As the debate over wildlife management rages on, gray wolves are making tracks quite literally across Colorado. The state's Parks and Wildlife Department has a fresh edition of its Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map, which this time shows a lone wolf venturing into southeast Colorado. Coloradans with a penchant for wildlife movement can eyeball these maps updated every month, providing the latest in lupine whereabouts., according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
The specificity of these maps is precise, to light up an area on the map, a wolf, wearing a GPS collar, must have checked in within that watershed within the last thirty days. Moving a few paw prints outside the lines, it's worth noting that just because the map lights up like a pinball machine in a certain area, doesn't mean that wolves are throwing a rave there or even still hanging out.
On January 19, the CPW wrapped up its second season of capture-and-release, a sort of wolf relocation program to bolster the population as stipulated by the Colorado Gray Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. The updated map includes these newbies from British Columbia, as well as data from the pioneers of the Copper Creek pack.
Anticipating new wolf packs could mean new headaches for local livestock producers, CPW hasn't just been sitting around howling at the moon; they've beefed up their Conflict Minimization program. This program swings into action faster than you can say "Big Bad Wolf" with non-lethal measures aimed at preventing future livestock-wolf mixers from escalating.
In service of prevention, CPW released a Wolf-Livestock Conflict Minimization Program Guide in early January. A manual to help keep the peace, it's a directory of methods and tools available to livestock producers, designed with input from various state and federal bodies, including everyone's favorite, nongovernmental organizations.
