Colorado Parks and Wildlife director Jeff Davis resigned to avoid firing

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. 22 to resign the top post at CPW as of the start of December on Monday, according to a settlement document obtained by JS through Colorado’s open record laws. The agreement stipulated that Davis would be on paid leave from Nov. 21 to Dec. 1.

As outlined as a condition in the settlement agreement, Davis transitioned at the end of that period to a role as a senior policy advisor to Dan Gibbs, the executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, which oversees CPW. Davis will serve in the role until May 15, according to the agreement, which was first reported by 9News.

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 2023 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 program.

Coloradans in 2020 narrowly voted to mandate the reintroduction of the native species, but ranching groups and rural communities have continued to oppose the program. CPW in the last two years has released 25 wolves into the state.

Department of Natural Resources officials on Nov. 25 announced 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 officials maintained the positive tone.

“We are delighted that Jeff is voluntarily choosing to stay with DNR in a new capacity,” department officials said in a statement 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 policy and monitor developments in those areas, according to a document outlining the job description. The role is not supervisory.

The Department of Natural Resources repurposed a position to create the role for Davis.

“Position 003 is repurposed to provide attention to strategic priorities given (an) increase in workload in the Executive Director’s Office around biodiversity, tribal engagement, the energy transition, balancing conservation and recreation, and climate 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.”