Press Releases
Jaguar photo by Tierra Curry/Center for Biological Diversity.
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Viewing recent news releases in the Southern Rockies Region program.
Bill Amended to Rescue Voter-Approved Colorado Wolf Program Heads to Governor
DENVER— Colorado lawmakers today passed legislation allowing the continued reintroduction and release of wolves this fiscal year while reallocating some general funds toward the state’s health insurance fund. Gov. Jared Polis is expected to sign the bill later this week. The original bill would have stalled the voter-approved wolf restoration program for a year.
Read more.Agreement Reached to Preserve Mature Ponderosa Pines in Southwest Colorado
DOLORES, Colo.— Forest health advocates have finalized an agreement with the U.S. Forest Service that will preserve tens of thousands of the largest, oldest ponderosa pine trees in Colorado’s San Juan National Forest.
Read more.Colorado’s Wolf Restoration Gets Big Boost With New Wolf Families, Pups Confirmed
DENVER— In a landmark moment for wildlife recovery, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed three new wolf families — the One Ear, King Mountain and Three Creeks packs. They join the already established Copper Creek pack, which also welcomed new pups. While the total number of pups is still to be determined there are a minimum of four pups in the King Mountain pack.
Read more.Colorado Completes Second Round of Wolf Releases in Historic Reintroduction, Releases Captured Copper Creek Pack
DENVER, Colo.— Colorado Parks and Wildlife released 15 gray wolves in Eagle and Pitkin counties over the course of three days last week. It was the second of several planned releases in the historic effort to re-establish a wolf population in Colorado.
Read more.Colorado Rejects Livestock Industry Attempt to Stop Wolf Reintroduction
DENVER— The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission today rejected a livestock industry petition to pause the historic, voter-approved reintroduction of gray wolves in the state.
Read more.Reward Soars to Over $100,000 for Info on Killing of Colorado Wolf
GRAND COUNTY, Colo.— The Center for Biological Diversity, conservation partners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering rewards amounting to over $100,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions in the 2024 shooting death of a gray wolf in Colorado.
Read more.More Than $65,000 Offered for Information About Illegal Killing of Gray Wolf in Colorado
GRAND COUNTY, Colo.— The Center for Biological Diversity, conservation partners and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are offering rewards totaling more than $65,000 for information leading to arrests and convictions in the 2024 shooting death of a wolf in Colorado. The reward follows the Service’s announcement today that a necropsy confirmed a gunshot wound killed the father of the Copper Creek pack, who died after he was captured in early September.
Read more.Pup Confirmed for Colorado’s Newly Released Wolves
GRAND COUNTY, Colo.— Colorado Parks and Wildlife has confirmed one wolf pup from a pair of Colorado’s newly reintroduced wolves. This new wolf family, officially declared a pack, has been named the Copper Creek Pack.
Read more.Lawsuit Challenges Fossil Fuel Permitting in Colorado’s Pawnee National Grassland
DENVER, Colo.— The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Bureau of Land Management today for failing to protect shortgrass prairie in Colorado’s Pawnee National Grassland, which is threatened by continued oil and gas extraction.
Read more.Colorado Restores Protections for Wetlands, Seasonal Streams
SILVERTHORNE, Colo.— Colorado Gov. Jared Polis today signed into law a bill to restore protections for wetlands and seasonal springs that have been left vulnerable to destruction since the U.S. Supreme Court’s Sackett decision gutted safeguards last spring. Colorado is the first state to enact legislation addressing the protection gap left for state waters by the Sackett decision.
Read more.Colorado Court Upholds Water Pollution Monitoring, Limits at West Elk Coal Mine
GUNNISON, Colo.— A Gunnison County judge today upheld a Colorado state agency’s decision requiring the West Elk coal mine to monitor and limit pollution from eight stormwater discharge sources, water that flows into the North Fork Gunnison River. Mountain Coal, which owns and operates the mine, challenged including these eight discharge locations in its 2019 state permit.
Read more.Forest Service Proposes Unprecedented Logging of Mature, Old-Growth Forests in Western Colorado
DELTA, Colo.— Conservation groups filed objections this week to the U.S. Forest Service’s proposed final management plan for the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison national forests in western Colorado. The plan would allow commercial logging on more than 772,000 acres of public lands, including mature and old-growth trees — a 66% increase from the current forest plan.
Read more.Court Petition Seeks Reversal of Water Diversion Threatening Utah’s Green River
DENVER— Conservation groups asked a federal appeals court today to reconsider a decision allowing Utah to divert tens of thousands of additional acre-feet of water each year from the Upper Colorado River Basin at the Green River below Utah’s Flaming Gorge Dam.
Read more.Climate, Air Pollution Protest Targets Biden Fossil Fuel Plan for Colorado’s Front Range
DENVER— The Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians today challenged the Bureau of Land Management’s plan to continue fossil fuel leasing in eastern Colorado, including the Front Range. The Eastern Colorado Resource Management Plan will govern 658,200 acres of public lands and more than 3 million acres of federal minerals, including oil, gas, and coal, for up to 20 years.
Read more.Lawsuit Targets Timber Sale Threatening Rare Mature Forests, Wildlife in Colorado
DOLORES, Colo.— Forest advocates sued the U.S. Forest Service today for violating environmental laws when it approved a nearly 23,000-acre timber sale that would cut large, century-old ponderosa pine trees and threaten wildlife in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan National Forest.
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