Wolf plan presents problems for North Dakota
The Associated Press
BISMARCK, N.D.
A federal plan to take wolves in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin off the endangered and threatened species list presents problems for North Dakota, wildlife officials say.
The move will mean wolves in western North Dakota will be under federal protection and wolves in the east will be under state control.
“We want the whole state to be in the delisted area,” said Randy Kreil, the state Game and Fish Department’s wildlife division chief. “We think (the current plan) is unworkable and doesn’t make any sense.”
The line that separates wolf management is the Missouri River from South Dakota to Lake Sakakawea, then continuing north on U.S. Highway 83.
The western Great Lakes population of gray wolves, except those west of the line, will be delisted March 10, said Jeff Towner, a supervisor in Bismarck with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“I think we share Game and Fish’s desire to have one management authority for the entire state,” Towner said. “And I would think we would work with the state to see how to address that issue.”
Game and Fish is setting up meetings with the Fish and Wildlife regional directors from Denver and Minneapolis next month.
“The split is uncomfortable with everybody,” said Phil Mastrangelo, state director for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services agency, which works with Fish and Wildlife on handling depredating wolves. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense biologically or politically, but that’s the way it is.”
North Dakota is on the edge of the gray wolf’s range, Towner said. There is not a breeding population of wolves in the state, but some occasionally pass through.