Colorado Parks and Wildlife and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe Announce MOU on Gray Wolf Restoration

August 18, 2026

Denver –

The State of Colorado, through Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (Tribe) have finalized a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding CPW’s efforts to restore gray wolves in Colorado and the potential impacts to Tribal lands and the Brunot Area in Southwestern Colorado.

The MOU — signed by the Chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribal Council, the CPW Director, and Governor Polis — establishes a formal framework for continued coordination and communication between the Tribe and the State of Colorado as CPW continues to implement the Colorado voter approved program to restore and manage gray wolves in accordance with the Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. At the same time, this MOU recognizes the sovereign authority of the Tribe on its Reservation and other Tribal lands and the Tribe’s protected off-Reservation hunting, fishing, and gathering rights in the Brunot Area. 

The MOU builds upon a previous MOU signed in 2013, concerning wildlife management and enforcement in the Brunot Area. The 2013 MOU acknowledged the vested interests and shared responsibility of the Tribe and the State for the wellbeing and perpetuation of wildlife resources in the Brunot Area.

The MOU regarding wolf restoration further recognizes the current, historical, and cultural importance of Western Colorado — where the State’s wolf restoration efforts are focused — to the Ute people, who are Colorado's oldest continuous residents.

“The Colorado Department of Natural Resources and its Division, Colorado Parks and Wildlife greatly appreciate our relationship with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and are committed through this MOU to promote continued cooperation and communication between the Tribe and the State in our efforts to restore the gray wolf to Colorado,” said Laura Clellan, Director, Colorado Parks and Wildlife. “The Tribe has a wide variety of interests both on its Reservation and Tribal lands as well as in the Brunot Area. We look forward to maintaining our positive working relationship that has led to the successful management and co-stewardship of wildlife in southwest Colorado.”

CPW and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe are committed to operating on a government-to-government basis that recognizes and respects the Ute Mountain Ute’s standing as a federally recognized sovereign nation. The MOU also states that CPW and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe will work together to provide a process to minimize conflicts, facilitate information sharing on gray wolf reintroductions throughout the State and confirms the Tribe’s intent to participate in the State’s program to provide fair compensation to the Tribe or Tribal Members for any losses of livestock proven to be caused by gray wolves.

"The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe values this relationship and appreciates the agreed-upon approach to information sharing: respecting the important role of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in the wildlife management of Colorado," said Tribal Council Secretary Marilynn House.

The MOU also sets out that CPW will ensure that a minimum 60-mile buffer exists between wolf release sites, the Utah state line, and the exterior boundaries of the Reservation. It also says CPW will not conduct wolf releases within the boundaries of the Brunot Area and will make reasonable efforts to maximize distance between wolf release sites and the Brunot area. This 60-mile buffer zone was included in CPW’s Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan and was developed through past Tribal consultation efforts. 

The State, through CPW, also has an MOU on gray wolf restoration with the Southern Ute Indian Tribe that was finalized in 2024.

About the Brunot Area
The Brunot Area is approximately 3.7 million acres of the San Juan Mountain region within the State of Colorado established by the 1873 Brunot Agreement. This Agreement between the confederated bands of Utes and the United States government contains an important provision reserving for the Ute people the right to “hunt upon said lands so long as the game lasts and the Indians are at peace with the white people.” Based on historical evidence and testimonials from Ute elders, this reserved right includes not only hunting but also fishing and gathering activities by which the Utes supported themselves in the region for centuries prior to the Agreement. The Utes continue to use the Brunot Area for hunting, fishing, and to gather ceremonial plants. 

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