Three years after voters approved a plan to reintroduce gray wolves in Colorado, paws are finally on the ground. The state completed its first release of five animals on Monday afternoon in Grand County, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

“Whether you love wolves or whether you hate wolves, wolves are truly now a part of Colorado,” Gov. Jared Polis said in a news conference Monday night after the release. “We know there will be challenges ahead, but we will learn to coexist as we always have.”

Polis, along with about 45 people, attended the release, which was documented on video by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

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The crowd watched as the first two wolves — 1-year-old male and female siblings with gray fur mixed with black and brown patches — were set free. The male bolted up the golden grass, running partially sideways to keep an eye on everyone behind, then turning left into the trees.

The crowd watched in awed silence, then some hugged each other and low murmurs started up.

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When the latch on the second crate flipped, the wolf didn’t budge. Everyone waited as Gov. Jared Polis peeked into the cage.

After roughly 30 seconds, those around the crates stepped back, giving the wolf space. The female slowly rose inside the crate and then bounded up a snowy divot in the dirt road.

When she reached the tree line, she stopped and turned to look back at her silent audience for a moment, then disappeared into an aspen grove, its branches barren.

The other three wolves released were another pair of 1-year-old male and female siblings, as well a 2-year-old male. The wolves were all caught in Oregon on Sunday.

Colorado voters narrowly approved the reintroduction effort in 2020 through Proposition 114, with the majority of counties voting in support in the state’s Front Range region. The ballot initiative required Colorado Parks and Wildlife to begin the reintroduction process before the end of this year. 

The release comes as two federal lawsuits against Colorado Parks and Wildlife loom over the reintroduction process. On Friday, Judge Regina Rodriguez ruled against a group of ranchers seeking to delay the reintroduction, allowing the state’s plan to proceed for now. 

The state told the judge last week it planned to begin its process Sunday, with Monday being the earliest the animals could be released. 

The Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ and The Colorado Cattlemen’s associations filed that lawsuit last week, accusing Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service of not completing the required environmental impact studies on the reintroduction.   

In her ruling in that case, Rodriguez noted that the wolves are collared and could be located and recaptured if ordered by a court. 

It’s not yet clear if data gathered from those collars will be made available to the public, said Eric Odell, the species conservation program manager for CPW, in a press conference after the release.

“Once we establish where their home ranges or their pack territories will be, that will become much more publicly available,” he said.

In the press conference, CPW officials said they will “stand side by side” with the rural residents of the state and work with landowners “to implement nonlethal techniques.”

“We don’t want rural landowners to feel like they’re in this on their own,” CPW director Jeff Davis said.

The Colorado Conservation Alliance filed a separate lawsuit against the reintroduction on Thursday. That filing has similar allegations about the requirements for an environmental impact study. Both cases cite requirements under the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act as arguments against the process. 

While the Gunnison County Stockgrowers’ Association lawsuit asked for an immediate, temporary restraining order to halt the reintroduction, a similar ask has not yet been made in the latest lawsuit. Both cases are set to proceed even though wolves have already been released. 

The wolves released Monday came from Oregon after several other states — including Wyoming, Montana and Idaho — declined to provide the predators to Colorado. The agreement between the two states allows Colorado to acquire up to 10 wolves from Oregon.

Wildlife officials will release about 30 to 50 wolves over the next three to five years, according to the state’s plan. 

Wolves were native to Colorado until they were eradicated by about 1940, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Over the past decade, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has reintroduced gray wolves in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Arizona.

Some wolves from Wyoming have already begun migrating to the northwestern part of the state into areas such as Jackson and Grand counties.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Editor’s Note: The Vail Daily requested to be present for the release of wolves but editors were informed over the weekend that only three reporters would be permitted to be present including those from The Associated Press, The Colorado Sun and Colorado Public Radio.