Maybe Colorado Parks and Wildlife has a card up its sleeve.
Or maybe it's bluffing as it pertains to finding a source of the gray wolves it is mandated to reintroduce into the state by the end of this year.
The wildlife agency told the Coloradoan on Friday in an email: "We anticipate that we will find a solution in time to release wolves prior to the December 31, 2023 deadline.''
That despite state governments in Wyoming and Idaho already informing Colorado they would not serve as a wolf source for Colorado. Two more states told the Coloradoan late last week that they won't provide Colorado wolves by its deadline.
That leaves Oregon as the only state as a viable possibility to provide the predator to Colorado with about three months before the state wishes to release 10 to 15 wolves west of the Continental Divide. With 178 wolves at the end of 2022, Oregon has the fewest wolves of any of the states considered as potential sources for Colorado.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife told the Coloradoan it is not looking at states other than Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon, as stated in its final wolf management plan, and it is not looking to source wolves from Canada.
But a new player has emerged as a potential wolf source.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife told the Coloradoan late last week it has "reached out to the Nez Perce Tribe and may reach out to other tribes as we seek to explore all options for potential sources.''
Here's a look at the latest developments:
Two more states say they won't provide wolves to Colorado in 2023
Colorado's wolf source list shrunk again late last week.
Montana was previously leaning toward not helping Colorado in its search for source wolves. But late last week Montana Fish, Wildlife and Park spokesperson Greg Lemon confirmed to the Coloradoan that the state is definitely out.
"We have had direct conversations between our director and Colorado's director and we are not interested,'' Lemon said. "Wolves are a controversial topic and we have enough to deal with focusing on our management and that's where our focus will be.''
Montana's following the footsteps of Wyoming and Idaho in confirming it won't provide wolves to Colorado was expected, given Montana aligns politically with Wyoming and Idaho.
Washington, however, not being a wolf source for Colorado this year is based more on biology than politics.
Washington, like Oregon, aligns more with Colorado politically. And Jeff Davis, the recently hired director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, came to the state after working in the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife.
Julia Smith, Washington's wolf policy lead, told the Coloradoan late last week that its biologists have talked to Colorado's biologists to determine what Colorado is looking for regarding sourcing. She said ultimately, it is up to the state's game and fish commission to determine if it wishes to take up the topic and sign off on any agreement.
"Colorado's deadline complicates things,'' Smith said. "For Washington to provide wolves to Colorado before Dec. 31 is very unlikely. We shared if the commission gave us the green light, the earliest we could do anything is early 2024.''
Beth Quillian, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, told the Coloradoan late last week: "We received a request from Colorado to discuss the possibility of Oregon being a source for wolves. We continue to meet with them about what it might take, but no formal agreement decision.''
She did not know if the state could provide wolves to Colorado by the end of 2023.
Is the Nez Perce tribe Colorado Parks and Wildlife's lifeline to wolves this year?
With options for state help dwindling, Colorado appears now to be banking on help from tribes in acquiring at least some of the first 10 to 15 wolves to be reintroduced into the state.
The Nez Perce tribe is one of a handful of federally recognized Native American tribes located in Idaho. It is located in the heart of Idaho's wolf country, spilling over into Washington's far southeast corner and Oregon's far northeast corner.
There are many such Native American tribes located in Montana, Washington and Oregon.
"I think it's feasible for some tribes to exercise their sovereignty and give Colorado wolves,'' said retired federal wildlife biologist Carter Niemeyer, who worked with the Nez Perce and other tribes on wolf recovery and management during his three-decade career. "Others maybe want to work with the state and not get on the bad side of those states not wanting to be sources for Colorado.
"Not all tribes think alike when it comes to wolves.''
Multiple messages left over several days with Nez Perce tribe wildlife staff went unanswered.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife did not identify which other tribes it may reach out as potential sources of wolves.
Native American tribes have the right to govern themselves as distinct governments, with few exceptions, including wildlife regulations.
The Nez Perce tribe was instrumental in the early recovery of wolves in Idaho in the mid-1990s and management of the predator over the ensuing decade.
The tribe's website said its territory supports hundreds of wolves.
What happens if Colorado can't source wolves for reintroduction by the end of the year?
The answer to that is in question.
"This topic of where to get wolves never came up in discussion and nobody ever asked what would happen if no states would give Colorado wolves,'' said Niemeyer, who sat on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife'sGray Wolf ReintroductionTechnical Working Group that helped formulate the state's recovery plan.
Proposition 114 was the citizen ballot initiative to reintroduce wolves and which was approved by voters by a roughly 51% to 49% margin in November of 2020.
Since then, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has been working on a recovery and management plan to comply with the measure to reintroduce wolves west of the Continental Divide by the end of 2023.
The reintroduced wolves would be in addition to a male and female that naturally migrated to the state and birthed Colorado's first wolf pups in 80 years.
Rob Edward, president of the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund, which spearheaded the campaign to pass the measure, said he expects Colorado to comply with the voters' will.
"The law is the law,'' he said. "If for some reason the state couldn't find wolves to reintroduce but showed due diligence in its efforts and it didn't happen by the end of December, the governor and his team would have to comply as quickly as possible.''
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has stated publicly he is in full support of wolf reintroduction.
Edward said there is no interest among wolf advocacy groups to sue the state for not having complied with the law if it can show due diligence toward securing wolves. He said the efforts of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho refusing to provide Colorado with wolves that those states are killing will go for naught.
"There is a political mentality among those states to stand strong with their Colorado agricultural brethren,'' Edward said. "But ultimately Colorado will have wolves on the ground by at least the beginning of 2024.''
