WildEarth Guardians’ wolf recovery vision centers on attaining secure and robust populations of wolves in the wild, roaming free along the spine of the continent from Mexico to Canada. Rocky Mountain National Park and surrounding federal lands, totaling over two million acres, as well as Wilderness in the south of the state, could provide a strong anchor for wolves in the Southern Rockies. Wolves have returned to just five percent of their historic range and are only just starting to return to areas suffering ecologically in their absence. Places like Colorado, southern Oregon, Utah, and the Grand Canyon ecoregion. Wolves, as native apex carnivores, are integral to ecosystem health.

WildEarth Guardians works with members, the media, policy makers, and government officials to ensure Colorado is friendly to the return of wolves. We will proactively prepare for wolves return by educating and engaging the public, by addressing scary wolf “myths” in the media, and ensuring government officials know that Colorado wants wolves.

Guardians will also drive real policy change by shining a spotlight on poor wolf management practices in court. Currently we are challenging the fundamental flaws in the federal government’s McKittrick Policy, which enables the killing of endangered animals. The policy removes the deterrent for people who might kill an animal protected under the Endangered Species Act because prosecution does not occur unless the government can prove he or she was trying to deliberately kill that animal—an unnecessarily high bar. This August, a federal judge denied the government’s motion to dismiss our case challenging the McKittrick Policy and we will now proceed to the next step in the case. We will be moving forward with the case by filing a third amended complaint and renewing our efforts behind the scenes in Washington to have the policy removed.

WildEarth Guardians historic Endangered Species Act settlement in 2011 is shifting the way endangered species are added to the threatened and endangered species list. The wolf remains one of the most endangered species and you can count on us to fight for more protection. Our recent success in challenging the McKittrick Policy will also increase the protection for every endangered species, especially the wolf and its return to Colorado.