Colorado\u2019s top wildlife official has stepped down after more than two years in a role that was largely defined by the state\u2019s controversial wolf reintroduction program.<\/p>\n
Jeff Davis has left his job as director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, according to a Tuesday news release from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Davis was appointed to the role by Gov. Jared Polis<\/a> in May 2023, and previously served for more than 20 years with Washington state\u2019s Department of Fish and Wildlife.<\/p>\n He will transition to a senior policy advisor role in the department\u2019s executive director\u2019s office. The news release did not give a reason for Davis\u2019 departure.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a statement, Davis said he was \u201chonored to work with an amazing team and set of individuals at Colorado Parks and Wildlife.\u201d<\/p>\n As director, Davis helmed the agency that oversees Colorado\u2019s 42 state parks, issues hunting and fishing licenses, manages wildlife and conducts a host of recreation, conservation and research-based initiatives. He also worked with the agency\u2019s volunteer commission, providing updates and recommendations to the body that makes regulatory and policy decisions for the agency.\u00a0<\/p>\n But much of his tenure was focused on Colorado\u2019s gray wolf reintroduction program, which voters narrowly approved in November 2020<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Davis oversaw the first round of wolves reintroduced in Colorado in December 2023, when 10 wolves were captured in Oregon and released in Summit and Grand counties. A second wolf drop was carried out this past January, with the state releasing 15 wolves from British Columbia in Eagle and Pitkin counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n The reintroduction, which an overwhelming majority of Western Slope counties opposed in 2022, remains controversial<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Parks and Wildlife officials have defended their efforts to carry out a voter-approved mandate, citing the strain that the program has put on agency staff<\/a> as tensions with the ranching community intensify. At the same time, livestock producers and their representatives in the state legislature have criticized the agency for what they see as a lack of transparency and preparedness<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The program\u2019s costs have also ballooned beyond initial projections<\/a>, with Parks and Wildlife spending over $3 million on the program between July 2024 and May 2025 \u2014\u00a0$2.2 million more than what was expected.\u00a0<\/p>\n Livestock groups have launched efforts to halt<\/a> and even end the reintroduction program<\/a>, which has so far failed. Parks and Wildlife also continues to face headwinds<\/a> that are complicating efforts to carry out a third wolf drop this winter.\u00a0<\/p>\n The federal government last month told Colorado that it can no longer import wolves from Canada<\/a>, and that any new relocations must be from U.S. Rocky Mountain states.<\/p>\n Less than two weeks ago, Washington state denied Parks and Wildlife\u2019s request<\/a> for up to 15 gray wolves, citing a lack of public support and wolves\u2019 endangered status in the state.\u00a0<\/p>\n Colorado has so far relocated 25 wolves since first releasing the animals in December 2023. Those wolves have gone on to form four packs, with at least 10 pups<\/a> born.\u00a0<\/p>\n Eleven wolves have been confirmed to have died or been killed during that time. Parks and Wildlife killed a year-old pup in late May<\/a> after being connected to multiple livestock attacks in just over a week in Pitkin County, which met the agency\u2019s definition of \u201cchronic depredation,\u201d which can warrant lethal action. Another chronically depredating wolf was shot in August<\/a>, but the body was never found, and officials could not confirm if the animal was dead.<\/p>\n In a statement announcing Davis\u2019 departure, Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director said that Davis \u201ccame to Colorado Parks and Wildlife during a period of uncertainty and change with a number of significant wildlife and recreation issues landing at his feet almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Gibbs said Davis is leaving the agency \u201cin a much better place internally as well as a notable record of achievement and progress in areas of building a stronger culture, wildlife management, and stakeholder involvement and engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n Polis also thanked Davis in a statement for his work with Parks and Wildlife, adding he is \u201cgrateful that he will continue to serve the state of Colorado.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials said a formal search for a new permanent director \u201cwill begin soon.\u201d In the interim, Laura Clellan, a retired adjutant general and the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, will serve as the acting director for Parks and Wildlife starting on Dec. 1.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Colorado\u2019s top wildlife official has stepped down after more than two years in a role that was largely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-316295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}