This week, former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter endorsed the 2020 wolf restoration Proposition that will appear on the November ballot, and urged all Colorado voters to support it.
Ritter, a Colorado native and passionate hunter and angler who grew up on a dryland wheat farm east of Aurora, was governor from 2007 to 2011. Today he is the Director of the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University.
“Colorado’s economy depends both on agriculture and on maintaining healthy and robust mountain ecosystems where people come from all over the country to watch wildlife, hunt, and fish, and recreate. Wolves can help restore the natural balance of western Colorado’s vast public lands and improve the health, diversity and resilience of our mountain ecosystems to climate change.”
Ritter acknowledged the concerns of ranchers and said that he is confident that Colorado Parks and Wildlife, with the input of ranchers and the general public, can design and execute a thoughtful wolf restoration plan that balances the needs of our mountain ecosystems with the needs of our ranchers who call them home.
“In the northern Rockies, where ranchers have lived side-by-side with wolves for 25 years, conflicts with livestock have been rare. We can learn from their example, and I am pleased that the Proposition requires fair compensation for any losses, just like Colorado already does for bear and lion predation.”
In Yellowstone, wolves have been found to change the behavior of deer and elk, allowing streambank vegetation like aspen and willows to recover from overgrazing, which in turn allowed recolonization of these areas by beavers that built dams and improved high elevation water storage and trout habitat. Scientists refer to this ripple effect as a “trophic cascade.” As Colorado gradually loses snowpack due to climate change, these effects will help our mountains adjust.
Ritter noted that Coloradans have an impressive history of restoring rare and endangered native species like Canada lynx and Shiras moose to our mountains. “The wolf has been missing for too long; it’s time we followed the successful example set in Yellowstone National Park a quarter century ago and bring back a key part of our natural history – the gray wolf.” Millions of people have travelled to Yellowstone to view its wolves and witness the many ways in which these magnificent animals have improved the health of that northern Rocky Mountain ecosystem and the deer and elk herds that live there.
Ritter said that scientists at CSU’s Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence have done excellent work in studying the implications of reintroducing wolves to Colorado, including their role in restoring the balance to our ecosystems and achieving peaceful coexistence with our farms and ranches. Their work can be found here: https://source.colostate.edu/colorado-state-university-unveils-educational-resources-on-potential-restoration-of-wolves-in-colorado/.
Ritter concluded by saying, “I have great faith in the voters of Colorado to make the right choice for our state in November and hope all Coloradans will join me in voting to return wolves to Colorado’s high country to restore the natural balance. It is an investment in a healthier, more biodiverse and resilient future for Colorado.”
Ritter’s endorsement follows Mark Udall’s recent endorsement of the wolf restoration ballot proposition two weeks ago.