Eric Odell Retires as Colorado’s Lead Wolf Biologist

The wind still carries the scent of pine and cold dirt across the North Park basin, where the first wild gray wolves have settled into their winter ranges. It is quiet country. The kind of quiet that makes you listen for the snap of a twig or the distant howl that signals a pack is moving. Eric Odell knows that silence better than anyone. He was the first person to collar those natural migrants from Wyoming back in 2021. He watched them pup. He watched them survive.

Now, he is leaving.

Odell, the top wolf official for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, is set to retire later this year. The agency has not announced a departure date. They have, however, started the search for his successor. This is not just a personnel shuffle. It is a leadership vacuum opening up at the exact moment the state’s wolf restoration program moves from experimental to entrenched.

The short version: Odell built the bridge between the voters who approved Proposition 114 in 2020 and the reality of wolves walking down Highway 40. He has been with CPW for more than two-and-a-half decades. He held roles as a habitat biologist, conservation biologist, grassland coordinator, and carnivore conservation program manager. Now, he is stepping down as the biological lead for the state’s gray wolf reintroduction.

Laura Clellan, the state wildlife agency’s director, issued a statement praising Odell’s "dedication, expertise and passion." She noted that his retirement "leaves big shoes to fill." That is polite. It is also accurate. Odell guided the capture and release of 25 wolves from Oregon and British Columbia. He oversaw the formation of the first four wolf packs in the program’s first two years. He is the face of the wolf on the Western Slope.

But look closer at the timing.

Odell’s departure comes less than six months after Jeff Davis was forced to resign as the agency’s director in December. Davis started in May 2023, right as the wolf restoration plan was being finalized. He was in the chair for less than a year before the first wolves hit the ground. Now Clellan, a retired adjutant general who served as interim director before being permanently appointed in February, is managing the transition.

Luke Perkins, a CPW spokesperson, said the agency intends "for there to be an overlap period for training and seamless transition of the wolf conservation program manager position."

"Seamless" is a word officials love. It implies no disruption. No gaps. No growing pains. But Odell’s experience is unique. He became the first person to collar the wolves that naturally migrated into North Park from Wyoming in 2021. He didn't just manage the Oregon/British Columbia release; he managed the wild ones that showed up on their own. That is a different skill set. That is local knowledge.

Brian Dreher, the assistant director for CPW’s terrestrial wildlife branch, told the agency’s magazine, Colorado Outdoors, in June 2023 that Odell "fully embraced his role as the biological lead for wolves in Colorado" even before Proposition 114 passed. Dreher added that Odell "formed relationships with many experts in wolf management and fostered relationships with other states that will ultimately help implement a successful restoration and management program."

Those relationships matter. They are the infrastructure of the program. When Odell leaves, who takes over the North Park collar data? Who negotiates with Idaho and Wyoming when the packs start moving across borders? The agency is searching. But they haven't named a candidate. They haven't even set a start date for the new hire.

Read that again.

The man who defined the early years of Colorado’s wolf recovery is walking away. The director who replaced him lasted less than a year. The current director is managing the fallout. And the wolves? They don't care about the press releases. They are still in North Park. They are still moving.

Odell’s experience began prior to the passage of Proposition 114. He was there for the natural migration. He was there for the first pups. He is the living memory of this program. Replacing him won't just require a biologist. It will require someone who understands that the wolves here are not just the ones CPW put there. They are the ones that came anyway.

The agency says the transition will be seamless. Worth watching.