DWR meetings offer public forum on wolf management plan in Utah
By Brett Prettyman
The Salt Lake Tribune
One of the most complex and emotional wildlife issues ever to hit Utah — the return of wolves — is about to go public.
ýýý The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) released Thursday its schedule for gathering comments on wolf management in the state. Members of the Wolf Working Group are charged by the DWR to come up with a management plan by spring 2005.
ýýý “There are a lot of people who would like to see predators have equal protection with all other wildlife, and some of them are particularly devoted to wolves,” said Wolf Working Group member Debbie Goodman, who represents the Audubon Society.
ýýý “There are also a lot of other people out there with a strong animosity for predators. Things are sure to heat up,” Goodman said.
ýýý The 10 meetings begin March 8 in Roosevelt and conclude March 19 in Spanish Fork. In an effort to control long, emotional pleas from citizens, the meetings will break DWR tradition and not include a chance for individuals to address the meeting in front of a microphone.
ýýý Dynamic Solutions Group, hired to facilitate the meetings, has arranged for an open-house format with members of the Wolf Working Group, and Craig McLaughlin, mammals coordinator for the DWR, will be available for face-to-face conversations.
ýýý People will be asked to submit concerns on handwritten sheets, one sheet of paper per issue, and those will be posted at the meeting before being presented to members of the Wolf Working Group.
ýýý “We wanted to make these meetings as productive as possible, and this is what we came up with,” McLaughlin said.
ýýý The Wolf Working Group is comprised of 13 members representing wolf advocates, sportsmen, agricultural interests, local government, academia, the Utah Wildlife Board and two at-large conservation groups.
ýýý Bill Christensen, a member of the group representing sportsmen as the regional director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, suggested the Wolf Management Group avoid making any kind of outline for the plan until it hears from the people of Utah.
ýýý “That allows us to listen to everything with an open mind,” Christensen said. “We need to hear everything the public has to say before we start formulating the plan.”
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ýýýMeeting schedule
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ýýý* Roosevelt March 8, Utah State University Extension (Multi-purpose Room), 987 E. Lagoon St.
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ýýý* Vernal March 9, Uintah County of Western Park (Room 3), 302 E. 200 S.
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ýýý* Salt Lake City March 10, Department of Natural Resources (Auditorium), 1594 W. North Temple
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ýýý* Ogden March 11, Ogden Union Station, 2501 Wall Ave.
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ýýý* Logan March 12, Bridgerland Applied Technology Center (Rooms 1513 and 1514), 1301 N. 600 West
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ýýý* Cedar City March 15, Cross Hollows Intermediate School, 2215 W. Royal Hunte Dr., (Up the hill behind Wal-Mart)
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ýýý* Richfield March 16, Sevier County Administration Building (old Court House), 250 N. Main St.
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ýýý* Moab March 17, Moab Senior Center, 450 E. 100 N.
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ýýý* Price March 18, Castle Valley Center, 755 N. Cedar Hills Drive
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ýýý* Spanish Fork March 19, Spanish Fork Veterans Center, 400 N. Main St.
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ýýý All meetings start at 7 p.m. and are limited to two hours.