Wildlife advocates hope Colorado’s new wolf conservation manager can restart a stalled program that has seen increasing conflicts with ranchers and is restricted from importing wolves into the state.
Matthew Hyde has been selected by Colorado Parks and Wildlife to replace Eric Odell, the career Parks and Wildlife biologist who ushered in Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program after voters approved it in 2020. Hyde, who spent two years studying the relationship between wolves and people as a postdoctoral fellow with the California Wolf Project through University of California Berkeley’s wildlife program, began work overseeing Colorado’s program this week.
Odell, who retired last week after 26 years with CPW, has been touted as a quiet leader who stayed out of policy debates to focus on building the wolf program. His work garnered several prestigious awards and Frontier Airlines christened one of its signature aircraft animals after him — Odell the Lynx.
The Colorado Sun learned of Hyde’s selection as the new wolf conservation program manager Monday. CPW spokesperson Luke Perkins confirmed the decision but did not provide details on the process in which he was chosen. Perkins said Hyde has already started in the job but would not be available for interviews until he has met with staff and become more acclimated to the position.
Colorado’s wolf reintroduction program, approved by voters in 2020, has been rocky from the start with the last year being particularly disruptive. In October 2025, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service blocked CPW from importing gray wolves from British Columbia amid accusations of misconduct. In January, director Brian Nesvik demanded a full accounting of CPW’s actions from the start of the program. More scrutiny followed in April, with a request for public comment on how the agency is implementing its mandate to protect livestock from the predators. And in May, Odell told the Parks and Wildlife Commission he could not provide them with an estimate of when, if ever, wolves would be fully reestablished in the state.
Things have improved in recent months and Hyde inherits a program that’s sturdier than when Odell first announced his retirement.
On July 22, CPW confirmed the successful reproduction of three existing wolf packs and the formation of a new pack — Piney Ridge — all with litters ranging between four and six pups. Combined with a first generation of pups, that could bring the total number of wolves into the 50s, inching them closer to the 150 needed for a self-sustaining population.
But the future of Colorado’s wolf restoration remains unknown as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to evaluate CPW’s efforts amid a threat to take over the program. Both major-party gubernatorial candidates, Democrat Phil Weiser and Republican Victor Marx, are noncommittal on the future of wolves in Colorado.
Before his work with the California Wolf Project, Hyde studied carnivore-livestock conflicts through the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence at Colorado State University,” Darlene Kobobel, founder of the Colorado Wolf and Wildlife Center, said in an email. “His published work has examined non-lethal methods to reduce livestock depredation and evaluated whether diversionary feeding can help reduce wolf conflicts with livestock. His research focuses on how to support working ranches while reducing conflicts with large carnivores.”
“A big chunk of what Matt worked on in California was engaging with livestock producers to get a better understanding of how our compensation program worked, how it could work better, how they felt about different tools that were available from the agency and how they felt about the agency,” Axel Hunnicutt, statewide gray wolf coordinator for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, told The Sun in an interview.
Ranchers and wolf advocates are urging Hyde to approach his new job in the same manner Odell did.
“Eric stayed out of the policy debates and really focused on the field science, the logistics, the data collection and the mechanics of transitioning the agency from capture and translocation to building out the field program,” said Courtney Vail, a conservation biologist and community outreach advisor for the advocacy group Rocky Mountain Wolf Project. “I think it’s important to have that impartial voice as scaffolding underpinning the wolf program.”
Odell brings an even-handed approach to addressing divisions over the native predator, Lenny Klinglesmith, a rancher from Meeker who worked with Odell both before and after CPW brought wolves to Colorado, said. “Whatever bias you might have had about wolves, he would kind of straighten it out,” he added. “Wolves aren’t the devil, but they darn sure aren’t the saints they’re made out to be by some. He had a pretty grounded approach and realistic view of wolves and how to manage them.”
And having someone with experience working on wolves in California could be a huge boon for Colorado, said Hunnicutt, whose agency dealt with nearly 200 confirmed livestock losses to 12 packs of wolves compared with Washington, which had 17 confirmed losses to 48 packs of wolves, he said.
“So Matt’s coming from a very similar realm of a relatively small number of wolves that are expanding and causing conflict. I am sad to say for myself that he’s (leaving). But Matt is super stable. He doesn’t get super emotional. He’s very smart. He’s very empathetic. And I think that has resonated super well with producers in California.”