Wyoming commission seeks dual designation for wolves
Associated Press
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – The state Game and Fish Commission voted to seek a
dual class designation for the gray wolf that would include a trophy game
designation for the animal in some forest wilderness areas and a predator
classification in the rest of the state.
The commission’s decision Tuesday went against the advice of Game and Fish
Department directors who urged the commission to delay the move until a
draft state wolf management plan is completed.
Bill Wichers, Game and Fish deputy director of external operations, told
commissioners that Wyoming would need to change the current predator
classification of the gray wolf or risk delaying the process to remove the
animal’s federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
Wyoming, Idaho and Montana must have state management plans in place and
approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before a delisting petition
is submitted.
Wyoming is in the process of developing a draft plan that will be
presented to the commission for approval at its February meeting.
Wichers said the USFWS has told state Game and Fish officials that it will
not begin the delisting process until the state predator classification is
changed.
The gray wolf is classified as a predator in Wyoming. That means the wolf
could be killed anytime, any way, anywhere, much like the coyote, jack
rabbit and skunk, if its federal protection is removed. Animals classified
as trophy game are subject to state hunting regulations, including
licensing and specific hunting seasons.
Wichers said it was “appropriate and inevitable that wolves be classified
as a trophy game animal” and said such a change would require legislative
action.
Any delay in the delisting process, he warned, could mean the state will
have to manage even more wolves in the future.
But Commissioner Gary Lundvall said he was not sure whether classifying
the wolf as a trophy game animal and using hunting to control wolf
populations would achieve the agency’s management and population
objectives.
“I personally don’t think we’ll be able to control that (wolf) population
with just a sport hunting season,” he said.
Lundvall made a motion directing the department to seek a dual
classification that would make the wolf a trophy game animal within the
confines of Bridger-Teton National Forest and Shoshone National Forest
wilderness area boundaries.
In all other areas of the state, the wolf would be classified as a
predator.
“That would leave us some waggle room … and perhaps those (population)
measures can be met,” Lundvall said. He said it could also save the agency
money that would be used for population control efforts under the
management plan.
But Wichers and Game and Fish Acting Director Tom Thorne questioned
whether the dual classification would be acceptable to the federal
government or if the federal agency would reject the state plan, thereby
delaying a delisting petition.
“I’m not sure we can get the USFWS to accept that classification and move
forward with delisting … that may not allow the Service that comfort
zone for delisting,” Thorne said. “We’re playing a real high-stakes game
here.”
The commission, by a 3-2 vote, decided to pursue a dual classification
while at the same time writing to the Service asking if it would reject
the plan with a split classification.
“If it’s not acceptable, then we can revisit this motion when we meet in
October,” Commission President Doyle Dorner said.
Wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in
1995 and 1996. 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.