CFB Statement: Polis Vetoes SB 256

The following statement may be attributed to Carlyle Currier, president of the Colorado Farm Bureau:

“Colorado Farm Bureau is gravely disappointed to learn of Governor Jared Polis’s veto of Senate Bill 256, Management of Gray Wolves Reintroduction.  

This bipartisan piece of legislation was a great example of legislators responding to their constituents and working together to do what’s right for Colorado’s Western Slope ranchers and communities. 

Senate Bill 256 ensured the due diligence by the Secretary of the Interior to make a determination as to whether or not the proposed gray wolf population would receive an experimental, non-essential designation under section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act.  Furthermore, SB 256 delayed wolf introduction by the state of Colorado until such a decision was made and afforded ranchers the tools they needed to achieve conservation success and mitigate wolf-livestock conflict.

Testimony and stakeholder input overwhelmingly fought for the management tools and support that this bill provided. The agriculture community is so grateful to Senators Perry Will and Dylan Roberts and Representatives Meghan Lukens and Matt Soper for sponsoring this bill and to the entire West Slope delegation and others for voting in support. The governor’s disregard for those living in western Colorado and his direct rebuke of the legislature’s will is not how we protect ranchers and their livestock nor is it how to ensure successful wolf reintroduction.”