Colorado wolf restoration plan: public input meetings across the state this summer

[elkduds]

We would like to invite you to attend the public open houses for the Gray Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. Colorado Parks and Wildlife, in partnership with Keystone Policy Center, is hosting open houses in 14 locations throughout the state; locations and dates are listed below. Additional information about the open houses is available at the public engagement website, https://www.wolfengagementco.org/.
Pre-registration for open houses is encouraged but not required. Keystone Policy Center and CPW staff will engage with the public at open houses. Please feel free to share information about the open houses and website with your networks; a sample newsletter blurb is included below, along with the list of open house dates and locations.
The list of open house events and their location is included below. Please contact Cally King Newman, [email protected], with any questions.

Sincerely,
Jody Kennedy

Wolf Restoration & Management Plan Public Open Houses
All Open Houses are from 5:00 - 8:00 PM unless otherwise noted

July 12
Steamboat Springs Community Center
1605 Lincoln Ave
Steamboat Springs, CO
July 13
CMC’s Morgridge Commons
815 Cooper Ave, 2nd Floor Glenwood Springs, CO
July 19
Fort Lewis College, Student Union Ballroom, 1000 Rim Drive
Durango, CO
July 21
Montrose Field House
25 Colorado Ave
Montrose, CO
July 22
Western Colorado University University Center Ballroom
Gunnison, CO
July 26
Moffat County High School
900 Finley Ln
Craig, CO
July 28
Mesa County Fairgrounds, Community Building
2785 US HWY 50
Grand Junction, CO
August 2
Avalon Ballroom
6185 Arapahoe Rd
Boulder, CO
*6-9 pm due to venue availability
August 3
Alamosa Co Ice Rink
2242 Old Sanford Rd
Alamosa, CO
August 4
Cottonwood Center for the Arts
427 E Colorado Ave
Colorado Springs, CO
August 5
Las Animas County Fairgrounds
2000 N. Linden Ave.
Trinidad, CO 81082
August 10
Colorado Parks and Wildlife Denver Office
6060 Broadway, Denver, CO
August 11
CSU Lory Student Center, Ballroom
1101 Center Ave Mall
Fort Collins, CO
August 12
Northeastern Junior College - Hays Center Ballroom
100 College Ave
Sterling, CO


Sample Newsletter Blurb
Colorado voters passed Proposition 114 last year directing the Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) Commission to begin the planning process to reintroduce gray wolves west of the Continental Divide no later than December 2023. CPW and Keystone Policy Center recently announced a slate of in-person, open house public listening sessions that will give Coloradans opportunities to engage and provide substantive input and feedback into the gray wolf restoration and management planning process. A total of 14 in-person open house public listening sessions will be conducted in July and August in regions throughout the state. The dates, locations, details about all public meetings, and other information are available at wolfengagementco.org.

 

[one ate E grain]

open house public listening sessions that will give Coloradans opportunities to engage and provide substantive input and feedback into the gray wolf restoration and management planning process

I've seen similar before, they have a bunch of tables set up with maybe some literature or big photos or maps, empty forms for you to give written statements, staff there to listen to ranters and ravers, and then they close up shop and hey, they listened.

It looks like a lot of the thing has been farmed out to some group called The Keystone Policy Center and one of the people heading the thing up, Ms Ferrell (feral?) is the "Branding and Communications Manager", somehow I think she does a different kind of branding.

There's a Technical Working Group made up of a lot of people who've made wolves there livelihood for years, I'd accuse them of pushing the books they all write but they just zoom in, probably not much in the way of consulting fees.

Then there is the Stakeholders Advisory Group which besides Defenders of Wildlife and huggers of wolves includes people who list outfitter and rancher in their bio. I guess if there's anyone in this entire mess I really do feel sorry for it's the ranchers and outfitters, they're screwed. I'll probably be looking up at the grass before too long, I've shot my elk, as have my kids, but those people that live rural, and have cows, or outfitter businesses. Well they're just SOL.

CPW says that to promote transparency and openness the only way you can find out what is said at these "stakeholder" meetings is to go to one. I guess if they recorded it and posted it online that would be just a little bit too much openness. Thousands can watch a vid at night, not many will drive to Salida, Meeker, or wherever.

Summaries of SAG meetings will be posted to the gray wolf restoration public engagement website, wolfengagementco.org., Summaries so they can cut out the parts that, well, maybe you shouldn't know about, or maybe somebody says something really really dumb.

The members selected for the SAG are:

• Matt Barnes (W) - Dolores. Runs range science business and works with the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative (human/carnivore coexistence)
• Donald Broom (W) - Craig. Moffat County Commissioner
• Jenny Burbey (W) - Hesperus. President of CO Outfitters Association, Outfitter, livestock producer
• Bob Chastain - Colorado Springs. President/CEO of Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
• Renee Deal (W) - Somerset. Rancher, outfitter, member of agricultural groups
• Adam Gall (W) - Paonia. Wolf biologist for 5 years in Idaho, employed by Nez Perce tribe
• Dan Gates - Canon City. Chair of Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management
• John Howard (W) - Grand Junction. Former CPW commissioner
• Francie Jacober (W) - Carbondale. Pitkin County Commissioner
• Lenny Klingesmith (W) - Meeker. Rancher and outfitter, member of agricultural groups
• Darlene Kobobel - Divide. Colorado Wolf & Wildlife Center
• Tom Kourlis - Castle Rock. Rancher and Outfitter, Former Commissioner of Agriculture, member of agricultural groups
• Brian Kurzel - Denver. Rocky Mountain Regional Executive Director for the National Wildlife Federation
• Hallie Mahowald (W) - Salida. Program Director of Western Landowners Alliance
• Jonathan Proctor - Denver. Regional Director for Defenders of Wildlife
• Gary Skiba (W) - Durango. Wildlife Program Manager, San Juan Citizen Alliance

Myself I had beef ribeye on the 4th even though I still have half an elk in the freezer. Tasted pretty good.

 

[Sytes]

Thanks for sharing elkduds. Sent this off to my brother and a few of his friends.

 

[Akcabin]

I'm in AK, the wolves are decimating the moose. A large factor this last couple years is snow depth. The snow is over 5 feet so when a wolf cuts a moose trail they follow it wear it down n kill it. Moose doesn't stand much chance