Official says Montana should manage wolves
Associated Press
BOZEMAN – It is time to transfer most wolf management responsibility in Montana to the state government, even before the wolf loses its protections under the Endangered Species Act, a federal official said Tuesday.
Wolves won’t be delisted anytime soon but the “second best thing” to delisting could be in place by early next year, said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery team leader for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“We’re done,” Bangs told the Bozeman Daily Chronicle in a telephone interview. “We’re enthusiastic about getting the state (of Montana) more involved.”
He said the federal agency is revising rules to pass along much of its authority to decide when and where to kill problem-causing wolves to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
The new rule would let ranchers shoot wolves they see chasing livestock on private land, something that is illegal now.
People with grazing permits on federal land would also get more leeway, and FWP would be able, under certain circumstances, to kill wolves causing unacceptable impacts to wildlife populations, such as deer and elk, Bangs said.
Recreational hunting and trapping of wolves would not be allowed.
Representatives of the state and federal agencies met recently in Denver to work on the rule changes, said Chris Smith, FWP chief of staff.
“We hope to have that agreement in place early in 2005,” Smith said. “It would put the state in the driver’s seat.”
The proposal was first announced in March, and federal officials said then they hoped to have it installed in three months. Bangs said the delay arose because lawsuits take so much of his time.
“Court orders and court-ordered deadlines take precedence over everything else I do,” he said.
The state wildlife agency has hired a new wolf recovery coordinator and is interviewing to fill three wolf specialist positions.
Bangs said he has full confidence in state authorities to protect wolves that don’t cause problems and deal appropriately with the ones that do.
However, both Smith and Bangs said they expect someone will sue to halt the transfer of any wolf-control power to Montana.