Stepping down
CPW Director Jeff Davis, who oversaw wolf reintroduction, moving on to new role
Jeff Davis, Colorado Parks and Wildlife director, addresses an invite-only group of wolf reintroduction stakeholders at a gathering at Don Gittleson's ranch in Northern Colorado on June 15, 2024. / Photo by Tracy Ross, The Colorado Sun
The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, who ushered in the state’s wolf reintroduction program amid widespread scrutiny over many of his decisions, is stepping down.
Jeff Davis announced Tuesday he will move to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources as a senior policy advisor for strategic priorities.
Replacing him as interim director is retired Maj. Gen. Laura Clellan, formerly the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs. She will start Dec. 1.
A statement from Gov. Jared Polis on Tuesday said Clellan comes to CPW “with extensive management, organization and military experience.”
In her civilian life, Clellan was chief for leadership and employee development in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Lakewood and worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. For the state, she served as adjutant general and executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs before retiring in October.
Clellan has more than three decades of decorated military service and multiple overseas deployments. According to reports, she was the first openly LGBTQ woman to hold the role of adjutant general of the Colorado National Guard.
Polis thanked Davis for his leadership and said he is “grateful” to have Clellan step in as acting director while the state works with the CPW commission to find a new director.
Dan Gibbs, executive director at Colorado’s DNR, said Davis came to CPW “during a period of uncertainty and change with a number of significant wildlife and recreation issues landing at his feet almost immediately.”
Chief among them was Colorado’s voter-mandated wolf reintroduction, which began in 2020 with an existing divide between wolf advocates, who wanted wolves restored in Colorado, and ranchers, who didn’t.
CPW captured 10 wolves in Oregon in December 2023 and released them between Grand and Summit counties that month. Not long after, a wolf from each of those releases found each other in Grand County, mated and, in June 2024, CPW reported they had pups.
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