Colorado State University released a survey Monday that showed overwhelming support for bringing the gray wolf back to the state.

A ballot question in November, Initiative 107, will ask Coloradans to decide, but CSU’s measure 734 survey takers last August indicated 84% support reintroduction and 16% oppose it.

The opinion cut across usual ideological and geographical lines with support consistent among residents of the Front Range, Western Slop and Eastern Plains.

Support greater than 80% held up “among those who both did and did not identify as gun rights advocates, property rights advocates, hunters, and ranchers. Individuals who identified as wildlife advocates, animal rights advocates, and conservationists indicated greater support for reintroduction than those who did not, as did pet owners compared to those with no pets.”

Support splintered, however, once researchers pressed into the conservation management details.

The survey split over limiting the number of wolves if they cause declines in deer and elk populations in certain areas, paying landowners for livestock losses and lethal removal of wolves that prey on livestock. Respondents also split on allowing wolves to be hunted if their population exceeds recover goals.

“Overall, our findings suggest a high degree of social tolerance for wolf reintroduction in Colorado across the state,” the report concludes. “However, we also find that a portion of the public believes that wolves would negatively impact their lives and livelihoods, primarily because of concerns of the safety of people and pets, loss of hunting opportunities, and potential wolf depredation on livestock.”

The Colorado Farm Bureau, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and other members of the Coloradans Protecting Wildlife say the issue is one for conservation managers, not popular public opinion.

“These results illustrate the disconnect between what sounds or feels good theoretically, compared to the reality,” Shawn Martini, the vice president of advocacy for the Colorado Farm Bureau, told Colorado Politics Monday. “The facts are: wildlife experts including state and federal agencies have studied wolves extensively and have decided multiple times that they should not be introduced into Colorado.

“Introducing a nonnative species of wolf will put existing wolves, other wildlife, livestock, and our state’s natural beauty at risk. These decisions should be made deliberately and by the experts, not through ballot box biology. We have found that when voters are presented with the facts related to forced wolf introduction, their support for this measure drops substantially.”

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission has consistently opposed reintroduction over the years, because of its potential impact to the modern ecosystem.

If Initiative 107 passes, the state would pay about $500,000 a year for a staff of three plus other conservation and public information support, on top of “fair compensation” for livestock losses. The state would acquire and introduce about 10 wolves a year to the wild.

Elk herds in southwest Colorado are struggling and bringing in predators won’t help, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which opposes reintroduction.

“A forced introduction of wolves to Colorado would cost untold amounts of taxpayer dollars, redirect already limited wildlife management resources and would have a significant negative economic impact to the state,” said Blake Henning, the foundation’s chief conservation officer, said in a statement.

“In Colorado, you are dealing with about a third of the land mass of the Northern Rockies’ states but almost double the human population. A forced reintroduction would trigger the potential for real issues in the state.”

Rick Ridder, a Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund spokesperson, said the survey showed a unified voice of Coloradans on the issue.

“What is clear from this survey is that wolf reintroduction is a unifying issue in Coloradans.” he said. “All demographic and geographic groups support wolf restoration. Those who seek to promote a rural urban divide on this issue are only trying to divide Coloradans against one other where no such divide exists. It is clear Coloradans both urban and rural, Democrat, Republican or Independent, old and young want to restore the ecological balance in Colorado through reintroduction of wolves.”

The report “Working Report: Public Perspectives on Wolf Reintroduction and Management in Colorado,” is posted on Colorado State University website by clicking here.

This story was updated with a comment from the Rocky Mountain Wolf Action Fund.