If they turn up in the areas around Vernal, Roosevelt, and Moab its not a stretch to think they'll turn up in CO.

My prediction is that any wolves that turn up in those states will simply be killed on site or trap/transferred back to their state of origin by the USFWS. Given what has happened in ID, WY, and MT, I highly doubt states like UT or CO will given much choice in regulating the wolves that do wander in. Most likely UT and CO are next in reintroduction plans, particularly RMNP (Rocky Mtn National Park).

Rocky MTN News article on wolves

What happens bit is the feds step in just as they did here in Idaho and stuff them down your throat. Wolves just had to be put back in yeller stone, they will stay in the park they said.
I live completely across the state from Yellowstone and I know of 2 packs here.
Boise had a pack working the elk and deer herds in the foothills north of the city this winter.
Forget about saying you don’t want them because you’re going to get them if you like it or not.
Shooting them on site didn’t do much here.

That being said I have seen wolves here in Idaho for as long as I can remember, not to many of them but some. They didn’t hurt much and were cool to see, their numbers were however very few.

Idaho and Montana officials are worried about a delay in delisting wolves from the Endangered Species List.

CHEYENNE, WY -- The Wyoming Legislature's initial refusal to change the state's wolf management plan is raising concern in Idaho and Montana.

Officials in those states fear that the animal's delisting will be delayed and wolf populations will continue to increase unabated.

In January, the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service approved Idaho's and Montana's wolf management plans as adequate to delist the animals under the Endangered Species Act.

At the same time, the Fish and Wildlife Service ruled that Wyoming's plan was unacceptable, which delays the entire delisting process.

The biggest problem the agency had with the Wyoming plan centered on classifying the wolf as a predator in much of the state.

But a proposed bill that would have removed the predator status failed to make it to the state House floor. Instead, the House gave initial support to a bill that holds fast to the state's position.

[ This Message was edited by: captchee on 2004-02-24 12:47 ]

I agree with you Capt. I support wolf re-introductions, people should make a place for them.

However the heavy handness by the Fed over the states is unwarranted and if locals are not allowed to have some role in management (other than the illegal type) locals will just want them gone (legally or illegally) no questions asked.

Frankly I just don't get it. CO has at least 3000 cats running around chomping on deer faster than the average wolf, but yet wolves (even a few hundred wolves) raises hysteria. Most wolve talk revolves around the psychological rather than the logical.

[ This Message was edited by: bitmasher on 2004-02-25 00:02 ]

We have heard it all and while I like to see and hear wolves in the wild here is what I know from personal experience.
We had a pack move into out elk hunt a few years back. The night before I had 2 bulls bugling from right behind camp, the track and elk sign were just UN real. The next morning while eating breakfast we could here the wolves up on the ridge above camp. We hunted for a week after that and saw a doe and a fawn 0 elk.
But then again I have seen wolves in areas during archery season with no effect on the elk herd I was hunting.
I do know this, when people start in about loss of livestock I have to wonder if those livestock were grazed on public land.

If the wolves will decimate the grouse populations then why are there any grouse today as the wolf population of old would surly have killed them off?

Am I for reintroduction? Yes and no
I am for a few packs with strict limits to there size.
However on the other side I don’t want grizzly bears or wolves back in mass, there is simple not enough room for the numbers of old, the game populations of today and us
It’s very complicated

However on the other side I don’t want grizzly bears or wolves back in mass, there is simple not enough room for the numbers of old, the game populations of today and us.

Yup, there is just no "ifs, ands, or buts about it" there is not room because there are a lot people. Large numbers of big predators will cause too many people/predator quickly lessoning people's enthusiasm for the reintroductions.