Wyoming must compromise for wolf delisting
USFWS director Steve Williams rebukes unregulated killing of wolves
Associated Press
WASHINGTON ý Wyoming lawmakers must conform with federal recommendations for wolves to be taken off the endangered species list, the head of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says. Any plan that includes unregulated killing of wolves ý like Wyoming’s does ý will not be accepted, agency director Steve Williams said.
“The stumbling block is unregulated take,” he said. “Call them what you want. The predator class in Wyoming is unregulated take. The Endangered Species Act says you have to have adequate regulatory mechanisms. To approve a plan that does not conform with the law doesn’t make any sense.”
The agency in January rejected Wyoming’s wolf management plan, drawing threats of litigation from state officials. Plans for Idaho and Montana were deemed acceptable, but all three states must past muster before wolves can be delisted.
Williams spent several days with Wyoming lawmakers earlier this year trying to craft an acceptable management plan.
Several compromises were proposed by the state Legislature, but none were approved, leaving the door open for a court battle.
Williams said he’s willing to head back West and work out a solution, but isn’t sure what route the state is taking.
“I don’t know where they are going to go,” he said. “We are anxious to talk with them about that. We’re anxious to move the process along, but the ball is really in their court.”
Fish and Wildlife turned down Wyoming’s proposal because it proposed managing wolves under “dual classification,” which treats them as trophy game and subject to regulated hunting in areas in and near the national parks, and classifies them as predators ý subject to little hunting regulation ý outside of northwest Wyoming.
The agency recently proposed changes that would give Idaho and Montana more flexibility in managing gray wolves in their states and producers more leeway in killing wolves that harass livestock and pets.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton said she believed the two states with approved plans should be given more flexibility in managing wolves while Wyoming’s plan is worked out or taken to court.
Source