Colorado’s top wildlife official has stepped down after more than two years in a role that was largely defined by the state’s controversial wolf reintroduction program.

Jeff Davis has left his job as director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, according to a Tuesday news release from the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Davis was appointed to the role by Gov. Jared Polis in May 2023, and previously served for more than 20 years with Washington state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

He will transition to a senior policy advisor role in the department’s executive director’s office. The news release did not give a reason for Davis’ departure. 

In a statement, Davis said he was “honored to work with an amazing team and set of individuals at Colorado Parks and Wildlife.”

As director, Davis helmed the agency that oversees Colorado’s 42 state parks, issues hunting and fishing licenses, manages wildlife and conducts a host of recreation, conservation and research-based initiatives. He also worked with the agency’s volunteer commission, providing updates and recommendations to the body that makes regulatory and policy decisions for the agency. 

But much of his tenure was focused on Colorado’s gray wolf reintroduction program, which voters narrowly approved in November 2020. 

Davis oversaw the first round of wolves reintroduced in Colorado in December 2023, when 10 wolves were captured in Oregon and released in Summit and Grand counties. A second wolf drop was carried out this past January, with the state releasing 15 wolves from British Columbia in Eagle and Pitkin counties. 

The reintroduction, which an overwhelming majority of Western Slope counties opposed in 2022, remains controversial. 

Parks and Wildlife officials have defended their efforts to carry out a voter-approved mandate, citing the strain that the program has put on agency staff as tensions with the ranching community intensify. At the same time, livestock producers and their representatives in the state legislature have criticized the agency for what they see as a lack of transparency and preparedness. 

The program’s costs have also ballooned beyond initial projections, with Parks and Wildlife spending over $3 million on the program between July 2024 and May 2025 — $2.2 million more than what was expected. 

Livestock groups have launched efforts to halt and even end the reintroduction program, which has so far failed. Parks and Wildlife also continues to face headwinds that are complicating efforts to carry out a third wolf drop this winter. 

The federal government last month told Colorado that it can no longer import wolves from Canada, and that any new relocations must be from U.S. Rocky Mountain states.

Less than two weeks ago, Washington state denied Parks and Wildlife’s request for up to 15 gray wolves, citing a lack of public support and wolves’ endangered status in the state. 

Colorado has so far relocated 25 wolves since first releasing the animals in December 2023. Those wolves have gone on to form four packs, with at least 10 pups born. 

Eleven wolves have been confirmed to have died or been killed during that time. Parks and Wildlife killed a year-old pup in late May after being connected to multiple livestock attacks in just over a week in Pitkin County, which met the agency’s definition of “chronic depredation,” which can warrant lethal action. Another chronically depredating wolf was shot in August, but the body was never found, and officials could not confirm if the animal was dead.

In a statement announcing Davis’ departure, Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director said that Davis “came to Colorado Parks and Wildlife during a period of uncertainty and change with a number of significant wildlife and recreation issues landing at his feet almost immediately.”

Gibbs said Davis is leaving the agency “in a much better place internally as well as a notable record of achievement and progress in areas of building a stronger culture, wildlife management, and stakeholder involvement and engagement.”

Polis also thanked Davis in a statement for his work with Parks and Wildlife, adding he is “grateful that he will continue to serve the state of Colorado.”

Officials said a formal search for a new permanent director “will begin soon.” In the interim, Laura Clellan, a retired adjutant general and the executive director of the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, will serve as the acting director for Parks and Wildlife starting on Dec. 1.