Thermopolis lawmaker intros wolf bill
By MIKE STARK
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
Wyoming’s stalled plan to manage wolves may get a jump-start this week from a Thermopolis legislator.
Republican Rep. Mike Baker plans to introduce a bill that would establish terms for state management of wolves if the federal government decides to remove the Northern Rockies population from the Endangered Species Act and pass supervision to Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
Baker’s bill, which is expected to be introduced today or Wednesday, would set a “magic number” of 15 for the number of wolf packs in Wyoming.
When the number of packs meets or exceeds that number, the state would allow more liberal killing of wolves, including some that would be classified as predators that can be killed any time.
When the number of packs drop below 15, all wolves would be classified as trophy game and could only be killed by someone with a license. The exception would be any time a wolf is “threatening or harming private property,” Baker said. A landowner would then be allowed to kill a wolf without a license.
Baker said his legislation, if passed into law, would supplant any plan approved by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission.
“This is my goal for the session,” Baker said Monday. “I want to get this done as quickly as possible.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has managed wolves since they were reintroduced to the area in 1995, has said the regional wolf population is considered to be “recovered.” The agency wants to start the process of delisting the wolves sometime this year.
But before that can happen, all three states have to have management plans, acceptable to the federal government, to ensure the wolves won’t become threatened or endangered again.
Wyoming, the last of the three states to start developing a plan, floated an idea this fall that would classify wolves in two ways. Those in national parks and wilderness areas would be considered trophy animals, with some subject to hunting seasons, and any wolves in the rest of the state would be considered predators, subject to any kind of killing any time.
FWS officials told the Game and Fish Department that “dual classification” wouldn’t guarantee that enough wolves would survive in the state.
But Ed Bangs, FWS coordinator in Helena, now says his agency will accept dual classification as long as there are other mechanisms in Wyoming’s plan to ensure the population of wolves doesn’t dip too low.
“Dual status isn’t a problem as long as overall (the state) guarantees the wolf population in Wyoming is going to remain viable,” Bangs said. “That’s the bottom line, our major concern.”
Baker said he’s spoken with FWS officials and they liked his idea. He also said that eight of Wyoming’s wolf packs would be in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, so the rest of the state would only have to deal with about seven packs.
He said his bill would help protect big game species across the state as wolves spread out.
“We recognize that wolves are a naturally dispersing species. It won’t be too long that the wolves in Wyoming won’t just be in the northwest corner,” Baker said. “This bill gives us a significant tool to at least maintain some sort of numbers in our wildlife population and hopefully puts us in control.”
The bill would put Game and Fish in charge of wolf management, wolf licenses and monitoring.
Baker is scheduled to meet with the Game and Fish Commission today.
The commission also is scheduled to hear a report from department staffers about the status of their proposed wolf plan, the results of a recent telephone survey and proposed changes to their draft plan.
Although the commission may push forward with the department’s plan, Baker will pitch his proposal to fellow lawmaker in Cheyenne.
So far, he says, he’s gotten a good response.
“Everybody that’s speaking to me is quite positive about it,” Baker said.
Gov. Dave Freudenthal has met with Baker to discuss the bill.
“He said he thinks it’s moving in the right direction” but is withholding judgment until the language of the bill is finalized, said Lara Azar, Freudenthal’s spokeswoman.