Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Department of Agriculture are providing information on range riders and budget proposals to the state legislature to assist ranchers and livestock owners. CDA and CPW are working on a plan to get on-the-ground assistance with range riders.
CDA’s budget request to the legislature includes funding to hire range riders, who are boots-on-the-ground support to livestock producers to help protect herds from wolves. A human presence like a range rider can help detect wolves and deploy nonlethal deterrents to avoid depredation of livestock. While this request for range riders is pending at the legislature, CDA and CPW are deploying other available resources to provide immediate support and are working on a plan to deploy on-the-ground assistance through range riders in April 2024.