Here’s where Colorado’s gray wolves traveled in December 

From Rio Blanco to Larimer counties and many places in between, wolf exploration remains centered in northwest Colorado 

During their first year in Colorado, reintroduced gray wolves have been tracked across nearly all of the state’s northwestern counties. 

In December, the wolves were present in watersheds across Rio Blanco, Routt, Jackson, Grand, Larimer, Eagle, Summit, Lake and Garfield counties, according to the latest map from Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The map shows wolf activity from Nov. 26 to Dec. 22. 

While the map shows the wolves in similar locations to November, the movements appear to be less expansive than the previous month. 

The new map shows a few disconnected areas in the watershed connecting Eagle, Summit and Lake counties as well as in the one between Jackson and Larimer counties. Parks and Wildlife stated that this disconnect is due to the speed at which the wolves are moving. 

“If wolves are moving quickly enough, a GPS point may not be taken in every watershed they travel through,” the agency indicated. “GPS points are currently taken every 4 hours.”

While wolves have explored the watershed crossing between Jackson and Larimer counties previously, they had not been there last month. 

With no confirmed packs on the landscape, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director Jeff Davis told the Joint Budget Committee last week that the wolves were moving alone or in pairs and traveling between 150 to 200 miles each week. 

In addition to the nine wild wolves, the agency has five — one adult and four pups — in captivity that it will collar and release this winter on the same timeline it plans to release up to 15 wolves from British Columbia. The wolves will be released within the same northern zone as last winter, with sites in Eagle, Pitkin and Garfield counties being considered by the state. 

“Our communities (in Eagle and Pitkin counties) are a little bit different than some of these other landscapes,” said Matt Yamashita, Parks and Wildlife’s district wildlife manager for the area covering Eagle, Garfield and Pitkin counties, at an Eagle County meeting last week. “There’s livestock here, but there’s also a lot of people here — that includes residents, visitors and recreation. There are some differences here in Eagle County that are not quite the same as some of these other landscapes, inclusive of where these animals are being captured from.”

With this, Yamashita said the agency is working to address “how communities live with wolves,” in ways both similar and unique to how they coexist with other animals and predators already.