Two bills designed to help Colorado’s plans to reintroduce wolves later this year won final votes in the state House Wednesday, after sponsors beat back a series of challenges in the last two days, including from the governor’s office.

Senate Bill 256 is the more controversial of the two measures. It would require the state to receive what’s called a 10(J) ruling from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service before wolves can be reintroduced.

The House approved the bill on a 41-22 vote; the “no” votes all came from House Democrats.

The federal rule would allow wolves to be classified as a nonessential, experimental population, with the state taking the lead role on managing the population.

US Fish & Wildlife, which is currently in the rule-making process, is expected to finalize the 10(j) rule by mid-December.

Gov. Jared Polis has said he wants wolves on the ground by Dec. 31, 2023.

Under 10(j) — and with wolves listed as a nonessential, experimental population — the state plan would allow for “lethal takes,” the killing of wolves attacking livestock, for example, as well as other non-lethal management tools.

The Polis administration opposes Senate Bill 256, although the governor’s office claims it supports the state seeking the 10(j) ruling.

Without it, the wolf population would be managed by US Fish & Wildlife, but that raises concerns that the agency doesn’t have the resources or personnel to do the work. In addition, without the 10(j) ruling, wolves would remain an endangered species, which means they could not be killed when they attack livestock, and the two years of work by CPW on the wolf management plan would basically go into the trash bin.

On Tuesday, the bill’s sponsors won support for stronger language on 10(j). The amendment says the commission would not authorize the wolves’ release into designated lands prior to the effective date of the 10(j) rule, which would deem the population nonessential and experimental, rather than an endangered species.

“You have to have landowner buy-in, whether private landowners or tribal landowners, in order to have successful reintroduction,” said co-sponsor Rep. Matt Soper, R-Delta. He noted that every state that has reintroduced wolves have done so with a 10(j) rule. SB 256 is in line with Proposition 114, which was approved in 2020, with its majority support from voters along the Front Range. 

The proposition requires wolves to be placed west of the Continental Divide; designated areas include central mountain counties such as Eagle, Pitkin, Garfield, Gunnison and Montrose. 

Democrats opposed to SB 256 attempted to gut the bill further.

One amendment from Rep. Tammy Story, D-Evergreen, would have rendered the bill useless, according to co-sponsor Rep. Megan Lukens, D-Steamboat Springs. Story tried four other amendments that sponsors said would weaken the bill — all lost.

SB 256 was initially scheduled for a final vote on Wednesday morning, but that was delayed at the request of the governor’s office, sources said. The sponsors, however, who had the votes to pass it, agreed only to a few hours’ delay.

Sponsors have worked in lockstep throughout the process, Lukens indicated on Wednesday, believing the House amendments will win approval in the Senate.

Despite administration claims that the governor supports the state getting that 10(j) designation, the reasons for his opposition to SB 256 — which seeks the same thing, but with guardrails — is unclear. That position also raises the specter of a gubernatorial veto.

The second measure, Senate Bill 255, which sets aside money to pay for livestock killed by wolves, also won support in the House Wednesday on a 63-0 vote.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission on Wednesday gave unanimous approval to the CPW wolf management and restoration plan. The CPW plan does not give a specific target on the number of wolves to be brought to Colorado and transferred here from either Wyoming, Idaho or Montana.

That’s a bit of a problem. An investigation earlier this week by 9News found that officials from all three states say they have no plans to allow their wolves to be transferred to Colorado.