The Colorado Parks and Wildlife director who left his agency’s top job two months ago under pressure is weeks away from joining the Wyoming Game and Fish Department as a deputy director.
Jeff Davis, who was trained and worked as a biologist, will assume leadership of external operations at Game and Fish in early February, according to spokeswoman Amanda Fry. The hire drew a spate of headlines in Colorado partly because of the circumstances of Davis’ departure: He resigned in November instead of being terminated, according to documents acquired by 9News, the NBC affiliate in Denver.
The settlement agreement acquired by 9News did not specify why Davis was going to be fired, and a spokesman for the agency told the station he couldn’t comment on the matter.
At the time of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s late November announcement, Davis was said to be transitioning into a “senior policy advisor” role under Colorado Department of Natural Resources Executive Director Dan Gibbs.
Less than a month later, however, Davis signed an employment offer from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, according to additional documents acquired by 9News.
Davis was hired by Colorado Gov. Jared Polis in the spring of 2023. Before that, he worked as the director of conservation for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, capping a 22-year stint with that state agency.
For the last couple of years, Davis has helmed Parks and Wildlife through the high-profile and voter-initiated reintroduction of wolves to Colorado.
Wolves have been a point of friction between Wyoming and Colorado even before reintroduction. The first Colorado wolf packs in 80 years resulted from natural dispersers who showed up on their own in 2019. In 2023, citing state statute, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department stopped informing the then-Davis-led Colorado Parks and Wildlife when members of another pack of dispersed wolves were killed by hunters north of the state line.
Subsequently, Brian Nesvik, a former Wyoming Game and Fish director, began challenging Colorado’s wolf reintroduction after his Trump administration appointment to direct the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
On December 19, Nesvik sent Colorado Parks and Wildlife Acting Director Lauren Clellan a letter threatening to take over management of wolves in Colorado unless the state addressed compliance issues, according to reporting by the Fort Collins Coloradoan.
Three days later, Davis, who’d already been ousted, signed the job offer with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Davis steps into a post vacated by Doug Brimeyer, a Jackson-based wildlife biologist who rose through the ranks and retired after a 34-year career.
“The wildlife and landscapes of western Wyoming provided an incredible backdrop for a career I’ve been truly grateful for,” Brimeyer wrote in an outgoing email to friends and colleagues. “I’ve had a fantastic career and have been fortunate to work with so many dedicated, talented wildlife professionals.”
I have been following the Colorado wolf reintroduction since it started and calling it a cluster would be generous. Misinformation, over stepping, a good case study on what not to do with a reintroduction of a controversial species. Mr. Davis had a tough job dealing with both the Governor and his spouse, but made some pretty questionable missteps since the first wolves were released. I sure hope he does a better job with WG&F.
As far as the wolf reintroduction in Colorado, it will be interesting when they finally expand onto the front range and people begin losing their pets. People are already up in arms about the mountain lions infringing on their communities, just wait until you have wolves.
What the heck???
This is like getting a new sheriff that left one county over after they found a dead inmate in his jail.
No details why he was going to be fired and took the option to quit.
Is there some kind of “thin green line” in fish and games departments that take in questionable personnel out of some kind of loyalty?
Details from Davis over his departure in Colorado might help.
Perhaps he did not agree with wolf re-introduction and did not care for a democratic run government. That would be enough for me to resign.
That’s my take on a guess , he left Co. under bullies and disagreement on unfulfilled obligations on wolf project.
Chancy, wolf reintroduction has been in the works since November 2020, Governor Polis has been in office since 2019, so if Davis didn’t know what he was getting into, that’s on him. This article does a disservice to WyoFile readers because IMHO it does not provide any meaningful information surrounding Davis’s termination, nor does it provide any information on his performance, opinions or actions while he was the Colorado Parks and Wildlife director.