Just as anyone who follows CPW's wolf reintroduction has suspected. What is the wildlife and habitat roundtable? CPW (finally) defines chronic depredation.
Just as anyone who follows CPW and wolf reintroduction has suspected.
It has long been suspected that there is more behind wolf reintroduction than what the media are fed out of CPW.
There are a lot of rumors, there is a spiderweb of swampy political connections (see the first link below for context), but there hasn't been much in the way of internal connections to flesh out what is going on behind the scenes in the Polis administration.
The 9News article linked second below adds a little to the picture. I wish it were more, but it turns out that other emails mentioned in the one that 9News got ahold of are ... missing? nonexistent? hiding? I don't think there's much clarity there and the office of Jeff Davis (CPW director) is putting out the government line of "nothing to see here".**
The email that 9News WAS able to get their hands on tells us some things we already figured and knew, e.g. compartmentalization of knowledge and a lack of transparency.
Quoting the article:
"Colorado Parks and Wildlife did not plan on telling Coloradans it was trying to capture wolves in Grand County until after the operation finished, according to emails 9NEWS Investigates obtained from CPW Director Jeff Davis."
But it also illuminates the fact that some people are in the conversation ... and some are not. Again, quoting the article, here with its link intact:
"He [CPW Director Davis, sending the email that 9News references throughout their article] sent the 7:47 a.m. email to multiple people, including members of CPW's Wildlife and Habitat Roundtable, made up of environmental and animal advocates."
As a quick aside, in post 2 today I cover this roundtable in more detail.
The list of recipients on this email is copied in screenshot 1. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to lift the redacting to see just exactly who it is on the shortlist of people who get to be in the loop?
Again and again the same pattern from CPW. Some people get to know. Some people get to be involved in the discussion. Some people get to be involved in the decision.
And the majority don't.
As I have mentioned before in response to our governor complaining about how producers have made the costs of wolf reintroduction higher than they might otherwise have been, see the third link below, "...cooperation, listening to others, and getting their buy-in are also ways to reduce friction and price there Gov Polis".
Imagine how differently this whole process could have gone if the Polis administration, CPW being a part of that, could have involved more people instead of trying to carefully manage who gets to know what.
**The full quote here from Davis' office in the 9News article: "'Director Davis is in full compliance with DNR's email retention policy,' a spokesperson for Davis told 9NEWS, 'Additionally, Director Davis' assistant searches his email in order to fulfill CORA requests so he is often unaware of which of his email have been produced in connection with the numerous CORA requests the agency receives.'"
https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/swampiness-in-wildlife-policy-and?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/colorado-parks-wildlife-director-wolf-emails-dont-exist/73-2ddba7b8-e226-4202-b9bd-6650ea3176fb?fbclid=IwY2xjawHKUu1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeJ4Z7rJUHqlwDMV0Ey1t_WRGxMmo09ZwTb4kbQgW_DSpWgByvUSBS-RFQ_aem_8SdsjcxP6vdOSIV3e7cuRw
https://open.substack.com/pub/coloradoaccountabilityproject/p/polis-blames-ranchers-for-the-high?r=15ij6n&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Related:
Speaking of statements from the government that make you go hmmmm ...
The press release below by CPW on the first full year of wolves in this state has some real zingers.
Like this beauty:
"'We’ve been listening to and working with all stakeholders in this historic restoration effort all year,' said CPW Director Jeff Davis. 'The results are evident in our improved Conflict Minimization Program, the addition of new staff to work alongside producers, strengthened partnerships such as the Ad Hoc Working Group and Colorado Department of Agriculture, and now clear guidelines for producers as it relates to chronic depredation and lethal management considerations.'"
https://cpw.state.co.us/news/12212024/cpws-comprehensive-efforts-throughout-first-year-wolf-restoration-provide-solid?fbclid=IwY2xjawHVVlZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHbX4FtjmKU7_71gppYuX5W5PRTo3Vkd0ALDflc8xp8NiauacWDRxJRqPFQ_aem_UTeHY_1BwEdfQF6PsxU2Rg
What is the wildlife and habitat roundtable?
Perhaps as importantly, do other groups in the state get their own roundtables?
In the previous post, I went in brief through the 9News article (linked first below) about what CPW Director Davis said (and to whom) in some emails 9News received.
A brief line in that article got my attention. Quoting with the link intact:
"He sent the 7:47 a.m. email to multiple people, including members of CPW's Wildlife and Habitat Roundtable, made up of environmental and animal advocates."
That was it. The link in the quote. What is the Wildlife and Habitat Roundtable?
Do other groups in Colorado get a voice? Do they get emails from Davis about wolves?
I emailed to the press person over at CPW to ask these kinds of questions (well, not the one about Davis because the 9News article makes it clear that they do not).
The response I got back is in screenshots 1 and 2.
I had to put the information in screenshots to keep the length of this text manageable, but the issue with pictures is that you cannot click links. So, copied below the 9News story link below are all the links from the email response I got.
If you have looked for ways to get involved in this state, as a hunter, an angler, as a rancher, as someone who has conservative values, as someone who lives in a rural area, give the links a look.
Maybe you know a group that could get involved in one or more of these roundtables. Maybe you as an individual could (or you know someone who could).
Getting this state back to more centrist, sane policy in all areas begins with people who normally don't speak up, speaking up. People who can get in some of these groups and ask tough questions, the kind that may not be getting asked now.
According to the response I got to my followup question, most of the groups' pages will have information on joining. If you don't see it, or have questions about a specific group, pass those to me and I'll ask for you.
It shouldn't just be the environmental and animal advocates speaking at the table.
https://www.9news.com/article/news/investigations/colorado-parks-wildlife-director-wolf-emails-dont-exist/73-2ddba7b8-e226-4202-b9bd-6650ea3176fb?fbclid=IwY2xjawHKUu1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHeJ4Z7rJUHqlwDMV0Ey1t_WRGxMmo09ZwTb4kbQgW_DSpWgByvUSBS-RFQ_aem_8SdsjcxP6vdOSIV3e7cuRw
The Wildlife and Habitat Roundtable
regional Sportsperson’s Caucus
statewide Sportsperson’s Roundtable
The Habitat Partnership Program
Colorado Wildlife Habitat Stamp Committee
State Recreational Trails Committee
wetland focus area committees (FACs)
CPW (finally) defines chronic depredation.
And it only took about a year. Good for them.
The definitions (taken from the article linked below) are in screenshot 1 attached.
The article below then continues on into the rules for how CPW will manage said chronic depredation (touching in large part on lethal management considerations.
I will leave you to read through the LENGTHY lists and flowcharts involved. I, an admitted non-expert, am left with a couple impressions in reading it (I could also say in "attempting to read it").
If you are a layman who, like me, struggles with legalese, good luck.
The plans here seem to cover every contingency, but I recall the saying about plans not surviving the first contact. I think the idea that these plans will work, that they will work to every detail spelled out here, that people will understand them is ... let's say "optimistic".
One last impression, not gleaned from the article just from my own thoughts: let us all hope and pray the first wolf to be killed is one done by a government official. I do not wish the kind of press scrutiny that would befall some individual who does it on anyone.