Wolf management bill stays static
BY BRODIE FARQUHAR Star-Tribune Staff Writer Monday, October 13, 2003
The Wyoming Legislature and the Department of Game and Fish have no active
plans to amend wolf management legislation or plans until they hear first
from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Game and Fish officials urged legislators on Wednesday to “hold off” on
offering proposals for tweaking the state’s wolf management law until the
state clearly understands whether U.S. Fish and Wildlife have problems
with it.
The Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Interim
Committee met with state Game and Fish officials at Ranch A, near Beulah
in northeast Wyoming.
Wyoming’s wolf plan commits it to maintain at least 15 wolf packs
statewide, including seven packs outside of Yellowstone and Grand Teton
national parks, the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway and the
National Elk Refuge. The plan includes the controversial dual
classification of the wolf as a predator outside the parks and wilderness
areas and as a trophy game animal within the wilderness areas.
The plan also provides provisions for extra protections that will be
available to commissioners if the number of packs falls below seven
outside the park and below 15 statewide. Whether wolves outside the parks
are regarded as predators or trophy animals could, if necessary, be
reviewed and changed by the commission every 90 days, the plan says.
Gregg Arthur, acting director of Game and Fish, urged the legislators to
“postpone action until the USFWS decides. If they won’t delist the wolf,
they must explain why.” Any changes to state law or management plans
should wait for that information, Arthur said.
Legislators were looking at a draft bill about the classification of
wolves. According to a Defenders of Wildlife interpretation, the preferred
change, called Alternative B, would allow the Wildlife Commission to keep
predator status on wolves outside the national parks and contiguous
wilderness areas if the number of outside packs fell below seven, as long
as there were enough packs inside the parks to keep Wyoming at the 15 pack
threshold.
“That’s my understanding,” said Suzanne Stone, Rocky Mountain field
representative for Defenders of Wildlife, in a telephone interview from
her Boise, Idaho, home. She’s bothered by other aspects of the draft bill,
such as quarterly evaluations of how the packs are doing. Add a month to
set up a meeting, Stone said, and you can have real problems. “A lot can
happen in three or four months. A lot of wolves could be gone in that
period,” she said.
Many biologists, Stone said, say that most wolf packs in Wyoming — even
those that den inside the parks — would be exposed to predator status as
they pursue elk herds for food. That means most wolves could be shot and
killed as they step into territory where they are regarded as predators,
she said.
Assistant Wildlife Division Chief John Emmerich said the interpretation by
Defenders was wrong. Emmerich said that Alternative B — recommended by
the Wildlife Commission and the department — would enable the commission
to change classifications for wolves if the state’s total of packs fell
below 15 or below seven outside the parks and wilderness areas.
Conceivably, Emmerich said that would obligate the state to maintain the
seven outside packs, even if pack numbers inside declined.
“I don’t think that could happen,” he said.
Emmerich said a dozen wolf experts from around the country are currently
conducting an independent review of wolf management plans developed by
Wyoming, Montana and Idaho and have a deadline to report back to U.S. Fish
and Wildlife no later than Nov. 1. The reviews will be evaluated by USFWS
officials, who must determine by Jan. 1 whether the plans adequately
address everything necessary to begin the delisting of the Northern Rocky
Mountain gray wolf population, he said.
Bill Wichers, the Game and Fish Department’s Deputy Director of External
Operations, said he spoke to USFWS Director Steve Williams. “He assured me
that the three states will be contacted. He is committed to delisting,”
Wichers said.
State Sen. Delaine Roberts, R-Etna, asked if Game and Fish officials
continued to “hear rumblings” from USFWS officials about problems with
Wyoming’s predator status for wolves outside the parks and adjoining
wilderness areas.
“Yes, we’re still hearing rumblings about that,” Emmerich said. Yet USFWS
officials have often told their state counterparts that USFWS can live
with dual classification if adequate regulations are in place, he said.
Wichers concurred, saying that rumblings from Washington, D.C. have been
quieter lately, but that there were political concerns due to the upcoming
2004 presidential political campaign.