Wisconsin may relax wolf protection
ENDANGERED SPECIES: The changes would enable wildlife officials to
manage
the wolf population, which has recovered in recent years.
BY JOHN MYERS
NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board on Wednesday started the process of
reducing state protection for wolves.
The move came in anticipation of federal action to remove Great
Lakes-area
wolves from the endangered species list.
Action was taken while the board met in Superior. It will allow the
Department of Natural Resources to hold public hearings in coming
months on
plans to relax wolf protections.
Under the proposal, the state would upgrade the wolf
from “threatened” to
“protected wild animal” under Wisconsin statues.
If the process advances, wolves could be off the state’s endangered
species
list altogether by early 2004, said Adrian Wydeven, DNR wolf expert, and
it would be legal to trap or shoot wolves that are causing problems.
But don’t load that rifle or set any traps yet. The state’s action
will have
little effect until the federal government acts, which will be
another year
or more, if it happens at all.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service earlier this year upgraded wolves from
endangered to threatened in Wisconsin and Michigan, relaxing some
management rules. That includes shooting wolves trapped near farms where
livestock had been confirmed killed by wolves.
So far this year, five wolves have been trapped and killed on three
Wisconsin farms, Wydeven said.
But the federal government already is planning to go even further,
removing
wolves from federal protections in the Great Lakes region and
Northeastern
United Statesaltogether. That wouldhand wolf managementover to the
individ-
ual states.
The first steps toward that goal could happen later this year.
However, the
process would last well into 2004 or 2005.
Wydeven said the state is acting now to prepare for any federal
action and
because the wolf has met the state’s criteria for being “recovered.” There
are now about 345 adult wolves in Wisconsin, well past the state’s goal of
250.
It’s also well above the official federal goal of 80 wolves for
three years
for the animal to be considered “recovered” from virtual extinction
just 25
years ago.
Steven Destreicher, chairman of the citizen-run Wisconsin
Conservation
Congress, said Wisconsin needs to move as quickly as possible toward
aggressive wolf management, including public hunting and trapping
seasons.
That should include pushing Congress and federal regulators to
delist the
wolf as soon as possible.
“We’re never going to push them out of the state again,” Destreicher said.
“But there needs to be some means in place for controls.”
Natural Resource Board members said those decisions will be made
later,
however, after the state delisting process is complete.
Wydeven said it’s not premature to relax wolf protections even
though the
state’s wolf population nearly stalled during the past year, growing by
less than 5 percent. In recent years, the population had grown by more
than 20 percent annually.
Wydeven blamed high pup mortality and mange disease as likely causes of
smaller wolf population growth after this past winter’s annual survey.
Lack of snow in many areas also may have hindered wolf tracking and the
DNR’s ability to count wolves from airplanes.
Wolves also may be saturating many areas of the state, including
Northwestern Wisconsin. When wolf numbers reach a certain density,
determined only by local wolves, they won’t tolerate each other and
begin to
battle to establish ranges.
Wydeven also noted that there has been considerable illegal killing
of
wolves across the northern reaches of the state. Of all dead wolves
recovered, one-third are found shot, he said.
At least 16 wolves were confirmed killed by gunshot last year, and
Wydeven
said others likely were shot and never found.
Minnesota already has taken action to downgrade wolf protections to
be ready
for any eventual federal action. There are about 2,600 wolves in
Minnesota.