Final wolf-management bill dies
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming’s case against the federal government over the rejection of its wolf-management plan may now be a little murky after the final bill dealing with the issue died in the Senate.
House Bill 111 failed to get out of the Senate Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee on Friday, committee chair Sen. Delaine Roberts, R-Etna, said.
Bills must be forwarded out of committee by Monday, and Roberts’ committee is not scheduled to meet that day.
“It would have created a whole big hearing to rehash what we’ve hashed over already,” Roberts said of the measure. “I didn’t want the committee and the Senate to be subjected to another big debate on the wolves.”
The bill would have aligned state law with Wyoming’s wolf-management plan, which was rejected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in January over its classification of wolves as trophy game and predators.
Conforming state statutes to the plan is seen as a way to strengthen the state’s hand in a possible lawsuit.
HB111 would have retained the dual classification system. Another measure aimed at changing the state’s plan to match demands of the federal government died after not being scheduled for debate in the House.
Rep. Mike Baker, R-Thermopolis, said HB111 would have strengthened the state’s hand in court by making its laws consistent with the plan.
“The state is in the position that it is not as legally defensible as it could have been,” he said.
Such inconsistencies could weaken the state’s case, Baker said.
“Small things can destroy big intentions, sink large ships,” he said. “Did we write this as clearly as we could have? And the answer is ‘no.’ ”
Roberts felt otherwise.
“I don’t think it has any bearing on what we do in the future at all,” he said.
Wolves, eradicated in Wyoming in the early 20th century for killing livestock, were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park by the Fish and Wildlife Service in 1995 and have since thrived. Twelve packs of wolves now inhabit the park and six packs roam outside it.
The Interior Department is prepared to remove wolves from federal protection but only when it deems Wyoming’s plan acceptable for maintaining viable populations in the Northern Rockies.
Management plans adopted by Idaho and Montana already have been approved.