Residents invited to weigh in on wolf future
Caleb Warnock
THE DAILY HERALD |
Utah County residents will be invited to weigh in on the future of wolves
in Utah.
The Utah Wolf Management Working Group, which held its first meeting
Monday, voted to hold a series of 10 public meetings around the state
between March 8 and 19 of next year.It was not immediately clear how many
of those meetings would be held in Utah County, or on what days.
“These meetings will give people a chance to learn about wolf issues the
group has identified and give people a chance to provide their input to
the group,” said Craig McLaughlin of the Utah Division of the Wildlife
Resources in a statement.
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.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, acting on a joint resolution of
the Utah Legislature, named 13 people to the working group that will
develop a wolf policy for the state. Members include livestock owners,
hunters and environmentalists.
The group is being facilitated by the Dynamic Solutions Group, LLC, a team
of professional facilitators who recently conducted the public scoping
effort for Wyoming’s state wolf management plan.
UWMWG members also asked the DWR to create a space on its Web site
dedicated to wolf management issues. Minutes of the group’s meetings and
the latest information about Northern gray wolves will be posted at the
site. Utah residents will also be able to send comments about gray wolves
through the site.
“These comments will be compiled, together with comments from the March
2004 meetings, and considered by the group as it drafts a Wolf Management
Plan for Utah,” said McLaughlin in the statement.
The Web site, wildlife.utah.gov/wolf, should be available to the public
beginning Nov. 17.
DWR director Kevin Conway said in a statement that he supported the
opportunity for the public to give opinions on wolf management.
The Wolf Management Working Group’s meetings are open to the public. The
next meeting will be held Jan. 20 in Salt Lake City. The group is expected
to work with the DWR to draft a plan for wolf management to present to the
Utah Wildlife Board in 2005.
UWMWG 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, 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.