Here we go again. Activists are working to place another extreme ballot initiative before Colorado voters and want to do so for the 2026 election year.
Referred to as Initiative 82, the “Colorado Wildlife & Biodiversity Protection Act” would create a parallel entity that could replace the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission, a citizen-led board dating back to the 1930s that sets regulations and policies for Colorado’s state parks and wildlife programs.
If passed, the initiative would immediately create an “independent” commission to oversee species survival and take steps to heighten legal protections for keystone species, presumably wolves, mountain lions and black bears, although exact species are not spelled out. The measure also states this new commission would “ensure the continuity of wildlife protections in the event that existing conservation agencies such as Colorado Parks and Wildlife are defunded, disbanded or rendered operationally nonfunctional.”
Proponents Jessica Presso and Cameron Porter, whose supporting organizations were not named, submitted the proposal on April 18, 2025, to the Legislative Council Staff, a nonpartisan research group serving the Colorado legislature that supports and informs the policymaking process. A subsequent review and comment hearing took place on May 2, 2025, during which staffers offered about four dozen comments and questions about the initiative’s language and approach. Below are a few of the highlights learned:
- If approved by voters, the new commission will receive $2.5 million in taxpayer dollars
- The new commission will determine if keystone species are harmed
- The new commission will impose fines, dollars from which will fund its operations
- The Colorado constitution does not allow for the creation of a new executive agency that exists “independently” of the existing department structure
Proponents must address the Legislative Council Staff’s concerns, resubmit their measure and gain approval from the Secretary of State’s Office before trying to gather enough qualifying signatures to place it on the 2026 ballot.
This route is not an unfamiliar one for activists. In 2020, such groups gathered signatures for a ballot measure to forcibly introduce wolves into Colorado. Citing the recklessness of ballot box biology, RMEF strongly opposed and provided more than $300,000 to educate the public. Originally predicted to pass by an 80-20 margin, it ultimately passed by less than two percent. The subsequent wolf introduction program faces numerous obstacles and P-R black eyes including high costs, capturing and later recapturing wolves, animals that wander outside the state border and confirmed wolf kills of nearly 36 cattle, 12 sheep, one llama and four dogs.
In 2024, proponents qualified an anti-wildlife management measure to ban the hunting of mountain lions and bobcats. RMEF worked alongside partners and supplied more than $340,000 to educate the public, which decisively rejected it.
(Photo credit: Colorado Parks and Wildlife)