Experts fear for wolves managed by states
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BILLINGS, Mont. — Plans that Montana, Idaho and Wyoming drafted to
manage gray wolves once they’re removed from federal protection should
be enough to ensure the animals’ survival in the Northern Rockies,
experts who reviewed the plans have concluded.
But in reports made public yesterday, a number of the experts said
they are concerned about whether there will be enough money to
properly manage the wolves and how the states plan to monitor the
animals.
A number of the experts found the states’ reliance on federal funding
troublesome.
“The success of the three state plans, or the degree to which they
will be implemented, will be dependent upon the amount and annual
guarantee of federal funding,” wrote Bill Paul, assistant state
director with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services in
Minnesota.
Paul was one of 11 wildlife managers and scientists asked by the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to review the three state plans as part of
the agency’s determination of whether the wolves should be removed
from the endangered species list.
Gray wolves were first reintroduced to the Yellowstone ecosystem in
1995, and the federal agency considers their recovery a success. When
they are removed from the species list, however, management will pass
to the three states, all of which were officially hostile to wolf
reintroduction from its beginning.
The 11 wildlife managers and scientists concluded individually that
plans Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have submitted for managing the
animals should maintain a viable population into the foreseeable
future.
That, however, doesn’t mean a proposal to take the wolves off the
endangered species list is imminent, said Ed Bangs, the agency’s wolf
recovery coordinator in Helena, Mont.
“We’ll take the peer review comments into account, but it does not
mean that this is the end,” he said yesterday.
If the plans are deemed adequate for maintaining a wolf population,
the agency will decide if it should propose delisting, a move Bangs
said would affect wolves in other parts of the West and trigger
another process of review and public comment.
Bangs declined to comment directly on the issues raised in the
reviews, although he said that overall, they yielded no surprises.
Besides funding, reviewers also questioned how wolves would be
monitored.
At least one reviewer said Idaho’s plan was vague on that point.
Additionally, some reviewers raised concerns with how Wyoming intends
to classify wolves if they are removed from federal protection.
Under the Wyoming plan, gray wolves in some areas would be considered
trophy game and subject to regulated hunting, while in others they
would be classified predators and could be killed with few
restrictions.
The wolves would be protected in the national parks.
John Emmerich, assistant chief of the wildlife division with the
Wyoming Game and Fish Department, said yesterday he had not had a
chance to study all the reviews yet. But he said Wyoming’s plan is
flexible and allows for changes if the wolf population falls below a
desired level.
Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the
Governor’s Office of Species Conservation said that state plan’s “lack
of specificity” was by design.
The state Fish and Game Commission will provide management details
“through normal process,” they said in a statement.
Chris Smith, chief of staff with Montana’s Department of Fish,
Wildlife and Parks, said the state’s plan will cost from $800,000 and
$1 million a year to implement.
He, like officials in other states, believes the federal government
should help.
“We’ve said from the get-go, we believe that since this is a national
initiative to restore wolves to the Northern Rockies, the people of
the nation should share in the cost,” he said.
“We think it’s appropriate that federal funding be made available, and
I’m fairly confident it will be.”