Caribou Gear

Bipartisan bill to reintroduce wolverines in CO legislature.

elkduds said:
www.9news.com

Bill introduced to bring back wolverines to Colorado

The bipartisan bill would authorize Colorado Parks and Wildlife to reintroduce North American wolverines to the state.
www.9news.com www.9news.com
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Well, I'd love to see them bolster their populations in the lower 48 and CO seems like a good place. I didn't see any comments from CPW biologists in the article, or any mention of opposition. Is it getting much local press, at this point? Is there a vocal opposition and if so, what are they worried about?
 
CPW seems to favor reintroduction. I'm aware resources for reintroduction get subtracted from resources h for managing existing habitat and wildlife. I greatly dislike wolf reintro, other CPW reintroductions have been extremely successful: moose, elk, bighorn. Lynx, hard to say. Ferrets have it rough but I'm rooting for them. Wolverines, can't think of a reason why not.
cpw.state.co.us

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing...
cpw.state.co.us
 
elkduds said:
CPW seems to favor reintroduction. I'm aware resources for reintroduction get subtracted from resources h for managing existing habitat and wildlife. I greatly dislike wolf reintro, other CPW reintroductions have been extremely successful: moose, elk, bighorn. Lynx, hard to say. Ferrets have it rough but I'm rooting for them. Wolverines, can't think of a reason why not.
cpw.state.co.us

Colorado Parks and Wildlife

Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a nationally recognized leader in conservation, outdoor recreation and wildlife management. The agency manages 42 state parks, all of Colorado's wildlife, more than 300 state wildlife areas and a host of recreational programs. CPW issues hunting and fishing...
cpw.state.co.us
Click to expand...

Opposition to wolverine reintroductions will likely include concerns over potential loss of winter recreation areas (motorized mostly) and restrictions on winter recreation development (ski areas). Wolverines generally avoid motorized areas with some use, I hesitate to say low/moderate/high use as I don't recall the threshold. They're generally okay with human powered activities. It will be interesting to see if the ski resorts get onboard as they've been feeling a little burned on supporting/encouraging the lynx introduction and then ESA listing which created development problems for them.

Edit: If you're looking to do some reading, here's the most recent publication on wolverines and recreation: "Wolverines in winter: indirect habitat loss and functional responses to backcountry recreation" Heinemeyer et al. 2019. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2019/rmrs_2019_heinemeyer_k001.pdf

"Wolverines avoided areas of both motorized and non-motorized winter recreation with off-road recreation eliciting a stronger response than road-based recreation. Female wolverines exhibited stronger avoidance of off-road motorized recreation and experienced higher indirect habitat loss than male wolverines."

"Our results suggest that winter recreation should be considered when assessing wolverine habitat suitability, cumulative effects, and conservation. We found that the effects of winter recreation on wolverine habitat are dependent upon the intensity of recreation and that winter recreation patterns are highly variable at the scale of wolverine home ranges such that some animals may experience higher levels of indirect habitat loss,"
 
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NR_Hunter said:
Aren’t they going to kill all the elk tho? I heard an adult male wolverine can take down 9 elk single handed.
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Nah, tho them rabbits... they be in Fudd danger.

Besides Colorado is impervious to additional apex predators therefore woofs be in harmony as they cultivate a vegan lifestyle - at least according to Boulder city residents.
 
Sytes said:
Nah, tho them rabbits... they be in Fudd danger.

Besides Colorado is impervious to additional apex predators therefore woofs be in harmony as they cultivate a vegan lifestyle - at least according to Boulder city residents.
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The wolves, Mt lions, wolves, coyotes, and bobcats and even bears, share whimsical lives where they meander through the forest, chatting in a common tongue and enjoying whitty banter, sometimes when a momma mt. Lion loses her life to the evil hunters, the community pitches in and raises her cubs as surrogates. Often you can spot these animals walking on their hind legs and wearing overalls and brightly colored Patagonia fleece when it is really cold out. It is really is amazing. I’m sure the community will welcome the wolverines with open arms. (What a lot of people who can vote actually think about animal interactions in the wild )
 
sapperJ24 said:
Opposition to wolverine reintroductions will likely include concerns over potential loss of winter recreation areas (motorized mostly) and restrictions on winter recreation development (ski areas). Wolverines generally avoid motorized areas with some use, I hesitate to say low/moderate/high use as I don't recall the threshold. They're generally okay with human powered activities. It will be interesting to see if the ski resorts get onboard as they've been feeling a little burned on supporting/encouraging the lynx introduction and then ESA listing which created development problems for them.

Edit: If you're looking to do some reading, here's the most recent publication on wolverines and recreation: "Wolverines in winter: indirect habitat loss and functional responses to backcountry recreation" Heinemeyer et al. 2019. https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2019/rmrs_2019_heinemeyer_k001.pdf

"Wolverines avoided areas of both motorized and non-motorized winter recreation with off-road recreation eliciting a stronger response than road-based recreation. Female wolverines exhibited stronger avoidance of off-road motorized recreation and experienced higher indirect habitat loss than male wolverines."

"Our results suggest that winter recreation should be considered when assessing wolverine habitat suitability, cumulative effects, and conservation. We found that the effects of winter recreation on wolverine habitat are dependent upon the intensity of recreation and that winter recreation patterns are highly variable at the scale of wolverine home ranges such that some animals may experience higher levels of indirect habitat loss,"
Click to expand...
Personally I wouldn’t mind loss of winter rec areas for Wolverine reintroduction. Seems like it would help deer and elk during their most vulnerable time as well.
 
Elkhntr50 said:
Personally I wouldn’t mind loss of winter rec areas for Wolverine reintroduction. Seems like it would help deer and elk during their most vulnerable time as well.
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I agree… but oh irony oh ironies if it kept the snowshoeing, x-country, skinning, back country skiing, fat tire biking and snowmobilers out of the woods… all holy hell would break loose. You better not tell Lauren, Karen and Sarah with the purple hair that their instagram snow shoots are canceled… if the non consumptive users only knew about their impacts on the landscape and had to sit it out they would loose their minds
 
Here's a recent article from the Guardian covering the proposed reintroduction. It offers some additional details and a few contrasting perspectives and opinions.

www.theguardian.com

Colorado could bring back wolverines in an unprecedented rewilding effort

Move would be the first return of the animal in North America and is part of ongoing effort to restore native species
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
At what point do we simply realize that we can not and will not have what we once had in an area? The left will no doubt see this as an opportunity to further restrict consumptive use, they will use it to further lock out and remove people of all types from the landscape. At some point we must realize that there is a limit to what we can have. Something will have to give. Motorized recreation is getting more and more limited all the time. Despite motorized recreation being one of the largest groups using the lands. I truly feel the Lynx move was not nearly as successful as they had hoped and Wolverines will be even lass successful. I would much rather the effort and protections be focused on location where the Wolverines are currently thriving, instead of wasting time money and effort on establishing populations in areas where the habitat is considered marginal at best.
 
WYelker said:
At what point do we simply realize that we can not and will not have what we once had in an area? The left will no doubt see this as an opportunity to further restrict consumptive use, they will use it to further lock out and remove people of all types from the landscape. At some point we must realize that there is a limit to what we can have. Something will have to give. Motorized recreation is getting more and more limited all the time. Despite motorized recreation being one of the largest groups using the lands. I truly feel the Lynx move was not nearly as successful as they had hoped and Wolverines will be even lass successful. I would much rather the effort and protections be focused on location where the Wolverines are currently thriving, instead of wasting time money and effort on establishing populations in areas where the habitat is considered marginal at best.
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Cool attitude dude. Thankfully, the leaders who decided that elk, bison, sheep, whooping cranes, cutthroat trout, (insert any number of once extirpated species), should be restored to areas where they once persisted didn't share your pessimism.
Conspiracy theories aside, there are currently 7 million acres of unoccupied wolverine habitat in Colorado, plenty suitable for reintroduction.
At what point do we simply realize that motorized recreation has more than enough space to operate? "At some point we must realize that there is a limit to what we can have."
 
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