Clellan, who was named the agency\u2019s acting director<\/a> on Dec. 1, soon after Jeff Davis resigned<\/a>, said CPW staff, leaders, commissioners and stakeholders asked her to apply for the permanent job, because \u201cwe need leadership. We need purpose, direction and structure. We need somebody who\u2019s going to lead this organization and not be afraid to make decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Three decades of \u201corganizational experience\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In college, Clellan signed an eight-year commitment with Army ROTC and was jumping out of planes and leading a unit of 33 men and women in Honduras by 1989.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n After returning to the Fort Bliss Army garrison<\/a> in El Paso, Texas, \u201cwith a little experience\u201d under her belt, she was deployed to Operation Desert Storm<\/a> and then on a law-and-order mission to post-Manuel Noriega Panama. Four years later, she decided to take an early out, and started teaching elementary school in Texas and Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n Then she received a cold call from a major in the Army Reserves, asking if she wanted to join. She did that job until the Colorado Army National Guard called looking for a military police commander. One of the hardest things she did in that role was secure the perimeter around Columbine High School after the mass shooting there in 1999<\/a>.<\/p>\n After stints as assistant professor of military science at University of Colorado Boulder, and in Afghanistan, where she ran a detention center in Bagram, and after serving in several other distinguished appointments, she retired in 2019 and started working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood. But in 2020, she was called up again, this time by Gov. Jared Polis who appointed her the adjutant general of Colorado in charge of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, a two-star rank.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have a personal relationship with the governor. I don\u2019t know how he got my name. But it turns out you can\u2019t really say no to the governor. It\u2019s really hard,\u201d she said in a TedX Talk<\/a> in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the interview last week, she insisted she won\u2019t let politics influence her decisions at CPW, however, and emphasizes her three and a half decades of experience \u201cleading teams, people and organizations in extremely complex missions and environments\u201d have taught her \u201cto provide purpose, direction and motivation to achieve a mission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n And she calls herself lucky to have come to CPW just as the agency rolled out a brand new 10-year strategic plan<\/a>, set to be presented to the Parks and Wildlife Commission on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Wolf reintroduction remains a top issue\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the \u201cmost pressing issues\u201d for Clellan is continuing \u201cwildlife on the ground \u2014 wolves, furbearers, water management,\u201d she said. Another \u201cis making sure we have resilient ecosystems and balancing exceptional experiences here in Colorado.\u201d The third is keeping CPW relevant for the future. And the fourth is \u201corganizational and workforce health. I\u2019m a firm believer that we get nothing accomplished without the people of our organization. I was so glad to see this in our plan. We are absolutely going to focus on our people.\u201d<\/p>\n On the topic of wolves, Clellan said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has not provided an official response following Director Brian Nesvik\u2019s demand that CPW provide a full accounting of wolf reintroduction actions since the program began in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clellan led the correspondence with Nesvik, who she said is a \u201cgreat partner\u201d she has frequent conversations with. \u201cI also knew Brian Nesvik as Gen. Nesvik when he was in the Wyoming National Guard and I was in the Colorado National Guard,\u201d she added. \u201cSo we have, you know, kind of a special connection there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Absent a response, CPW is \u201cgoing to continue to manage the wolves in Colorado as we have been,\u201d she said. \u201cWe still have our 10-J<\/a>. We still have our memorandum of agreement with them<\/a>. And, you know, I have been in close contact with them<\/a>. And right now, I feel confident that we are going to be able to continue to move forward with gray wolf restoration in 2026.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That includes adding 10 to 15 wolves in this calendar year, which likely means those wolves are coming in December. Colorado voters directed CPW to start reintroducing wolves by the end of 2023 in a vote in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n Clellan said she is committed to compensating ranchers for livestock losses, even as the agency has faced pushback for the costs accrued in 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think that we can continue this program. And right now, this is all written in statute. I know that it is out there as a concern with the public, and this may be something later on that the commission may address. But right now, (the compensation structure) is the right thing to do because the ranchers out there are the ones that are impacted by the wolves on the ground. We have to do right by the ranchers that are experiencing these issues.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Hunting is here to stay\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s a sentiment <\/a>among some hunting groups that science-based wildlife management is at risk in Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>\n But Clellan said hunting is \u201cone of our primary tools to manage wildlife populations \u2026 and it provides critical funding for our conservation efforts through licensing and sales and Colorado\u2019s 6.5% excise tax\u201d on the retail sale of firearms, precursor parts and ammunition. That\u2019s on top of the federal Pittman-Robertson excise tax<\/a> of 10% to 11% to fund\u00a0 Colorado Parks and Wildlife.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy role in CPW is to ensure our wildlife management is based on science, law and long-term sustainability, and hunting is an effective tool for achieving these goals,\u201d she added. \u201cAnd I can tell you there\u2019s no one in CPW or there\u2019s no one that\u2019s telling me we\u2019ve got to stop hunting. Matter of fact, I know many hunters. I\u2019m friends with many hunters, and all hunters are conservationists \u2014 period. I appreciate them. I don\u2019t believe that there\u2019s any one group out there that is threatened. But I\u2019m giving my ear to all groups.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Pikes Peak management a role model for public lands collaboration\u00a0<\/p>\n As federal land managers navigate shrinking budgets, Colorado Parks and Wildlife could assume a larger role in managing recreation on public lands around Pikes Peak.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n A consortium \u2014 the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, El Paso and Teller counties, the cities of Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs Utilities \u2014 is asking the agency to help manage increasing recreation around America\u2019s Mountain, starting with management of the Ring the Peak Trail.\u00a0<\/p>\n And Clellan said CPW \u201cbringing our skill set for managing high-density recreation to our large landscapes \u2026 is going to benefit the health of our ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe work for all of Colorado and we appreciate our partnership with the U.S. Forest Service in this endeavor,\u201d she added. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of other additional partnerships in that local community. We\u2019ve got a lot of firepower right now to set a great example, not only in Colorado, but nationally on America\u2019s Mountain<\/a>. I\u2019m pretty excited about Pikes Peak and the work we\u2019re doing. There\u2019s world-class recreation on and around Pikes Peak, and there\u2019s many different interest groups and stakeholders that are using that and that will use that. So I think finding ways for stakeholders to work together to find solutions to increase our outdoor recreation interest in ways that protect habitat is what makes Colorado so special right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Balancing proceeds from the Keep Colorado Wild Pass\u00a0<\/p>\n More than 1.5 million Coloradans opted in to buy the $29 Keep Colorado Wild Pass<\/a> during 2024, its second year on sale, Clellan said. That generated $41 million to support Colorado State Parks, local search and rescue volunteers and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/unnamed-12-e1743616557379.jpg\")
A wolf runs across a snow-covered field in British Columbia as a helicopter flies overhead during capture operations in January 2025. (Colorado Parks and Wildlife)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20250730_082146-900x1200.jpg\")
Bighorn sheep graze atop Pikes Peak on July 30, 2025. (Olivia Prentzel, The Colorado Sun)<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260121-DirectorClellan-IST-3-1200x800.jpg\")
Clellan addresses Colorado Parks and Wildlife employees in Denver. (Courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife) <\/p>\n