A long-awaited program to prevent and reduce conflict between wolves and producers in Colorado is ready for launch. Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Colorado Department of Agriculture have hired 12 range riders who are preparing to start helping producers across northwest Colorado this month.

The program makes Colorado one of three states — with Washington and Arizona — to sponsor a range riding program.

“(Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s) new hires are trained personnel with a specialized set of skills who spend time with livestock to monitor for the presence of wolves and deploy hazing techniques to deter wolves,” said Travis Duncan, Parks and Wildlife public information officer. “The selected riders bring extensive experience in livestock behavior, land management and animal husbandry.”

The range riders hired by the state will be available to serve ranchers in Jackson, Grand, Routt, Eagle, Garfield, Pitkin, Summit, Rio Blanco and Moffat counties. They will be deployed in the areas of greatest need within these nine counties but will require permission from producers to work on their property. The program is expected to cost Parks and Wildlife $500,000. 

The dozen new hires join two state employees from the Department of Agriculture who have also been trained as range riders. 

This inaugural season for the Colorado Range Rider program kicks off with a mandatory four-day training in late April, according to Duncan. The training will take riders through different conflict mitigation techniques on open ranges, including how to use non-injurious hazing methods and tools like cracker shells and scare devices. Riders will also receive training on wolf behavior and tracking techniques. 

The riders will work up to 22 days per month throughout the five-month season, which runs from April to October. Some riders will be starting early to assist producers with calving and lambing, Duncan said. 

The range riders will work between four to five days a week, including occasional night shifts when predator activity is high in an area. 

The riders will be paid $30 an hour, up to $6,600 a month and will be provided with the necessary nonlethal hazing tools. However, the range riders must provide their own transportation — horses, ATVs, trailers — and insurance.

Duncan reported that the state is also looking to have riders serving Gunnison, Lake, Delta, Chaffee, Park, and Mesa counties in the future. 

“Range riding provides deterrence through having eyes on the ground and providing continual human presence on the landscape and is one tool in the toolbox for producers to reduce wolf-livestock conflicts,” Duncan said. “Range riders also understand cattle and wildlife behavior. By hiring range riders who are local to the area, they already have knowledge on local wildlife movement and behaviors throughout the year, which will help with early detection and implementation of conflict mitigation tools.”

Part of this work will include recording and documenting the routes and behavior of the wolves to help the wildlife agency better understand predator-livestock interaction, Duncan added. 

The program launch comes as calving and lambing season is starting or underway for most Colorado ranchers — a time when livestock is more vulnerable to predation. 

In 2024, Parks and Wildlife recorded 19 events where wolves killed a confirmed 24 heads of livestock. Six of the confirmed incidents took place in April, three in May, two in June and five in July. 

There have been three confirmed wolf depredations so far this year. The first incident in February involved a cow in Jackson County that was killed by an uncollared wolf that was not part of Colorado’s reintroduction efforts. The two subsequent events included a yearling heifer in Pitkin County on March 3 and an incident involving a dog in Jackson County on March 9. 

Can Colorado’s Range Rider program find success this year?  

Last year, ranchers in Grand County experienced firsthand the benefits of having a range rider to help reduce conflict with wolves. 

Middle Park Stockgrowers Association was able to hire a rider last year using funds from a Colorado Department of Agriculture grant program. The hire came after producers in the area were the target of multiple livestock killings by wolves, specifically, the Copper Creek pack, which was later removed from the area, placed in captivity and re-released in January. 

This rider will be on the ground again this year in addition to those hired by the state. 

“We saw the range rider last year for a couple months haze the wolf multiple times, saving producers from more depredations,” said Tim Ritschard, Middle Park Stockgrowers Association president. “When we got into summer, we did not haze the wolf as much as the cattle are in allotments and spread around. During calving, cattle are gathered together in tighter quarters, so it’s easier to watch the cattle and see their movements now than when they go into allotments.”

Ritschard said, given their experience with range riding, he is optimistic about the state’s program. 

“Now it doesn’t work all the time, but out of all the nonlethal, it’s the best option,” Ritschard said. “From talks with the (Parks and Wildlife) range rider coordinator, I believe the program will be the most successful nonlethal option. There are some really good riders that are working.”

However, strained trust between the producers and the state agencies running the program could hinder its overall success. 

“A lot of producers do not trust (Parks and Wildlife) or (the Colorado Department of Agriculture) and do not want someone riding in their cows, in their permits, and on their lands,” Ritschard said. “You have seen this trust issue already with landowners not allowing (Parks and Wildlife) onto properties to collect collars from deer and elk, to count sage hens, and even collar deer and elk.” 

As a result, Ritschard suspects that many producers and landowners will start doing their own range riding, pool with other producers, or get grant funding to hire a range rider like the Middle Park group did with the grant. 

“This way producers have someone they trust and know,” Ritschard said. 

Local stockgrowers associations, including the one in Middle Park, were “heavily involved” in the hiring and interview process for the state’s 12 riders, according to Duncan. 

Success will also depend on better communication between ranchers and the wildlife agency about wolf activity, Ritschard said. 

“Knowing where those wolves have been or are is the only way for this program to work,” he said. “This is why our range rider worked last year. (Parks and Wildlife) was giving up ‘hot spots’ where there was activity. Being focused on where there is (wolf) activity is the only way this program works. If you send a rider to an area and there is no activity within 40 miles of there, it feels like a waste of time and money.” 

It’s for this reason that Ritschard is not yet sure if he will work with the state’s range riders for his operation. 

Ritschard noted that these range riders will serve as an additional resource in times of need and be additive to the riding and monitoring that producers already do with their cattle.

“I don’t want people to think we producers don’t ride with our cows when we do,” he said. “Producers check their cattle every week for illness and make sure they are in the correct pastures. When it really comes down to it, we have been practicing range riding in our cattle for generations.”

The additional resource of a range rider can provide more help during calving season by hazing the wolves away, protecting livestock at night and serving as a nonlethal conflict mitigation option. 

“If we have wolves that set up camp and den, then we are really going to need someone out there,” Ritschard said.