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Colorado at a glance
Gray wolves once existed throughout Colorado; however, extirpation or removal began shortly after European settlement. As of 2020, wolves appeared to be slowly establishing a population in Colorado – or at least some wolves were showing up in the NW corner of the state. An effort to reintroduce wolves was also brought before the people of Colorado in 2020. Proposition 114, now state statute 33-2-105.8, passed on November 3, 2020. It directed the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission to develop a plan to introduce and manage gray wolves in Colorado west of the Continental Divide no later than December 31, 2023. Ten wolves were reintroduced to the state in December, 2023 as part of this plan.
This page was updated in 2024 and will continue to be updated as news in Colorado develops.
Species Information
Common Name: gray wolf
Latin Name: Canis lupus
Current Wolf Population, Trend, Status
A gray wolf runs across snow-covered terrain in British Columbia, Canada, in January 2025, with the shadow of a helicopter cast above. This capture operation is part of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s ongoing efforts to relocate wolves to Colorado, supporting the voter-mandated reintroduction outlined in Proposition 114, passed in the 2020 general election.
Number of wolves: 29 collared wolves.
In 2021, two wolves dispersed from Wyoming into Jackson County, Colorado and formed the North Park Pack. The wolves gave birth to six pups, which was the first time wild pups were born in Colorado in almost a century. Only two male wolves from the North Park Pack are known to be alive.
In 2023, Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) released 10 wolves from Oregon into Grand and Summit counties, part of the implementation of voter-approved Proposition 114. Three of those wolves have died. In late 2023, CPW released five more wolves in Grand County and more in Summit County.
In January, 2025, the second gray wolf reintroduction included fifteen wolves translocated from the central interior of British Columbia to Colorado.
Population trend:
Legal status: Federally Endangered, Federally Threatened, State Endangered, State Threatened, State Special Concern
Human Relationships
Management
- Colorado Wolf Management Plan
- Paws on the Ground: An Update on Wolf Restoration in Colorado (feature article in International Wolf magazine.)
Wolf Human Interactions
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map will help inform the public, recreationists and livestock producers on where wolves have been in the past month.
- Living with Wolves
