Could the job of preserving America’s wolves shift to states?

While the nation was transfixed by the presidential election, Coloradans had something else to howl about. 

Five days before the election, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that, on Jan. 4, 2021, the gray wolf will be removed from its list of endangered species. At the same time, Coloradans were locked in a fierce debate over a ballot question asking if the state should reintroduce gray wolves.

The Colorado ballot initiative, Proposition 114, passed by just 2 percentage points, making history as the first time a state’s voters, rather than the federal government, called for wolf reintroduction. 

The narrow vote in Colorado highlights how divisive this issue can be.