Colorado

Colorado officials relent to rancher pressure to remove pack formed by released wolves

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2 hours ago

August 28, 2024

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Colorado officials relent to rancher pressure to remove pack formed by released wolves

Colorado’s only wolf pack produced by released wolves is being removed from its Grand County location.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife along with technical support from federal partners have begun an operation to capture and relocate wolves from the Copper Creek pack, the state wildlife agency announced in a Tuesday night news release.

The pack consists of two parents from among 10 wolves captured in Oregon and released in Colorado in late December of 2023 and at least three wolf pups the pair had this spring. “The decision to capture and relocate the Copper Creek pack was made with the careful consideration of multiple factors and feedback from many different stakeholders,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis stated in the news release. “Our options in this unique case were very limited, and this action is by no means a precedent for how CPW will resolve wolf-livestock conflict moving forward. The ultimate goal of the operation is to relocate the pack to another location while we assess our best options for them to continue to contribute to the successful restoration of wolves in Colorado.”

The option to remove the wolves is allowed under the federal 10(j) rule issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which designates Colorado’s released wolves as an experimental population.

The parents of the pack have largely been responsible for 16 confirmed wolf depredations of cattle and sheep near the pack’s den and rendezvous sites in Grand County since April 2, according to area ranchers.

The Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, which represents Grand County ranchers, has repeatedly asked the state wildlife agency to remove at least the parents of the pack over the past several months, and later the pups as well. The latest request from the association and other stockgrowers groups was sent to Gov. Jared Polis and Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis on Aug. 15.

The agency has repeatedly refused the request, citing the need to grow the state’s wolf population in accordance to the state’s wolf recovery plan before finally relenting to ranchers’ pressure Tuesday.

That state’s recovery plan calls for releasing 30 to 50 wolves over the next three to five years with a goal of a minimum of 150 to 200 wolves.

“Colorado Parks and Wildlife is committed to fulfilling the will of Colorado voters to successfully restore the gray wolf population while meeting the needs of Colorado communities,” the release read. “As we have throughout the implementation of the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan, CPW is working with wildlife biologists, federal partners and producers to develop solutions that will reduce the risk of additional wolf depredations.”

Tim Ritschard, a Grand County rancher and president of the Middle Park Stockgrowers Association, said the association is pleased with the decision.

“If a wolf wanders in and kills a cow or calf, that’s tolerable, “Ritschard told the Coloradoan on Tuesday night. “When they set up camp and repeatedly depredate on livestock that’s where the problem is.

“I’m glad the feds stepped in and took action before a rancher or local Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff had to. Hopefully CPW can learn from this and prevent something similar happening in the future.”

The Coloradoan reached out to pro wolf groups for comment. Those messages were not immediately returned.

Ritschard questioned what the state wildlife agency will do with the wolves.

That was not detailed in the agency’s news release.

“For the safety of these animals and staff, CPW will not be sharing the location of the pack members or operation,” the agency’s news release read. “CPW will provide more information and details at the conclusion of the operation.”

The news of the pack removal comes days after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission was told by Colorado Parks and Wildlife the next planned wolf release would occur in the the same general area as the first releases in Grand and Summit counties.

Reid DeWalt, Colorado Parks and Wildlife assistant director, told the commissioners at their Friday meeting in Colorado Springs that the next release will take place in the northern zone.

The northern zone roughly encompasses from Glenwood Springs on the west, Kremmling on the north, Vail on the east and Aspen on the south. The area includes Interstate 70 running through the middle.

First, though, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has to secure wolves for its next release planned for late this year or early next year. Something which has been difficult to do.

That sourcing was made more difficult after the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington notified Colorado Parks and Wildlife in a June letter that it was rescinding an earlier agreement to send 15 wolves to Colorado later this year and in early 2025.

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Colorado

Improvements to Tutt Boulevard as road reopens in Colorado Springs, occasional closures still possible

Published

10 hours ago

August 27, 2024

Press Room

Improvements to Tutt Boulevard as road reopens in Colorado Springs, occasional closures still possible

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The City of Colorado Springs announced the reopening of Tutt Boulevard on Monday.

Improvements outlined by the City showed two lanes in both directions, a new sidewalk, bike lanes and drainage improvements.

They said over the next few weeks, lane closures on the road would be possible as crews continued to complete road work.

They said the project should be complete by mid-September. The Tutt Boulevard extension project began back in 2016 intending to eliminate the 90-degree turn at Vickie Lane and Tutt Boulevard.

For more information about the project, click here.

Tutt Boulevard reopens with improvements.(City of Colorado Springs)

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Colorado

Colorado Springs in 2023 by the numbers!

Published

20 hours ago

August 27, 2024

Press Room

Colorado Springs in 2023 by the numbers!

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – Two hundred and sixteen; 87,032; 250,000; 2.3 million.

These were some of the biggest numbers to come out of the city of Colorado Springs’ 2023 “Popular Annual Financial Report”!

The PAFR highlights some of the city’s key achievements each year — here’s how 2023 looked in Colorado Springs, by the numbers!

2.3 MILLION TRAVELERS

The Colorado Springs Airport has continued its dramatic post-pandemic growth, seeing more travelers each year than the year prior, including improving on travel numbers immediately prior to the pandemic in 2019.

2023 was another record-breaking year, with more than 2.3 million travelers passing through its gates.

52,000 HOURS OF MITIGATION:

Citizens approved the Wildfire Mitigation Fund in 2021. Through that fund, at the end of 2023 the city had completed 52,000 hours of wildfire mitigation work.

250,000 CALLS FOR SERVICE

The Colorado Springs Fire Department responded to more than 250,000 calls for service in 2023, underscoring “the department’s dedication to serving and protecting the community, as well as its responsiveness to the diverse needs and concerns of its residents.”

87,032 POTHOLES REPAIRED

The city continued to send road crews wherever citizens said they were needed, filling 87,032 potholes — many reported directly to the city by residents through the COS GO app.

216 LANE MILES REPAVED

The city repaved more than 216 miles of asphalt and over 50 miles of curb and gutter replacements.

For a full breakdown of the above achievements, as well as other big numbers out of the city in 2023, look through the document below!

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Colorado

A Colorado Fire Department says another state tax cut could cost the safety of residents

Published

1 day ago

August 26, 2024

Press Room

A Colorado Fire Department says another state tax cut could cost the safety of residents

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) – The Cimarron Hills Fire Department today said if they are included in the property tax reductions being negotiated this week- they may have to cut staff.

Gov. Jared Polis called for a special session on Monday to discuss a property tax cut that could save over a billion dollars for Coloradans. But he says he doesn’t want to be at the expense of the school system.

“I’m hopeful, I am always supportive of property tax relief. There is an opportunity here to provide some prop property tax relief for every homeowner in the state at the same time, we can reduce the risk going forward. I have several different kind of ballot initiatives. It seems like every year we have different ballad initiative. They can threaten school funding and planning,” said Gov. Polis.

The Cimarron Hills Fire Department says they also want to be exempt from those tax cuts and maintain their funding.

“Those impacts are already devastating enough, but we think that moving forward we’re able to sustain under those we’re just asking for no further cuts. So the cuts that were made in (Senate Bill) 233 we aren’t going to have to cut any stuff, but it doesn’t look like we’re gonna have the ability to add any additional staff either,” said Cimarron Hills Fire Chief, Andrew York.

The Fire Chief said that for 1 in every 3 calls they get, they have simultaneous emergent calls and want to ensure they have the proper staffing to respond to people at risk.

“There’s going to be a very real impact to the public and what we said to the legislators and I know it’s gonna sound abrasive, but the bottom line is that houses could burn down and lives could be lost,” said Fire Chief York.

The special session is between Advance Colorado, Colorado Concern and state legislative leaders to negotiate a tax cut without enacting Initiatives 50 and 108. Those measures, if passed, would cap property tax revenue per year and reduce the assessment rates when considering the property values.

Allegedly there has been an agreement between the groups that would

Cut the effective residential property tax rate to 6.3 or 6.4 percent depending on assessment growth;
Cut the commercial property tax rate to 25 percent;
Implement a property tax cap of 5.25 percent for local governments and 6 percent or inflation growth (whichever is greater) for school districts.
Ensure clear and non-biased ballot language in the required vote of the people to opt out of the local cap.

The session will be held this week until Wednesday.

For more information on the session, click here.

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