North Dakota expects no major changes under wolf proposal
The Associated Press – Friday, July 16, 2004
BISMARCK, N.D.
North Dakota’s gray wolf population is too small for a hunting season, the state Game and Fish Department’s wildlife chief says.
The Interior Department proposal announced Friday would remove wolves in the “eastern population segment” – an area from Maine to the Dakotas – from protection under the federal endangered species list. State Wildlife Division Chief Randy Kreil said that would have no major impact in North Dakota.
“The numbers in the state are very small,” Kreil said. “We only have transient wolves coming through, and once in a while, some breeding wolves in the Turtle Mountains.
“I’d say we have fewer than a dozen wolves in the state at any one time,” Kreil said.
The Interior Department’s proposal will, however, allow the state to do away with wolves that become problems, Kreil said.
“It’ll give the states necessary management flexibility,” he said.
North Dakota’s wide-open spaces generally are not attractive to gray wolves, he said.
“With the openness of our state, there really aren’t very many places wolves could exist in seclusion,” he said. “They don’t particularly like that.”
Public meetings on the proposed federal rule change will be held across the region over the next four months. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said the final rule likely will be out late this year or early next year, and she expects a court challenge from environmental groups.