Wolf delisting jeopardized in Wyoming
BY MIKE STARK
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
Plans to remove federal protections from gray wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho are in jeopardy because of this week’s vote by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to classify some wolves as predators.
If that vote is formalized into Wyoming’s management plan for wolves, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service won’t propose removing wolves in the northern Rockies from the Endangered Species List, said Ed Bangs, federal wolf recovery coordinator in Helena.
“That means wolves would stay on the list indefinitely,” Bangs said Wednesday.
The federal government was expected to propose delisting the wolves early next year and eventually pass management along to the three states. Montana and Idaho have written plans to take over the wolves, and Wyoming is in the midst of its initial draft.
But those plans may never be enacted if Wyoming seeks predator status for some wolves and the federal government objects.
“This decision really throws a wrench into that process,” said Chris Smith, chief of staff in Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “It’s very much up in the air.”
At a meeting in Jackson on Monday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted 4-2 in favor of “dual classification” for wolves in the state.
Wolves in national parks, refuges and certain forest wilderness areas would be designated as trophy game, subject to hunting rules; wolves in the rest of the state would be predators, which could be killed any time.
The decision came after about two hours of testimony from the public, including ranchers and outfitters urging strong measures to control the wolf population in Wyoming.
Commissioner Gary Lundvall said Wednesday that the predator status was sought to protect private landowners and big game populations. If hunters have fewer animals to hunt, the Game and Fish Department, which is funded almost entirely by hunters and anglers, would suffer a financial blow, Lundvall said.
He said the federal government hasn’t shown that it will pay to manage wolves in Wyoming once the animals are delisted. If Monday’s vote keeps the wolves under federal protection and out of the state’s control, so be it, Lundvall said.
“If they (FWS officials) don’t feel like they want the state of Wyoming to handle wolves in that boundary, then they can manage them,” Lundvall said.
Before Monday’s vote, staff at the Game and Fish Department, the head of the Fish and Wildlife Service and representatives from Montana urged the commission not to pursue dual classification.
Bangs said wolves became endangered in the first place because people killed them without any regulations. Then wolves were reintroduced in the northern Rockies in 1995 and 1996.
The FWS doesn’t oppose allowing hunting in state management plans but can’t support a predator classification that would allow the wolves to be killed anytime, anywhere and with virtually any method, he said.
“Wolves could be poisoned, hit with cars, hit over the head with rocks or whatever year-round,” Bangs said. “I’d hate to go in front of a national public and try to defend that.”
By law, the federal government has to be assured that wolf populations won’t decline significantly once management is passed to the three states. Bangs and Steve Williams, FWS director, said Wyoming’s proposal wouldn’t pass muster when it comes time to remove federal protection.
“The service has no choice,” Bangs said.
In 1997, governors of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho agreed to work cooperatively to get wolves delisted as soon as possible and bring control of the wolves into the states’ hands.
Smith, of Montana’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department, said he’s worried about what Monday’s decision may mean for the future of wolf management.
“In Montana, we’re very concerned about the commission’s decision to continue to pursue a direction that the Fish and Wildlife Service said would preclude the possibility of delisting,” he said.
Wyoming could still back away from its dual classification decision. But if not, it could be a long time before any of the northern Rockies states gets to exercise any control over the wolves, Smith said.
“One possible scenario is that if Wyoming chooses to dig in its heels, it will simply be that much longer before Montana could implement any plan, and the same with Idaho,” Smith said. “We may be all dressed up but there’d be no place to go.”
But Greg Schildwachter, policy adviser for the governor’s Office of Species Conservation in Idaho, said it’s too early to predict what’s going to happen.
He said the federal government hasn’t proposed delisting yet, so it’s unclear whether predator status for some wolves would hinder the process.
“We’re nowhere near to a deal, so it’s premature to say anything is a deal breaker,” Schildwachter said.
Idaho wrestled with similar issues that Wyoming is discussing, he said. But in its final plan, Idaho left flexibility in its plan about how to classify the wolf. There’s even a possibility that a new special classification of predator would have to be sought, Schildwachter said.
He said Idaho officials discussed their work on the issue with the Wyoming commission but didn’t offer advice. Idaho officials aren’t frustrated with the commission’s decision, he said.
“There’s parts of this issue that have to be worked out internally for each state and classification is one of those issues,” he said.
Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer has been traveling this week and has not been briefed on the commission’s decision, said spokeswoman Rachel Girt.
“What he has always said is that he’s looking for a workable plan that allows Game and Fish to manage the wolves and a plan that the people of Wyoming support,” Girt said.
The vote pleased some environmentalists at Monday’s meeting in Jackson, who said it ensures that the wolves will remain on the Endangered Species Act.
But Sterling Miller, a senior biologist with the National Wildlife Federation, said his group would like to see the wolves delisted because the goals have been met. The commission’s vote on Monday could keep a delisting proposal out of reach, he said.
“I consider it stupid,” Miller said. “Wyoming has long said they want the opportunity to manage these critters. But they won’t get that opportunity as long as they keep doing stupid things like this.”
Staff members at the Game and Fish Department are expected to have a draft wolf management plan ready for public review and comment on Nov. 8.