Colorado Parks and Wildlife possessed written federal authorization approving Canadian wolf imports when gubernatorial candidate Greg Lopez accused the agency of committing federal crimes. CPW Director Jeff Davis had that authorization when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik threatened to strip Colorado of all wolf management authority. Davis had it when he was forced to resign. He never used it.
A February 14, 2024 letter from USFWS to CPW wolf program manager Eric Odell explicitly approved importing wolves from British Columbia. “Because Canadian gray wolves aren’t listed under the Endangered Species Act, no ESA authorization or federal authorization was needed,” the letter stated. The Colorado Sun obtained the document through open records requests and published it January 8, 2026 – three months after Lopez and Nesvik began their assault on the program, ten days before a federal deadline threatening complete federal takeover.
The question is not whether CPW violated federal law. The documented evidence proves they did not. The question is why CPW leadership allowed false accusations to destroy the program rather than produce evidence sitting in their files.
Lopez, running unaffiliated for governor in his third attempt, began coordinating with Nesvik in September 2025. Lopez sent a letter to USFWS Regional Director Matt Hogan on September 9 requesting federal intervention to stop Canadian wolf imports. When Hogan responded the agency “couldn’t do anything,” Lopez contacted Nesvik directly. Within days, Nesvik issued an October 10 cease-and-desist letter claiming Canadian imports violated the 10(j) rule restricting sources to Northern Rocky Mountain states.
That letter contradicted Nesvik’s own agency’s written approval issued 20 months earlier under the Biden administration. Nesvik, confirmed by the Senate in August 2025, sent it two months into his tenure. He served as Wyoming Game and Fish Director from 2019 until 2024. Wyoming refused to supply wolves to Colorado, allows wolves shot on sight in predator areas, and now employs Davis – hired as deputy director starting February 2, 2026, less than three months after Nesvik’s threats forced Davis from Colorado’s program.
The revolving door is not coincidental. It demonstrates coordination working exactly as intended. Wyoming’s former director uses federal authority to threaten Colorado’s director, who resigns and immediately accepts employment from Wyoming. The program collapses.
Davis possessed the February 2024 approval letter throughout. He had it when Lopez told the CPW Commission on November 14 that Davis and his staff could face “enforcement action” for Endangered Species Act violations. Lopez claimed he was “a thousand times sure” CPW broke federal law. Davis, holding written federal authorization proving otherwise, said nothing. Eight days later he signed a settlement agreement to resign and avoid termination.
Acting Director Laura Clellan, who replaced Davis on December 1, also did not release the letter. Spokesperson Luke Perkins told media CPW “has coordinated with USFWS throughout its gray wolf reintroduction effort, and has complied with all applicable federal and state laws.” That statement, issued while Clellan possessed documentary proof of compliance, omitted the evidence. CPW waited for a newspaper to obtain it through open records.
The legal claims were fabricated. Tom Delehanty, senior attorney for Earthjustice, told The Colorado Sun that Nesvik and Lopez “identified no specific provision of any law – federal, state or otherwise – that CPW or anyone else supposedly violated.” The 10(j) rule itself states the Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population “is part of a larger metapopulation of wolves that encompasses all of Western Canada.” Delehanty characterized their assertions as “making up legal requirements that don’t exist for political leverage.”
CPW had three months to deploy evidence refuting those fabricated claims. The agency chose silence. Spokesperson Travis Duncan told media the British Columbia partnership “was based on consultations with USFWS and were signed before the letter from USFWS was received” – technically accurate, deliberately incomplete. That response allowed Lopez to campaign across Colorado claiming CPW committed federal crimes while Nesvik escalated to termination threats.
Whether CPW leadership surrendered from political cowardice or quiet agreement with program opponents, the result was identical. The January 2026 release is dead. CPW secured no wolves. British Columbia, blocked by Nesvik’s fabricated legal claims, was the only viable source after Washington rejected CPW’s request and Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming refused participation. The program collapsed while CPW officials held evidence that could have stopped it.
Nesvik’s December 18 letter gave CPW until January 18 to provide complete documentation of all wolf activities since December 2023 or face “immediate revocation of all CPW authority over gray wolves.” That deadline arrives in ten days. CPW now has public confirmation of what its officials knew privately for three months: the Canadian imports carried written federal approval. Davis and Clellan possessed evidence proving Nesvik’s and Lopez’s claims were false. They suppressed it. The program died.
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