By MARK HEINZ
An anticipated lawsuit against Wyoming taking over wolf management wasn’t unexpected, and shouldn’t disrupt the state’s wolf hunting season, officials say.
Still, Wyoming’s management plan has some flaws that might not stand up in court, according to an attorney representing the environmental groups planning the lawsuit.
“We don’t think a shoot-on-sight policy is appropriate for wolves, and it’s not sound wildlife management,” said Tim Preso of the Bozeman office of Earthjustice.
Earthjustice and a coalition of other groups recently filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about its decision to delist wolves in Wyoming and hand over management to the Game and Fish Department.
The delisting is set to happen Sept. 30. A wolf hunting season, with a statewide quota of 52 animals, will be Oct. 1-Dec. 31.
The lawsuit must be filed within 60 days of the notice of intent, which would be mid-November.
Preso said it hasn’t yet been decided exactly when or in what court the suit will be filed.
Wolves will have a “dual classification” in Wyoming, managed as trophy game animals in the northwest corner of the state. (In Park County, hunting would take place west of WYO 120.)
Outside of the trophy game zone, G&F will classify wolves as a predatory species which may be shot on sight, with no season or bag limit. (That area is east of WYO 120 in Park County.)
That aspect of Wyoming’s management plan has drawn the most criticism and is central to the pending lawsuit, Preso said.
USFWS rejected a previous Wyoming management plan that included dual classification.
Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar last year struck a deal which retained the dual classification.
It added a “flex zone” south of Jackson and near Pinedale where trophy game protection would be extended to wolves for a few months every spring.
Proponents of the plan say the flex zone will allow wolves to disperse, ensuring genetic diversity.
But Earthjustice disputes that, saying the current plan is a “kissing cousin” to the previously rejected plan, Preso said.
The flex zone isn’t open long enough to allow for adequate wolf dispersal, he said.
Also, there’s plenty of wild public land in the Jackson area wolves could disperse to, if the predatory free-fire zone was eliminated, Preso said.
G&F claims wolves haven’t been able to go outside the trophy game zone in significant numbers anyway, and fewer than 30 of them are thought to regularly occupy the predatory zone.
Preso disputed that, saying the number is closer to 60 wolves, if animals in the flex zone are counted.
So far, the pending lawsuit hasn’t changed G&F plans, agency spokesman Eric Keszler said.
“We are selling wolf licenses and putting out wolf hunt regulations,” he said early Monday.
Likewise, Mead’s office is confident Wyoming’s management plan will hold, spokesman Renny MacKay said.
“Gov. Mead anticipated this lawsuit,” he added. “These groups have demonstrated they will oppose any plan that involves wolf hunting. Montana and Idaho don’t have predator zones for wolves, and these same groups also opposed their plans.”