Wyoming may put wolves under ag department
Associated Press
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – State officials are discussing a plan in which
agriculture officials, not wildlife biologists, would manage wolves, and
the proposal is drawing firing from environmentalists.
The state has been working on a wolf-management plan that seeks to pass
muster not only with the federal government but Wyoming ranchers,
legislators and other interests as well.
A lawmaking committee recently declined to recommend a bill outlining the
plan until officials work out details such as whether wolves should be
designated as predators in parts of the state, which would allow them to
be killed with only a few restrictions.
Under the latest plan, the Wyoming Department of Agriculture would manage
wolves rather than the state’s wildlife agency, the Game and Fish
Department.
“They’re not wildlife. They’re predators,” State Agriculture Department
Director Ron Micheli said.
But conservationists question the wisdom of turning wolf management over
to agriculture interests.
“The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will be managing wolves for wolves,”
said Carl Schneebeck of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance. “The
Wyoming Agriculture Department will be managing wolves for cows and
sheep.”
Micheli said any plan likely would set a limit on the number of wolves
that could be killed if the population falls below a certain threshold.
“There’s going to be opposition, but if we can give assurances that
whatever we do will not jeopardize the wolf population then I think there
should be some comfort level for people,” he said.
The agriculture industry is backing the proposal, said Bryce Reece,
executive director of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association.
Livestock producers are more comfortable working with the Agriculture
Department and do not want to go through Game and Fish to obtain
permission to kill wolves, he said.
“We want them to have the ability to take a wolf when their livestock is
threatened,” he said.
Game and Fish staff had initially proposed reclassifying wolves as trophy
game animals, which would give the department authority to manage wolves
throughout the state.
But the Game and Fish Commission, an appointed panel that oversees the
Game and Fish Department, rejected the proposal and opted for dual
classification.
Wolves would only be classified as trophy game animals in national forests
and wilderness areas and be designated as predators elsewhere.
The predator provision has raised eyebrows from U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service officials who are concerned that there might not be enough
protection.
Two years ago the federal agency agreed to remove the animal from the
Endangered Species List and hand over management to the states but only if
plans are developed by the states that keep the animal from becoming
endangered again.
For managing wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, Idaho has
approved a plan and Montana expects to sign off on a plan soon.
“Somehow the state of Wyoming has to be able to control the mortality of
wolves, and that’s the bottom line,” said John Blankenship, deputy
regional director for Fish and Wildlife Service.
Jim Magagna, president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association,
downplayed the importance of the predator classification.
“It’s not so important what the label is as what the management is,” he
said.
Tom Thorne, acting director of the Game and Fish Department, said his
agency needs to finish collecting public comments on a draft management
plan being circulated around the state before moving ahead with the
predator proposal.
The deadline for comment is Dec. 12.
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