For the first time since they were reintroduced to the state in December, Colorado’s gray wolves have moved out of central Grand County, state wildlife officials said in their July report.
In July, the 11 wolves and one pup stayed relatively in the same watershed areas as they did in May and June, traveling between Routt, Jackson, Larimer, Grand, Eagle and Summit counties, according to a new location map released Tuesday by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
CPW releases a map each month showing which watersheds the state’s collared wolves have traveled in, wildlife officials said. A wolf may or may not remain there now, and it may not have traversed every part of that watershed.
The updated map shows wolf activity from June 25 through July 23 in watersheds from the Wyoming border to Interstate 70 and from west of Craig in Moffat County to west of Fort Collins in Larimer County.
While the monthly maps from December to June have shown wolves using watersheds across Grand County to the border of Boulder County, the July map showcases a lack of data in the area, indicating that wolves didn’t visit the area at all during July.
The collars record a GPS position every four hours and send the data to state biologists once four locations are recorded, CPW officials said. State officials do not share specific locations to protect the wolves and may “buffer” maps to protect wolves during certain times of year, such as mating season.
Although July’s map highlighted watershed areas south of Interstate 70, CPW officials said no wolves had passed the major highway and the population was exploring land to the north.
State officials released nine of the 11 adult wolves roaming northern Colorado in December as part of a voter-mandated reintroduction plan.
Since then, CPW officials said two of the wolves have mated together and given birth to at least one pup, and a pair of Wyoming-based wolves naturally migrated into the state and joined the Colorado pack.
Two of the ten collars placed on wolves in December stopped working, but those two wolves are still alive and traveling with other wolves with functioning collars, state officials said in April. There are no current plans to recollar the wolves or place collars on any of the pups.
The map’s accuracy will drop over time as wolves move into Colorado from other states, collars stop working and more wolves mate together and give birth to pups, state wildlife officials said. The goal is to keep at least two collared wolves in each pack.
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