Colorado’s wolf rein­tro­duc­tion ini­tia­tive was head­ed for vic­to­ry Thurs­day as oppo­nents con­ced­ed defeat and back­ers hailed the prece­dent-set­ting shift of state vot­ers direct­ing their gov­ern­ment for the first time to intro­duce an imper­iled species.

Col­orado Parks and Wildlife now must devel­op a plan and rein­tro­duce an unde­ter­mined num­ber of gray wolves by the end of 2023 on for­mer habi­tat in the state west of the Con­ti­nen­tal Divide.

Pro­po­nents empha­sized this means “paws on the ground” by the end of 2023.

Those opposed to wolf rein­tro­duc­tion con­ced­ed that, with 90% of the votes count­ed and Propo­si­tion 114 ahead with 50.3% in favor and 49.7% against, wolf rein­tro­duc­tion is mov­ing ahead against their wishes.

“Col­oradans Pro­tect­ing Wildlife stands firm in our belief that the forced intro­duc­tion of wolves into Col­orado is bad pol­i­cy and should not have been decid­ed by the vot­ers,” oppo­si­tion cam­paign spokesman Patrick Pratt said.

“While the elec­tion did not turn out as we had hoped, we are mov­ing for­ward to con­tin­ue to edu­cate Col­oradans about the impor­tance of this issue. The elec­tion results demon­strate that near­ly half of Col­oradans agree with us. We hope these elec­tion results show pro­po­nents, law­mak­ers and Col­orado Parks and Wildlife that next steps must be tak­en in a mea­sured, respon­si­ble way,” Pratt said.

Most of the votes left to be count­ed on Propo­si­tion 114, the Gray Wolf Rein­tro­duc­tion Ini­tia­tive, came from urban areas includ­ing Den­ver and Boul­der, where majori­ties sup­port­ed rein­tro­duc­ing wolves. State law would require a recount only if the dif­fer­ence in votes is 0.5% or less.

Rocky Moun­tain Wolf Action Fund pres­i­dent Rob Edward declared that “the hard work, the crit­i­cal work, of rekin­dling a wolf pop­u­la­tion in Col­orado begins now.”

Pro-wolf advo­cates called for set­ting aside “the myth­i­cal wolf” pre­sent­ed in cam­paign debates and a com­mit­ment to team­work as Col­orado Parks and Wildlife offi­cials pre­pare to imple­ment this new law.

“The myth­i­cal wolf has no place in the work ahead. So we urge Colorado’s lead­ers to let sci­ence shine a light on the real wolf, as we plot a course for a future with wolves,” Edward said. “Colorado’s vote will one day be seen as a mon­u­men­tal con­ser­va­tion vic­to­ry. The vot­ers of Col­orado should be proud.”

This marks the first time vot­ers in a state have direct­ed state offi­cials to rein­tro­duce a wildlife species on for­mer habi­tat. Col­orado Parks and Wildlife offi­cials pre­vi­ous­ly have reject­ed the idea of rein­tro­duc­ing wolves in the state.

Vot­ers in rur­al Col­orado strong­ly opposed wolf reintroduction.

The mea­sure requires CPW to make a plan based on the best sci­ence and begin rein­tro­duc­ing wolves by the end of 2023 to ensure a sus­tain­able pop­u­la­tion in the state. This must be done on des­ig­nat­ed pub­lic land west of the Con­ti­nen­tal Divide.

Wolves already have made a come­back in Wyoming, Ida­ho, Mon­tana and oth­er states and num­ber about 6,000 nation­wide. Offi­cials recent­ly have con­firmed the pres­ence of a small pack of wolves in north­west­ern Colorado.

Fed­er­al offi­cials last week lift­ed endan­gered species pro­tec­tion, declar­ing the gray wolf recov­ered, an Endan­gered Species Act suc­cess sto­ry along with the bald eagle. This leaves wolves’ fate increas­ing­ly up to state wildlife man­agers whose plans typ­i­cal­ly allow hunt­ing of wolves where sus­tain­able and “removal” by ranch­ers if wolves threat­en livestock.