CPW director who oversaw wolf reintroduction resigned to avoid being fired, documents show

The director of Colorado Parks and Wildlife resigned his position late last month to avoid being fired and was given another job with the state documents show Jeff Davis agreed Nov to resign the top post at CPW as of the start of December on Monday according to a settlement document obtained by The Denver Post through Colorado s open record laws The agreement stipulated that Davis would be on paid leave from Nov to Dec As outlined as a condition in the settlement agreement Davis transitioned at the end of that period to a role as a senior strategy advisor to Dan Gibbs the executive director of the Department of Natural Information which oversees CPW Davis will serve in the role until May according to the agreement which was first announced by News As part of the agreement Davis agreed not to sue the state The agreement does not outline any disputes between Davis and the department or why his termination was being sought Davis was hired in April as CPW s director Before that he had served as director of conservation for the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife In Colorado he has overseen the state s highly controversial wolf reintroduction effort Coloradans in narrowly voted to mandate the reintroduction of the native species but ranching groups and rural communities have continued to oppose the undertaking CPW in the last two years has distributed wolves into the state Department of Natural Information representatives on Nov communicated that Davis had stepped down one day after department leadership signed the settlement agreement which wasn t disclosed at the time The press release announcing the change included praise from Gov Jared Polis and Gibbs This week department agents maintained the positive tone We are delighted that Jeff is voluntarily choosing to stay with DNR in a new ceiling department leaders disclosed in a announcement Wednesday night We value his expertise in wildlife management and DNR is excited that Jeff will remain with the agency to contribute his deep expertise in wildlife biology to Colorado In his new role Davis will develop department positions on local state and federal framework and monitor developments in those areas according to a document outlining the job description The role is not supervisory Related Articles Bear-human conflicts in Colorado this year were the the majority since Raccoons Denver s twilight tormenters can cause chaos for koi and pose danger for dogs Here s where Colorado s gray wolves roamed in past month Mountain lion illegally poached dumped in Colorado canyon Can Coloradans coexist better with beavers State wildlife functionaries craft plan to manage industrious rodents The Department of Natural Support repurposed a position to create the role for Davis Position is repurposed to provide attention to strategic priorities given an increase in workload in the Executive Director s Office around biodiversity tribal engagement the strength transition balancing conservation and recreation and conditions resilience the job description states The addition of more time-sensitive high priority projects to the agency s portfolio necessitates an additional term-limited FTE to be able to assist the Executive Director and other senior leaders with continuing progress towards seeing these projects to their conclusion Major General Laura Clellan will serve as interim CPW director until a permanent replacement is hired Before retiring in October she led the Colorado National Guard and the Colorado Department of Military and Veterans Affairs Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot