Group will determine policy for future of wolves in Utah
CALEB WARNOCK The Daily Herald on Friday, June 20
A new task force will decide the future of wolves in Utah and
Utah County in coming months.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, acting on a joint
resolution of the Utah Legislature, has named 12 people to a group that
will develop a wolf policy for the state.
There is little doubt the wolves will soon be coming to Utah
and
Utah County, said Kevin Conway, director of Utah DWR.
“Basically this group will work together as concerned citizens
to assist in the development of a wolf management plan to address wolves
recolonizing Utah naturally,” he said.
The gray wolf was reintroduced to the western United States in
1995 when 14 wolves from Canada were transplanted to Yellowstone. Today,
650 to 700 wolves live in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
Last year, a male from Yellowstone National Park became the
first confirmed wolf in Utah in nearly 70 years when it was caught in a
coyote trap about 25 miles north of Salt Lake City. The Utah Wolf Forum
would like to prepare residents for as many as 700 more of the creatures
— and they are advocating the Book Cliffs in Utah County’s southeast
corner as prime wolf habitat.
“Wolves could be in Utah County next week or in 10 years,”
said
Allison Jones, biologist with the Utah Wolf Forum.
The DWR is now in the process of hiring a professional
mediator
to lead the group, he said. The group’s first meeting is expected to be in
August; meetings will continue for 12-18 months, until the group has a
draft plan for wolf management. The plan would then have to be ratified by
the Utah Wildlife Board.
“We have been told that the wolf task force will create its
own
road map for a wolf recovery and management plan,” Jones said. “We are
cautiously optimistic about this project. There are a lot of sticky issues
and tricky issues to wade through.”
Task force members include two Utah State University faculty
and
two members of the Utah Wolf Forum, in addition to one member each from
the Utah Wildlife Board Member, Utah Audubon Council, Utah Wildlife
Federation, Utah Woolgrowers Association, Utah Farm Bureau, Sportsmen for
Fish and Wildlife, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Ute Tribe and the
Utah Association of Counties.
For more information about the Utah Wolf Forum, visit
www.brwcouncil.org/ html/wolves.html.