote ecosystems with deep snowpack to store food and raise their young, and Colorado’s mountains provide some of the last suitable habitat in the lower 48 states.
The restoration plan was introduced by Senator Perry Will, a Republican former state legislator and CPW Area Wildlife Manager, who stated:
“Colorado has great unoccupied wolverine habitat, and we have the opportunity to conserve a species that has been missing from our state,” said Will. “Our legislation provides Coloradans with the ability to advance conservation while maintaining the management flexibility required to restore this species in a reasonable and efficient manner.”
The plan is being implemented in four phases. CPW will establish a rule for livestock depredation compensation, which is not expected to be significant given wolverines’ small size and low densities. A proposed rule will be presented at the January Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Denver today. CPW will also create a communications plan to keep stakeholders and county commissioners informed about release locations.
“A planned reintroduction under the management flexibility of a 10(j) rule would bring in about 45 wolverines with a broad genetic background. This will have a far greater chance of establishing a robust long-term population than a single male and female wandering into Colorado, finding each other, and producing enough young to establish a population,” said CPW Wolverine Coordinator Dr. Robert Inman. “Colorado and the wolverine population will be better off with a planned reintroduction.”
The plan calls for translocating up to 15 wolverines per season over three or more seasons, totaling around 45 individuals. CPW estimates Colorado could eventually support roughly 100 wolverines.
“Wolverines naturally exist at very low densities wherever they are found. Fifty to 100 wolverines may not sound like a lot, but that is likely in the same ballpark as the historical capacity here in Colorado,” Inman said. “It would also represent about a quarter of the population in the Lower 48 states. There never were thousands of wolverines in the Lower 48.”
Restoring wolverines is a major step toward conserving the species in its native range and demonstrates Colorado’s commitment to long-term ecosystem health and wildlife restoration.
