DENVER — One of the wolves reintroduced in Colorado was spotted by a camera on Vail Pass last month, offering the first documented wolf activity in the area and perhaps the first publicly-shared images of a wolf in close proximity to I-70.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife has tracked the reintroduced wolves, and published findings on a map updated monthly. Those maps, though, have only indicated wolf movement within watershed boundaries.So, what does this wolf sighting mean for Colorado, and for the future of wolves in the state? We took those questions to Dr. Stefan Ekernas, the director of Colorado field conservation for the Denver Zoo’s Conservation Alliance.
“We suspect that there is a really good prey base ,” he told Denver7 on Friday. “I would suspect that in the long term that we will get a good number of wolves . That would be my expectation.” I-70 is known to be a barrier for wildlife, as “it splits landscapes in half,” according to Ekernas. But it also poses a danger for motorists.
Designs are 60% complete – something Ekernas said is a milestone in infrastructure projects. Even if federal funding comes, it would likely be years before a wildlife crossing in the area became a reality.