The recent guest commentary by Suzanne Asha Stone and Delia Malone (“Setting the record straight on the Copper Creek wolves,” July 28, Aspen Daily News) paints a sentimental portrait of the Copper Creek wolf pack, framing livestock producers as callous villains clinging to an outdated worldview. This narrative is not only simplistic — it is dangerously misleading.
Let’s start with the facts: The Copper Creek wolves weren’t dropped into Colorado’s “wildlands” as the editorial romanticizes. They were released into Pitkin County, in a highly populated area near Capitol Creek — near homes, Little Elk Creek subdivision and working ranches — in direct contradiction of Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan. That plan clearly states that depredating wolves are not to be translocated.
Yet, the male (2309-OR) had a history of confirmed livestock predation before he ever set paw in Colorado. That’s not “hopeful restoration.” That’s bureaucratic negligence.
When the wolves predictably started attacking livestock — confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife in multiple events — the ranching community didn’t overreact. We watched. We documented. We photographed the wolves from our back doors. We gave CPW time. After three confirmed depredations in just over a week, CPW’s own policy triggered their “chronic depredation” definition. By then, the damage was done.
Let’s be clear: The carcass pit argument is a distraction. There were no carcass pits on the ranches in Pitkin County. This is a rehash of what happened in Kremmling last summer. But this argument is a red herring.
The fact is, it was calving season, and there were over 700 calves born in the Capitol Creek caucus area in the spring. Calving is a bloody business, and it was the irresponsible deployment of the wolves right before calving season that is the real culprit.
The guest columnists’ argument overlooks a significant development: the pack’s subsequent shift to predation, as evidenced by a seventh confirmed livestock kill on July 18, weeks after deterrents were deployed.
These aren’t one-off mistakes. They are part of a pattern — a pattern the guest commentary refuses to acknowledge.
This isn’t about hating wolves. It’s about demanding responsible management. Wolves can and should be part of the Colorado landscape — but only when state officials follow their own rules and enforce realistic coexistence standards. That includes removing problem animals, when necessary, not throwing ranchers under the bus in pursuit of an idealized fantasy.
The Capitol Peak rebranding suggestion is particularly insulting. Renaming the problem doesn’t solve it. Instead of the new name — Capitol Creek wolves — the name “Copper Creek” should stay — as a permanent reminder of what happens when good intentions are weaponized against working people.
We want coexistence. But coexistence demands accountability — from ranchers, yes, but also from CPW, urban policymakers and the media. Until that happens, the real story isn’t about heartless ranchers or noble predators. It’s about a government that refused to listen, an agency that broke its own rules and a wolf pack paying the price for everyone else’s failure.
Programs like these, launched with fanfare but little foresight, now play into Colorado’s larger fiscal challenges. The state’s budget is already burdened with unsustainable growth and costly, poorly managed initiatives like this only deepen the imbalance — draining resources that could otherwise support critical services like education, infrastructure and public health.
Bob Clark and Chris Collins are owners and residents of McCabe Ranch.
