Federal government wants wolves outside parks
By Rebecca Huntington
Jackson Hole News&Guide
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may approve
Wyoming’s wolf manage-ment plan if the state guarantees the survival
of seven packs outside national parks.
Wyoming wildlife officials greeted the service’s determination
as a positive step toward removing wolves from federal protection
under the Endangered Species Act.
But it remains unclear whether a law passed
this winter by state legislators will allow the state to commit
to seven packs outside the parks. The law, HB 229, governs how
the state will classify and manage wolves.
"There’s some ambiguity in the language
of the law," said Bill Wichers, Game and Fish deputy director.
According to Game and Fish, the state law
has two interpretations.
One interpretation calls for main-taining
a minimum of 15 wolf packs in Wyoming, whether the wolves are
inside or outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and
the John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Memorial Parkway.
Another possible interpretation is that
Wyoming will manage a minimum of 15 total packs with at least
seven packs outside the parks and parkway.
Game and Fish Director Brent Manning sent
a letter to Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Director Ralph
Morgenweck, asking which of the two interpretations the federal
government would accept.
Morgenweck favored the seven-pack minimum
outside parks, in a May 14 letter responding to Manning. Morgenweck
wrote that the federal government is "eager" to transfer
management of wolves to states.
But the Endangered Species Act requires
the service to have assurances wolves will not be relisted in
the future before turning over management.
Morgenweck stressed his uncertainty about
Wyoming’s proposed dual classification of wolves.
The new Wyoming law classifies wolves as
predators everywhere except Yellowstone, Grand Teton, the parkway
and adjacent wilderness areas. Where classified as predators,
wolves legally could be killed at any time by any means. In wilderness
areas, wolves could be hunted according to state regulations.
Only protecting wolves in parks and a few
wilderness areas may not go far enough to ensure the species’
survival, Morgenweck wrote. "We have repeatedly stated, and
continue to believe, that only protecting wolves from unregulated
human-caused mortality in this small area will not provide adequate
assurances that the wolf population in the Greater Yellowstone
Area will not decline to the point where it becomes threatened
again."
However, Morgenweck went on to state that
a seven-pack minimum outside national parks "would be adequate
to ensure the viability of wolf populations in Wyoming in the
foreseeable future."
Thus, if Wyoming adopts a wolf management
plan with a seven-pack minimum outside parks, delisting might
proceed despite concerns about dual classification.
Wichers said wildlife officials are consulting
with the state attorney general to see if HB229 allows the state
to commit to the seven-pack goal.
Although some of the bill’s language may
be ambiguous, the "bottom line of the bill is… to get the
delisting process started," Wichers said. "So we want
to make sure that the plan that we eventually come up with will
fulfill that goal of the Legislature."
Game and Fish is incorporating the law into
a state wolf management plan, which will be presented to the Game
and Fish Commission for approval in late July.
Source