USFWS clarifies wolf numbers
CHEYENNE (AP) — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has clarified a key issue that will allow development of a Wyoming wolf management plan — the minimum number of packs the state must maintain, officials said Wednesday.
In a letter to the federal agency, state Game and Fish officials asked if Wyoming will need to maintain at least seven packs outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks of 15 statewide for management to be turned over to the state.
USFWS Regional Director Ralph Morgenweck replied yes, that maintaining at least seven packs outside the parks “would be adequate to ensure the viability of wolf populations in Wyoming in the foreseeable future.”
There currently are eight packs in Wyoming outside of the national parks and the John D. Rockefeller Jr. Memorial Parkway, which connects the parks.
With the reply, Game and Fish Deputy Director Bill Wichers said the Game and Fish Commission remains on track to address the management plan at a meeting July 28-29 in Sheridan.
Wyoming, Idaho and Montana must develop wolf management plans — and the Fish and Wildlife Service must approve them — before the animal can be removed from the Endangered Species List and control handed over to the states.
Idaho has finalized its plan while Montana just completed a public comment period on its draft plan.
The three plans are designed to manage wolf numbers and distribution and minimize wolf-human conflicts while keeping wolf populations high enough so as not to warrant relisting the animal.
“The federal clarification of the number of packs needed will help us finalize the wolf plan in a form that will allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to initiate the delisting process,” Wichers said.
A bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature Feb. 28 and signed into law by Gov. Dave Freudenthal March 4 outlined the minimum wolf pack numbers the state would try to maintain.
Due to the complexity of the bill, the Game and Fish Department sought clarification from the Fish and Wildlife Service on whether those limits are acceptable.
“We didn’t want to develop a plan and then take it to the Fish and Wildlife Service if it didn’t have a chance of being approved by the service,” Wichers said.
He said the minimum number of statewide packs, 15, resulted from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s desire to maintain at least 10 breeding packs in each of the states and the fact that about two-thirds of breeding packs are usually successful each season.
About 23 packs roam the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Wichers said.