Governor requests 1 federal wolf voice
Freudenthal claims disparate voices confuse, slow process.
By Rebecca Huntington
Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal wants the federal government to pick a
single point person to determine whether Wyoming’s wolf management plan is
sufficient for lifting federal protection of wolves.
Federal officials have sent the state mixed signals, thus bogging down an
already complicated delisting process, Freudenthal said last week. The
governor requested the Bush administration designate a single
representative on wolf issues in a July 9 letter to Interior Secretary
Gale Norton.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Brent Manning is the point man
for Wyoming on wolves, the governor wrote Norton. “It is critical that a
single point of contact likewise exist in the federal government.”
The governor’s request comes on the heels of a letter from Ed Bangs, U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service Wolf Recovery Coordinator. Bangs’ letter
concluded that Wyoming’s wolf plan might meet federal standards for
delisting but may not be legal because it deviates from a new state wolf
classification law.
Bangs said in a telephone interview that Wyoming’s law might not meet
delisting criteria. Bangs is the federally designated spokesperson for
wolf recovery.
The governor expressed frustration in his letter to Norton, saying that
other Fish and Wildlife staff had indicated previously that Wyoming’s wolf
law was acceptable.
“Wyoming has consistently been led to believe that its recently passed
statutory framework was acceptable in this regard,” he wrote. “Now, more
recent correspondence indicates that conclusion may not be true.”
The governor’s spokeswoman, Lara Azar, said the governor’s letter was not
an attempt to silence Bangs, the agency’s lead biologist on wolf
delisting.
“He just wants one position from one agency,” Azar said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared wolf recovery a success in
Idaho, Montana and Wyoming where about 660 wolves now roam. But before the
service can remove wolves from federal protection and turn over management
to states, the service must be assured states will not allow the species
to become endangered in the future. Each state must write a wolf
management plan that protects a viable population of wolves, according to
federal officials.
Wyoming officials have been working on a draft wolf plan for more than a
year. Earlier this year, the Wyoming Legislature approved a law
classifying wolves in the state and outlining how the predators should be
managed.
Wyoming Game and Fish Department staff rewrote the state wolf management
plan to reflect the new law, which classifies wolves as predators across
state except in some national parks and wilderness areas. Under predator
status, wolves could be killed at any time by any means.
State officials had hoped to adopt a final wolf management plan July 28
when Game and Fish commissioners meet in Sheridan.