By EVE BYRON Independent Record
A plan to close two areas to wolf trapping just north of Yellowstone National Park will be the topic of a special Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission conference call, with commission members trying to “short circuit” a legal challenge to the closure.
Commissioner Dan Vermillion said a hearing is set for Monday on a lawsuit filed over the trapping closures east and west of the town of Gardiner in Park County. The primary concern of the closure’s opponents is that there wasn’t a proper public process associated with the FWP decision.
Vermillion was the only one of the five commissioners to vote against the motion, saying he didn’t think the change was necessary.
“I suggest the commission look at having a January meeting by phone, where we put the matter out for public notice now so that the commission can revisit this and allow people time to weigh in,” Vermillion said. “I opposed the decision but I think the public process was correct. But maybe we can short circuit the judge’s decision and have more time for public comment.”
The commission tentatively set the date for the conference call for Jan. 29. Commissioner Bob Ream noted, however, that if the judge rules in their favor there’s no need for the extra January meeting. Montana’s wolf hunting regulations allow the commission can close the wolf season at any time.
Earlier this month, District Court Judge Nels Swandal ordered FWP to reopen wolf hunting and trapping immediately, saying that the commission may have failed to offer sufficient public notice about the closure at its Dec. 10 meeting.
The lawsuit was filed by four sporting groups and a rancher, who alleged their right to participate in government and right to know about deliberations, under the Montana Constitution, were violated.
Montana statute 2-3-103 provides that a state agency “may not take action on any matter discussed unless specific notice of that matter is included on an agenda.”
The trapping closure was in response to concerns that hunters harvested eight wolves with collars that supplied scientific information to Yellowstone researchers.
At the December meeting, some of the FWP commission members said that they told the public at their July meeting that they would revisit the overall wolf harvest prior to the Dec. 15 trapping season opening.
Commissioner Ron Moody, however, suggested that perhaps since the item was listed only as “informational” on the December agenda, they shouldn’t have taken any action. The cover sheet explaining the topic stated that no action was needed, but that the review will include “data on harvest numbers, geographic distribution of harvest, consideration of depredation removals, and overall wolf mortality relative to wolf population model projections.”
Only 15 people testified at the December hearing, with just four in opposition to the closures. At the July meeting, more than 7,000 people from throughout the nation sent written comments on proposed wolf hunting and trapping regulations and more than two hours of testimony was taken from sportsmen’s groups, ranchers, trappers and wolf advocates.
Overall, 147 wolves have been harvested as of Friday during the 2012/2013 season. That includes 105 taken by hunters and 42 by trappers.