Wolf suit looms
By BUZZY HASSRICK
Legislators are preparing for a lawsuit on the wolf issue rather than compromising with a federal agency.
They passed a bill last week to ensure the law matches the state’s wolf management plan, “to make a stronger case in a lawsuit,” Rep. Pat Childers said. “I hope we get a venue in this state.”
A bill to incorporate the recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service into Wyoming’s wolf plan will not be debated on the floor. House Bill 155 “will not come up,” Childers said.
The state plan received scientific support.
“We already have peer review,” he said, referring to the 10 of 11 scientists who found the plan acceptable last fall. The scientists were picked by F&WS.
“That gives us a stronger position,” he added.
A few provisions in the plan do not quite match the law, a situation HB 111 intends to correct, he added.
Childers introduced an amendment to HB 111 that requires two wolves in each pack to wear collars equipped with global positioning systems so their movements can be tracked. It also requires F&WS work on funding the collars.
HB 111 names the seven wilderness areas where wolves will be classified as trophy animals, along with Yellowstone and Teton parks and the Rockefeller Parkway. The number of packs that would trigger an enlargement of the trophy territory by the Game and Fish Commission will be seven or fewer packs, not less than seven.
In rejecting the state plan, F&WS recommended Wyoming remove the predator status from the management plan, a provision that could make delisting vulnerable to a lawsuit. If the wolves can be killed outside parks and wilderness areas, their recovery could be jeopardized.
But Wyoming leaders, including the agriculture industry, want that option to control the predator.
The Idaho and Montana plans, which do not include predator designation, were acceptable to F&WS.