Ranchers hope to protect livestock as gray wolf moves south
FREMONT COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) - One of the gray wolves that was reintroduced into Colorado has officially made its way into Southern Colorado, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).
The reintroduction has become a contentious issue in Colorado. KRDO13 reached out to local ranchers to learn why this wolf’s journey has made many want to find a solution with CPW more than ever.
"The financial situation for ranchers is really tough and really stressful already. So now you throw in, wolves that are, stressing out these cows," explained Chrissy Mcfarren, a first-generation rancher.
She says her ranch is near black mountain, up in the northwest corner of Fremont County.

This map shows where one wolf that CPW currently tracks has been in the last month. It includes the watershed area that extends through Chaffee and Fremont County. It does not necessarily mean that the wolf made it all the way to Cañon City, but that it was in the area of the watershed.
"These are all things that I think about at 3 a.m.," said McFarren.
"It is really tough and really stressful already. So now you throw in, wolves that are, stressing out these cows, then cows are losing weight," explained McFarren.
She says the presence of wolves can cause the cows to eat less grass and produce less meat, circling the stress back around to ranchers.
"It's just one more thing that adds the kind of the stress and craziness of the season, you know," said rancher Nate Huffman, of 13H Cattle Co.
CPW says it is expanding programs to minimize conflict between livestock and wolves.
"Everybody's doing the best they can to navigate it, but yeah, I think we do need to change something," shared Huffman.
One request the ranchers explained to me was the need for protection for their livestock, such as range riders. These are people on horseback watching over cattle. CPW says they’re creating a Colorado Range Riders program that will launch this year.
CCPW says there are now 29 gray wolves in Colorado. As always, this number can change at any time if other wolves migrate to Colorado from other states or if any die.
RELATED: Colorado wolves seen as far south as Fremont County for first time since reintroduction
CPW sent this response when we brought some ranchers' concerns forward:
As wolves begin to move to new areas of the state, CPW has prepared with expanded and improved capabilities for producers through the Conflict Minimization program that will allow for faster response to conflicts and higher likelihood of effective non-lethal deployment. This work results in improved strategies for altering depredation behavior early and reducing the potential for repeated depredations. Our new Wolf-Livestock Conflict Minimization Program Guide provides information that addresses the livestock producer concerns you mention and outlines a variety of tools and methods available for producers to employ in efforts to reduce the likelihood of wolf-livestock conflicts and establishes a framework for CPW’s response, along with available support from other state, federal and nongovernmental organizations. In the event that wolf-livestock depredations do occur, CPW has a robust program to compensate producers for their losses.
Related to your last question about Range Riders, CPW is partnering with Colorado Department of Agriculture to create the Colorado Range Rider program that will launch in early 2025. CDA and CPW staff members, as well as any future contract range riders, will go through specialized training to create a team of trained range riders with connections to local communities who can be deployed to support producers at short notice.
The inaugural training will take place this month and focus on early-season conflict mitigation during calving and lambing season, which typically begins in late February. The second round of training will take place over a four-day period in April 2025 and will prepare producers and range riders for conflict mitigation on the open range during the warmer summer and fall months.
Contractors for the Colorado Range Riding program will be hired for the high season on the range, which lasts approximately five months, from mid April to October.
Livestock producers, farm and ranch managers, and other private individuals interested in a range rider contract position can express their interest via the Colorado Range Rider Program Interest Form.