Colorado has now spent more than $8 million over five years on the wolf restoration program, according to a presentation made at Thursday's Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting in Grand Junction.

Justin Rutter, the assistant director for financial and capital services at Colorado Parks and Wildlife, also addressed the apparent discrepancy between the General Assembly's Blue Book estimate of the annual program cost, which is around $800,000.

He noted a caveat in the Blue Book language around the program's cost, one that said, "actual state spending will depend on the details of the plan," developed by the commission, and the cost to compensate for livestock losses caused by wolves.

Those additional costs since the ballot measure was passed in 2020 have included what CPW has spe

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