Wolf plan opposed by activists
November 9, 2002
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – A draft plan that would designate the gray wolf as a
predator across most of Wyoming would also create “free fire zones” as
wolf packs move between protective wilderness areas and national parks,
environmentalists said.
Game and Fish commissioners approved dual classification last month as
part of a wolf management plan, going against advice from state and
federal officials who said the decision could threaten efforts to remove
the animal from protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Under the plan, gray wolves would be designated trophy game animals in
some forest and wilderness areas, and as predators in the rest of the
state. As predators, they could be killed without restrictions.
The problem with that arrangement, conservation groups said, is the
wilderness areas are not contingent with each other or with national
parks, where the wolves cannot be shot.
Wolves traveling between the areas could be shot on sight,
environmentalists say.
“That does create a free fire zone … This won’t stand up to federal
standards for protecting the wolf,” said Carl Schneeback, program
associate with the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.
Suzanne Laverty, representative for the group Defenders of Wildlife,
called dual classification a “death sentence.”
“If they follow the elk migration routes in the winter for food, the
wolves will move into areas where they can be shot as predators,” she
said.
Wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in
1995 and 1996. There are now 218 wolves within eight to 10 packs in the
park and in six to eight packs outside it.
About 85 wolves travel in 19 packs in Montana and 260 wolves in 22 packs
in Idaho.
All of the wolves in the three-state, Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem are
the product of the U.S. Department of the Interior’s recovery program
aimed at restoring populations of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed to remove the animal from the
endangered species and hand over management to the states, but only if
management plans are developed that keep the animal from becoming
endangered again.
Idaho has approved its plan and Montana expects to sign off on its plan in
coming months. Wyoming’s draft plan will be presented to a legislative
committee next week.
Tom Thorne, acting director of the Game and Fish Department, said he has
talked about modifications to the plan with the state Department of
Agriculture and Wyoming’s new endangered species coordinator.
“We’ve discussed whether there might be a population threshold, and if the
wolf population drops below that, there could be a limit” on hunting or
killing, he said.
But Schneeback argued that would still restrict wolves from the freedom of
movement they need to survive.
“The monitoring needed to administer a threshold would be hideously
expensive,” he said.
The Game and Fish Department has planned a series of public meetings this
month to discuss the draft wolf plan. Public comment will end Dec. 12.