Wyoming officials to draft plan for wolves
BY MIKE STARK
Gazette Wyoming Bureau
Despite lingering concerns about how wolf management might be funded, the
Wyoming Game and Fish Commission agreed on Tuesday to draw up a plan to
manage gray wolves if federal protections are lifted.
There have been murmurs for months that Wyoming’s past refusal to develop
such a plan could hinder plans to remove the wolves from the Endangered
Species List and put management in the hands of the three Northern Rockies
states.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials have said that before the wolves
are delisted, they have to see plans from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming that
assure wolf populations in those states won’t decline dramatically.
The Idaho Legislature completed its plan in March. Montana’s is under
review.
Meeting in Casper on Tuesday, the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission voted
4-2 to develop a wolf management plan. Funding for the work will come from
federal coffers.
“All of the out-of-pocket costs will come from federal dollars,” said
Larry Kruckenberg, special assistant for policy in the Game and Fish
director’s office. “All of the state’s portion will come from personnel
time.”
But Kruckenberg said that just because Wyoming devises a wolf plan doesn’t
mean it will be implemented. That will depend on whether the federal
government provides money to help states manage the wolves. Idaho and
Montana have estimated that it would cost about $800,000 a year to manage
wolves in each state.
“All three states are in synch in wanting to aggressively pursue this,”
Kruckenberg said. “That’s just something that’s going to need to be
addressed.”
He said work on Wyoming’s plan probably won’t get fully under way until at
least July, when federal money for the study becomes available. He
estimated that it could take nine months to produce the plan, depending on
how many issues come up.
“It’s going to be important that this be a very thorough process with
adequate public involvement,” he said. “If it can be done sooner, it will
be.”
Fish and Wildlife Service officials have said they hope to propose the
wolves for delisting in January, after certain key recovery goals are met.
Wyoming’s plan is expected to cost about $150,000. Kruckenberg estimates
that the federal government will pick up $113,000 for the work. The state
is required to put up a 25 percent match to get that money. The time that
state workers put into the project will satisfy that match, Kruckenberg
said.