DENVER (KDVR) — Gov. Jared Polis signed a new wolf specialty license plate into law, and the money will create new methods of preventing human conflict with gray wolves.
House Bill 1265 was signed on Monday and creates the “Born to Be Wild” specialty Colorado license plate. The plate features the classic mountain outline with a black starry night sky and a gray wolf in the middle.
According to the Colorado legislature, the purpose of the plate is to raise funds for nonlethal means of mitigating and preventing human conflict following the law that will reintroduce wolves into the state by the end of 2023.
The bill states that Colorado Parks and Wildlife will use the money raised to create programs and training, deploy equipment and technology and support relevant research on cohabiting with the wolves.
You can purchase the specialty plate beginning Jan. 1, 2024, by paying an annual fee of $50 that will go to the Wildlife Cash Fund, a one-time special license plate fee of $25 and a standard license plate fee.
In 2020, voters passed Proposition 114, which approved the reintroduction of gray wolves. The majority of voters along the densely populated Front Range approved the proposition, but it continues to receive criticism from those on the Western Slope.
Polis also signed another specialty plate into law on Monday. Drivers can now show off their love of dinosaurs with a Jurassic-themed plate called the “Protect Colorado’s Fossils” license plate. It features a stegosaurus — the official fossil of Colorado. The money raised will go to the Dinosaur Ridge Museum in Morrison.