DENVER (KDVR) — On Friday, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said experts began capture operations to move up to 15 gray wolves from British Columbia, Canada and reintroduce them in Colorado. This relocation phase is part of the controversial Colorado Wolf Restoration and Management Plan. CPW is working in agreement with the B.C. Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship to translocate and release up to 15 wolves in Garfield, Eagle and Pitkin County. "Adding wolves from British Columbia to the existing population in Colorado will increase the likelihood of pairing, breeding and pack formation. Established wolf packs defend territories, which will allow CPW to monitor patterns within a territory and will improve the agency’s ability to collaborate with producers on active behavior and coexistence strategies to best protect livestock," said CPW in a press release Saturday. 5 indicted on racketeering for allegations of widespread remodeling fraud scheme: AG The capture operations come after the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission met Wednesday and voted 10-1 to deny a petition that wanted to pause the gray wolf restoration efforts. The commission ultimately decided that the citizens' seven conditions listed in the petition had been addressed. The petition was sent by 26 agricultural and livestock producer organizations in September. CPW: Work in wolf-livestock conflict minimization done ahead of capture plan Before capture operations began on Friday, CPW said work has been done to "adopt a number of wolf-livestock conflict minimization measures." According to CPW, some of that work includes: Range rider program Definition of chronic depredation Development of a depredation response operations team Effective non-lethal tools Site assessment program Carcass removal program Communications plan How wolves will be captured from Canada In a Saturday press release, CPW outlined the plan associated with the capture and relocation of the Canadian wolves. According to CPW, British Columbia has an abundant gray wolf population in the range of 5,300 to 11,600. Once the wolves are located, they will be examined and treated for any possible diseases and infections. Next, collars will be placed on each wolf, informing CPW of their behaviors and survival. 3 arrested, facing charges in shooting death of 16-year-old girl in Aurora CPW said the wolves will then be transported in crates to Colorado via aircraft and released shortly after arrival. CPW also noted that "Gray wolves from this area of B.C. do not overlap with areas where livestock are present, so there are no concerns about reintroducing wolves that are from packs that are involved in situations of repeated livestock depredations." The operation is expected to last up to two weeks, according to CPW. The relocation of wolves from Canada comes after an original 10 gray wolves were released in late 2023 from Oregon. The voter-approved wolf reintroduction plan calls for 30 to 50 wolves to be transferred to Colorado within three to five years.