Wyoming governor seeks federal point person on wolves
By the Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Gov. Dave Freudenthal says he would like the federal
government to select one person to determine whether Wyoming’s wolf
management plan is sufficient for lifting federal protection of wolves.
Federal officials so far have sent the state mixed signals.
Freudenthal said recently that has bogged down the already complicated
delisting process. He made the request for a wolf representative in a July
9 letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
Game and Fish Department Director Brent Manning is Wyoming’s point man for
wolves. “It is critical that a single point of contact likewise exist in
the federal government,” Freudenthal wrote.
Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, wrote the state government recently and said that while Wyoming’s
wolf plan might meet federal standards for listing, it may not be legal
because it deviates from a new state wolf classification law.
Freudenthal expressed frustration in his letter to Norton, saying other
Fish and Wildlife staff said previously that Wyoming’s wolf law was
acceptable.
“Wyoming has consistently been led to believe that its recently passed
statutory framework was acceptable in this regard,” he wrote. “Now, more
recent correspondence indicates that conclusion may not be true.”
Freudenthal spokeswoman Lara Azar said the letter was not an attempt to
silence Bangs, the agency’s lead biologist on wolf delisting.