A High Country Advocate Staff Report
Colorado Department of Natural Resources announced November 27 that Jeff Davis is stepping down as Colorado Parks and Wildlife Director to become Senior Policy Advisor for Strategic Priorities at DNR. Major General Laura Clellan, former US Fish and Wildlife Service official, becomes Acting CPW Director on December 1.
The press release frames this as routine personnel transition. The actual story: Davis moves into the coordination role Nicole Rosmarino held before becoming State Land Board Director—overseeing policy alignment across all DNR agencies. Davis stated his focus: “strategies to increase biodiversity.”
Who Jeff Davis Is
Davis came to Colorado in May 2023 after more than 20 years with Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. His second day on the job, Colorado’s wolf reintroduction plan was adopted. The next two and a half years demonstrated exactly what “biodiversity strategies” mean in practice.
Davis oversaw wolf reintroduction despite overwhelming rural opposition. An overwhelming majority of Western Slope counties opposed the program in 2022 resolutions. Davis proceeded anyway, releasing 10 wolves from Oregon in December 2023 and 15 wolves from British Columbia in January 2025.
The results: 59 confirmed livestock and working dog deaths between April 2022 and present. CPW killed wolves for “chronic depredation” after repeated livestock attacks. Eleven wolves died or were killed.
Twenty-six organizations petitioned CPW to pause the program. Davis’s commission denied the petition days before importing wolves from British Columbia. Ranchers and rural communities demanded pause to establish conflict minimization programs. Davis rejected their requests.
The federal government stopped Canadian wolf imports in November 2025. Washington State denied Colorado’s request for 15 additional wolves, citing lack of public support. The program Davis championed cannot continue because other states recognize the problems Colorado ignored.
Throughout his tenure, Davis was “relatively inaccessible” to media. When he finally granted interviews in summer 2025, he defended decisions prioritizing wolf advocacy groups over ranching communities. Rocky Mountain Wolf Project praised his “admirable stewardship.” Livestock producers got 59 dead animals and denied petitions.
This record reveals what Davis’s coordination role will emphasize: biodiversity strategies overriding rural opposition, agricultural interests, and traditional wildlife management priorities.
Why the Senior Policy Advisor Role Matters
Senior Policy Advisor positions coordinate implementation across multiple agencies. Nicole Rosmarino held the identical title—”Senior Policy Advisor for Wildlife, Agriculture, and Rural Economic Development”—before Governor Polis appointed her State Land Board Director in June 2025. From that position, she influenced CPW wildlife priorities, State Land Board leasing decisions, and parks policies simultaneously.
Now Davis coordinates strategic priorities while Rosmarino controls 2.8 million acres of state trust lands. Together, they align policies across CPW, State Land Board, State Parks, and water resource agencies.
“Increase biodiversity” is rewilding movement language used by Southern Plains Land Trust, The Rewilding Institute, and activists documented in the High Country Advocate’s Buffalo Commons investigation. When state officials adopt this terminology, they signal policy alignment with landscape transformation agendas.
The Coordination Structure Now Complete
Three High Country Advocate investigations since September document coordinated institutional capture:
Buffalo Commons documented Jay Tutchton serving simultaneously on CPW Commission, Southern Plains Land Trust board, and Great Outdoors Colorado board. CPW creates wildlife priorities, SPLT acquires ranchland matching those priorities, GOCO funds the acquisitions. Sixty thousand acres converted to prairie restoration.
Geothermal Investigation revealed how Rosmarino moved from founding Southern Plains Land Trust through Senior Policy Advisor to State Land Board Director. Three months after her appointment, the board denied Mt. Princeton Geothermal’s lease renewal despite 12 years of development and $2 million invested.
Land Use Code Investigation showed the same Denver law firm writing coordinated codes for fifteen mountain counties using state grant leverage. Chaffee County Planning Commission Chair Marjo Curgus simultaneously served as Housing Authority Executive Director while voting on provisions benefiting her employer.
Davis’s transition completes the structure:
Jay Tutchton: CPW Commissioner + SPLT board + GOCO board sets wildlife priorities aligned with land acquisition strategies and funding.
Nicole Rosmarino: State Land Board Director controls 2.8 million surface acres, determines leasing terms affecting grazing and energy development.
Jeff Davis: Coordinates “strategic priorities” across all DNR agencies, focusing on “biodiversity strategies.” Wolf reintroduction demonstrated his willingness to override rural opposition.
Major General Laura Clellan: Acting CPW Director from US Fish and Wildlife Service, emphasizing federal Endangered Species Act compliance over traditional state wildlife management.
Advocates with shared goals occupy positions controlling wildlife priorities, land access, agency coordination, and policy implementation.
What Mountain Communities Face
Davis’s biodiversity strategies will manifest as:
Wildlife corridor restrictions where CPW identifies priority habitat, State Land Board adjusts leasing decisions, and counties adopt codes restricting development. Property owners lose development rights, grazing leases get denied or repriced.
Species reintroductions justified as biodiversity enhancement regardless of local opposition. Wolf reintroduction demonstrated the template: 59 dead livestock, denied petitions, rejected pause requests. Davis coordinates support across DNR agencies. State Land Board provides trust lands for release sites.
Shifting access priorities from hunting and fishing toward wildlife viewing. Biodiversity goals prioritize species protection over sportsmen’s access. General fund appropriations replace license revenue, giving environmental groups more influence than sportsmen who traditionally funded CPW.
Coordinated implementation where policies Tutchton advances through CPW Commission get implemented through Rosmarino’s State Land Board decisions. Counties opposing wildlife corridor restrictions face delayed lease renewals, regulatory pressure from habitat priorities, disadvantaged grant applications.
The Buffalo Commons investigation documented sixty thousand acres converted from ranching to prairie restoration through synchronized state policies. The Geothermal investigation revealed coordination driving Mt. Princeton development despite unsuitable location and community opposition. The Land Use Code investigation showed fifteen counties adopting identical regulations through state grant leverage.
Davis’s role extends this pattern statewide across all DNR agencies.
The Bottom Line
Coverage thanked Davis for service. Nobody asked what “strategies to increase biodiversity” means for rural Colorado or examined the coordination structure being created.
Davis came to CPW during hunter criticism over wolf decisions and declining big game populations. Traditional constituents felt ignored while advocacy groups gained influence. He leaves with environmental groups empowered, sportsmen facing new restrictions, and a proven track record of implementing biodiversity goals despite overwhelming rural opposition.
The coordination structure is complete. Wolf reintroduction demonstrated the template. The priorities are explicit. Mountain communities depending on hunting access, grazing leases, traditional land uses, and local control face coordinated policy implementation across agencies that previously operated independently.
Watch CPW Commission meetings where Tutchton votes on priorities affecting areas where SPLT operates. Watch State Land Board decisions affecting traditional uses in CPW priority habitat areas. Watch county code revisions requiring wildlife corridor provisions. Watch Acting Director Clellan’s approach to traditional sportsmen versus environmental advocacy groups.
Rural Colorado’s ability to maintain traditional land uses depends on recognizing institutional capture before coordination advances beyond challenge.
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