Do current Wyoming wolves have chance of making it to Colorado?

Do current Wyoming wolves have chance of making it to Colorado?

9-19-2005

I've become increasingly pessimistic that enough wolves will walk to Colorado that they will begin to restore a Colorado population in any reasonable time. For that reason, I think Colorado citizens should try to by-pass the legislature and governor and put up a ballot initiative setting up a wolf restoration program for Colorado.
However, the latest report from USFWS does give some hope for wolves dispersing south to Utah and Colorado. With luck some will also come to Eastern Idaho, where there are officially no wolf packs, expect for two packs in the Island Park area (this is so close to Montana and Yellowstone, it is only technically eastern Idaho).

USFWS reports "Wyoming Wildlife Services Specialist Jed Edwards investigated a wolf complaint, about 30-40 miles south of Rock Springs [my emphasis]. No damage was suspected. Reportedly, a black wolf was in the corral of a private ranch and, as the wolf was observed leaving the compound, it was joined by 2 gray-colored wolves. They all then headed south. The next morning Jed was able to get a lone wolf to howl to the south of the ranch in the headwaters of Salt Wells Creek, about 20 miles north of the Utah border."

They also reported this, "This week in the Wyoming Range of southwest Wyoming, 3 wolves, 2 blacks and a gray, were spotted by a sheepherder on the Hams Fork near Viva Naughton Reservoir, just north of Kemmerer, WY. This area has had several calves and sheep killed by an unknown group of wolves this summer. WS is authorized to collar and release any they catch and lethally remove any lone wolves seen during other control work in the area.

Hopefully the wolves will escape the noose and keep following the ridges south, successfully crossing I-80. Fortunately, domestic sheep are coming off of the National Forests now for the winter.

Note: actually, Viva Naughton Reservoir is well south of the Wyoming Range. It's in the Commissary Ridge Country.

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