It’s official: Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Southern Ute Indian Tribe have agreed to work together on the reintroduction of gray wolves. 

The two entities formalized an agreement in late November that outlines how they will collaborate, communicate, share resources and resolve conflict concerning wolves within the tribal land and Brunot Treaty area in southwest Colorado. 

“We recognize the importance of continued cooperation and communication in all matters pertaining to wildlife management,” stated Melvin Baker, the chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, in a December news release announcing the agreement. “As the oldest continuous residents, we have a deep and unique connection to the land and its wildlife.”

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The agreement largely centers on how the state agency and tribe will communicate including providing 24-hour notice about the locations of future wolf releases. 

The final Colorado wolf plan created a 60-mile buffer for wolf releases from state borders and sovereign tribal lands. This agreement stipulates specifically that Parks and Wildlife will not release wolves within the Brunot Treaty area. 
The Brunot Treaty area is approximately 3.7 million acres of land in the San Juan Mountains — stretching from just north of Ouray south to Bayfield and Durango and from Cortez to Pagosa Springs.

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In 1873, the Ute tribes ceded the acreage from their reservation to the federal government. In 2008, the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the state crafted a new agreement to ensure the tribe maintains hunting and fishing rights in the region.

The agreement stipulates that Parks and Wildlife will “make reasonable efforts to maximize the distance between the wolf release sites and the boundaries of the Brunot area.” 

Both the reservation and Brunot Treaty area fall south of the southern release zone in the final Colorado plan. This release zone is one of two areas where the agency could release wolves. So far, Parks and Wildlife has only released wolves into the northern zone. The next set of releases —  which will take place between January and March — will also be in the north in either Eagle, Pitkin or Garfield counties. 

This does not mean, however, that wolves will never travel into the treaty area or reservation lands. The agreement stipulates that the tribe has management authority to manage gray wolves that enter tribal lands. This will include federal protections under the Endangered Species Act as long as wolves remain listed in the act. 

Outside of tribal lands, Parks and Wildlife maintains its management purview over the wolves, but under the agreement, it will do so in a way that “respects the tribe’s sovereign interest” in its lands. 

“We look forward to working constructively with the state to ensure that the reintroduction of the gray wolf is conducted in a manner that respects tribal sovereignty, upholds our cultural values, and minimizes potential impacts on our tribal members, their livelihoods, and our traditional ways of life,” Baker stated in the release. 

The agreement also addresses how Parks and Wildlife will share wolf monitoring information as well as provide resources and assistance for reducing conflict with wildlife — including for investigations into livestock deaths — training, education and more. 

Earlier this year, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington backed out of its offer to supply Colorado with wolves, citing concerns over tribal relations. 

“It has come to our attention that necessary and meaningful consultation was not completed with the potentially impacted tribes,” stated Jarred-Michael Erickson, chairman of the Colville Business Council, in a June letter to Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis. 

“Out of respect for the sovereignty, cultures and memberships of Indian Tribes in Colorado and neighboring states, who may be impacted by this project, the Colville Tribes cannot assist with this project at this time.” 

The agreement addresses many of the publicly stated concerns that the Southern Ute Indian Tribe had expressed both before the ballot initiative’s passage and during the stakeholder process to create the wolf management plan. 

The Southern Ute Indian Tribal Council opposed the 2020 voter effort to reintroduce wolves in Colorado. In the resolution passed by the council, members  expressed concerns over how it would impact their tribal lands and resources, including wildlife and livestock. In 2023, the tribe sent a letter to Parks and Wildlife asking the state to only release them in the northern zone. The concerns listed included maintaining tribal sovereignty and the retention of its hunting rights and asking for the Brunot Area to be excluded from wolf releases. 

Since the letter from the Washington tribes, Parks and Wildlife has expressed its commitment to “maintain and grow tribal relationships inside and outside of Colorado,” as spokesperson Rachael Gonzalez has put it. 

After the letter, a statement from the Southern Ute Indian Tribe indicated the same, stating it was “actively engaged in collaborative efforts” with Parks and Wildlife. 

Looking forward, the agreement will provide a framework to “promote continued cooperation and communication between the tribe and state in our efforts to restore the gray wolf to Colorado,” stated Davis in the December news release. 

“The tribe has a wide variety of interests both on its tribal lands and in the Brunot Treaty Area, and we look forward to maintaining our positive working relationship on managing and co-stewarding wildlife within these lands,” Davis added.