Utah officials struggle to finish wolf plan
By DOUG ALDEN
BRIGHAM CITY, Utah — Tracy Hatch was excited when he first spotted wolf tracks at his Rich County ranch.
The idea of seeing the endangered species in person was thrilling, despite the possible threat to his livestock.
“I guess I’m pro wildlife as much as any hunter or any environmentalists out there. I wanted to see one,” said Hatch, whose ranch is just west of the Wyoming state line in northeast Utah.
But if Hatch saw a wolf attacking one of his cows or calves, under the law about all he could do would be stand and watch. Hatch is hoping a new state plan for wolf management will allow ranchers to take immediate action to protect livestock.
It’s one of many sticking points the Wolf Working Group ran into as it drafted the plan. It’s also one of many suggested revisions to the draft released in April.
Ranchers want the right to shoot first — on private and public land — and explain it later if livestock is attacked.
Big game hunters and guides don’t want the wolves to reduce the population of trophy elk and deer and threaten the economy of a big industry in the state.
And environmentalists want to make sure the wolves remain adequately protected.
It’s a contentious issue, but one the state wants to settle before wolves make their way further into Utah than border areas.
“I’ve worked on a lot of wildlife issues. This is by far the hardest I’ve ever worked on,” said Debbie Goodman, a member of the state Wolf Working Group.
Goodman, a wildlife lobbyist from Bountiful, is also a member of the Northern Region Advisory Council — one of five regional groups that held meetings in the last month to discuss the plan and possible ways to improve it.
The Wolf Working Group is made up of 13 members representing ranchers, hunters, environmentalists and the Ute Indian tribe. Group members, who had polar opposite views on some matters, spent 18 months working up the plan, which was introduced in April.
The five regional councils held meetings where the public could ask questions and express opinions and there was no shortage of either. The revisions will go back before the Wolf Working Group next week, then the state Division of Wildlife Resources board will vote on the plan June 9.
Among the unresolved issues is what circumstances lethal actions would be justified. The current plan calls for ranchers getting a permit after a confirmed kill on private land, or two kills on public land before going after a wolf.
The Utah Farm Bureau proposed allowing livestock owners and their families to take immediate action if they see a threat and all five Regional Advisory Councils approved.
“We need to be able to take care of it when it’s happening. That should only be a basic property right,” Hatch said during a public hearing this week.
The councils, however, were not quite unanimous on the Farm Bureau’s proposal to allow full market compensation for livestock kills that were not conclusively by wolves. Four of the five councils agreed to the suggestion, but the Central Region did not. The Wolf Working Group and wildlife board can still adopt the provision.
Currently, the plan allows for 100 percent fair market value compensation only on undeniable wolf kills. Probable kills, where tracks and droppings indicate wolves were likely responsible, would be compensated 75 percent. Possible kills, where there’s barely a carcass, would be compensated 50 percent.
“When a pack of wolves feeds on a cow, usually there’s not a lot left,” Mike Bodenchuk of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services said this week when noting it might be difficult to determine a cow’s killer from the few remains.
Environmentalists were hopeful there would be restrictions on killing wolves on public land, like Bureau of Land Management reserves where cattle and sheep graze. If the Farm Bureau revisions are adopted, ranchers will be allowed to protect their herds there as well.
Like the rest of the plan, it’s a concession one side has to make to please the other.
“There should be compensation for livestock. that’s a man’s livelihood. And he’s entitled to his livelihood but let’s give the wolf a fair shake,” said Margaret Pettis of the High Uintas Preservation Council.
And outdoors enthusiasts say they don’t want to be left out when it comes to compensation.
Don Peay, founder of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, maintains the people on the business side of hunting deserve compensation if wolves decimate elk and deer herds that millions of dollars in private money has helped replenish.
“We think the Legislature is going to have a totally different attitude than the RACs have had,” said Peay, who quit the Wolf Working Group out of frustration in April.
The Utah Legislature still needs to tackle the issue of funding wolf management, which could be just as difficult as drafting the plan itself.
If the Wolf Working Group and state wildlife board uphold the Farm Bureau recommendations, the plan will basically be in effect. However, the federal endangered species protection will override any state plan until that status is lifted.