Major General Laura Clellan, the retired military leader currently steering Colorado Parks and Wildlife on an interim basis, is now in line to take the top job permanently.
The Colorado Department of Natural Resources announced Monday that Clellan is the sole finalist to become CPW director. She has been serving as acting director since late November and is slated for a confirmation vote by the Parks and Wildlife Commission on Monday, Feb. 23. Her candidacy lands on the table just as the agency continues to ride out the political and public fallout from the voter-mandated wolf reintroduction program and the recent leadership shake-up.
Clellan's background and role at CPW
Clellan retired last year as a major general after leading the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. Before that, she held senior posts at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of Veterans Affairs, experience that supporters say gives her a rare mix of command presence and bureaucratic know-how.
According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, she stepped into the acting director role in late 2025 and has been overseeing day-to-day operations while the state searched for a permanent leader. Backers inside and outside the agency argue that her management style has offered a steadier hand in the middle of contentious wildlife debates.
How she became the sole finalist
The Department of Natural Resources said Monday that Clellan is the only remaining finalist after a months-long search and screening process. Marianne Goodland of the Denver Gazette reported that DNR Executive Director Dan Gibbs and CPW Commission Chair Richard Reading narrowed a pool of more than 100 applicants down to five candidates, followed by confidential commission interviews in early February.
Under state statute, the Parks and Wildlife Commission holds the appointment power for the director, with the consent of the DNR executive director. The commission is scheduled to vote on Clellan’s appointment on Monday, Feb. 23, a decision that would determine whether she sheds the “acting” title and takes over the agency for the long haul.
Wolves and the leadership shake up
Clellan’s emergence as the top pick comes on the heels of former CPW director Jeff Davis’s departure, which followed sharp criticism over the wolf reintroduction program and a failed request to bring in wolves from Washington state. Colorado Politics reported that Davis was hired by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and started his new job there in February.
The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission voted 8 1 to reject Colorado’s request to relocate wolves from that state, according to reporting from the Spokesman-Review. Colorado Parks and Wildlife has said it will not translocate additional wolves this winter, a position outlined in an agency update on the 2025-2026 gray wolf release season from Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Reaction from sportsmen and staff
Clellan’s selection as the lone finalist drew cautious approval from parts of Colorado’s hunting and conservation world. Former CPW commissioner Gaspar Perricone and Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management chair Dan Gates told the Denver Gazette and other outlets that Clellan has earned respect among sportspersons and agency staff and appears intent on juggling recreation, hunting, and conservation priorities rather than favoring just one camp.
At the Capitol, lawmakers are still pressing DNR officials for more details about how the search was conducted and what role the governor played in the final round of interviews, even as the commission moves toward its decision.
The Parks and Wildlife Commission’s vote next week will effectively determine whether Clellan moves from acting director to the permanent job, with the consent of the DNR executive director required under state law. If confirmed, she would inherit an agency still locked in debates over wolf science, livestock protections, and intense public scrutiny, and her first big test will be how she balances those competing demands while trying to stabilize staff morale.
