Wolf hunt could be costly move for state

Wolf hunt could be costly move for state

Sportsmen this spring voted to manage wolves as a fur-bearing species,
similar to the way the Department of Natural Resources manages animals
like bobcats and fishers.

That kind of change in management status could have a big impact on
funding for the state endangered resources program and dilute the pool of
money used for managing game animals, according to some Department of
Natural Resources biologists.

That vote came at the annual spring Conservation Congress meetings held
across the state. The CC is a citizen group that advises the DNR on
hunting, fishing and natural resource issues.

The question of moving the wolf from a protected species under DNR
Endangered Resource Bureau to a fur-bearing predator passed by a vote of
6,421 to 937 at 72 county meetings in April.

Scott Lancour, chair of endangered resources and law enforcement committee
for the Conservation Congress, which drew up the question, said they
wanted to lay the ground work for future hunting and trapping.

Lancour said there is an increasing amount of concern over the burgeoning
wolf population from livestock owners, bear hunters and pet owners.

However, public hunting and trapping of wolves could not happen until
wolves are completely removed from the endangered species list at the
federal level.

Also, state DNR wolf biologist Adrian Wydeven said sportsmen who voted for
the proposal may not have completely understood the significance of the
change as far as funding wolf management.

Currently, the state gets funds to manage the wolf from endangered
resources funds, the USFWS and the federal Conservation and Reinvestment
Act (CARA), which taxes off-shore oil drilling and returns that money to
the states for natural resources and federal taxes on ammunition sales.

In the last fiscal year, the budget for the wolf monitoring and management
program was $252,177. The bulk of that — 82 percent — came from federal
funding with the other 18 percent coming from the state.

If wolves would become just another fur-bearer, all funds to manage them
would come from sportsmen through the sale of hunting licenses, Wydeven
said.

Randle Jurewicz, staff biologist in the DNR Bureau of Endangered
Resources, said moving timber wolves into game animal status could hurt
funding for other endangered animals.

The bureau gets about $500,000 a year through the sale of the state “wolf”
license plates and income tax check offs. Having an open season on wolves
could diminish those contributions, he said.

Although there may be a time when there are enough wolves to provide a
public hunt, it would likely be limited to a few animals, Jurewicz said,
and that would not generate anywhere near the $250,000 the state currently
gets for monitoring wolves.

So, either cuts would have to be made in the wolf program, which would
limit their information on the population, or the money would come from
general hunting license sales, which would reduce the amount going to
other game management programs, he said.

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