Worries,
suits may stall wolf delisting
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
CODY, Wyo. -
Although Dick Geving rarely sees gray wolves on his northern Wyoming
ranch, he believes they are to blame for 14 dead calves last year and
a suspected drop in the number of elk in the area.
If he saw a wolf, Geving said, he'd hope to have a gun and the right
to use it to protect his livelihood - no questions asked.
"If we would be able to use reasonable force to control them, at
least we'd have a fighting chance," said Geving, a rancher and
outfitter near Yellowstone National Park.
About 660
wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, enough for federal
wildlife officials to declare their recovery a success and to move
toward removing the wolves from the endangered species list in those
states and perhaps much of the West.
But worries over how well the three states can manage wolves when the
federal government turns that responsibility over to them, coupled
with the certainty of lawsuits and much passion about whether wolves
even ought to be here, already threaten to stall delisting, possibly
for years.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to propose delisting this
year, with the goal of having the wolves taken off the endangered
species list in 2004 - 30 years after they were added.
When and whether that process begins, though, is largely up to the
states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, the only states with established
wolf populations in the Northern Rockies.
Wildlife managers in the three states must prove to a panel of
scientists and federal wildlife officials that gray wolves will
continue thriving under their control before delisting can be
proposed.
The Fish and Wildlife Service met its recovery goal for the gray
wolves last year. That goal - 30 breeding pairs in the three states
for three straight years - is far exceeded by the current 43 breeding
pairs. The states are basing their management plan on a target of 15
pairs within each state.
The federal wildlife agency has given tentative approval to Idaho's
plan, which provides for, among other things, managing wolves like
black bears and mountain lions by allowing regulated hunting at
certain times.
Officials in Montana recently released their proposed plan, which also
would allow some regulated hunting and would permit ranchers to shoot
wolves that threaten their livestock.
Ed Bangs, the Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery coordinator in
Helena, calls Montana's proposal "state of the art, a class
act."
It's Wyoming's approach that has some wildlife officials and
environmentalists worried. Some suggest if changes are not made to
that state plan, wolves won't be delisted any time soon.
"Wyoming," said Nina Fascione, vice president of species
conservation with Defenders of Wildlife, "has definitely thrown a
wrench into the plans for delisting."
Though state wildlife officials are still working on a management
plan, the Wyoming Legislature recently and overwhelming backed a
proposal that would designate gray wolves as trophy animals in
Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks and adjacent wilderness
areas. It is illegal to hunt trophy game without a state-issued
license and federal law prohibits hunting wildlife in national parks.
But in the rest of the state, wolves would be considered predators and
could be killed with few restrictions.
If the number of breeding pairs fell below 15 in Wyoming, the predator
status would be suspended until their numbers recovered, officials
said.
The Legislature left it to state Game and Fish officials to fill in
the details.
And, officials said, there are plenty: How will the state control how
many wolves are taken? What sort of monitoring will it do? Where will
the wolves have no protection and in how big an area will shooting be
regulated?
"Until we know the answers, we can't make a decision on whether
it's acceptable or not," Bangs said. "The service is a
strong supporter of hunting; we think that's an important part of
this. But it can't be the 1880 Wild West again, with people running
around with poison and guns."
The bill is complex and at times, confusing. The Game and Fish
Department has asked the attorney general to interpret its language,
more clearly spelling out for state wildlife managers what options
they have in crafting the plan, said John Emmerich, assistant chief in
the department's wildlife division.
Officials expect to have a plan ready this summer and "feel the
framework is sufficient to meet recovery goals," he said.
The dual classification of trophy game and predator is meant to keep
wolves within a particular area - in and around the parks. It is also
meant to give ranchers like Geving, who bitterly fought the wolf
reintroduction eight years ago, another option to protect their
property, officials said.
Rep. Mike Baker, a Republican from Thermopolis who authored the wolf
management bill, said it represents the interests of his constituents.
He had them in mind when he pushed it, not how the plan might fit with
those in the other two states. The plans must complement one another
to ensure that wolves continue to have adequate range.
"They have their own political pressures. I have mine,"
Baker said. "And the people of Wyoming are angry."
Fascione said lawmakers may have been well intentioned in passing the
plan, but establishing hunting seasons for an animal just off the
endangered species list is premature.
Her group, which for 16 years has compensated ranchers for livestock
that wolves kill, would sue to stop delisting if it deemed any of the
plans "substandard."
Lack of federal money to help the states manage wolves also could
delay the process, said Tom France, director of the Northern Rockies
office of the National Wildlife Federation. "If, at the end of
the day, people don't see the dollars, expect a court challenge,"
he said.
Monitoring wolves to ensure their numbers are being maintained will be
a key - and expensive - part of the plans. But there have been no
promises of federal money so far, and officials in the three states
make clear that the success of their plans hinges on adequate funding.
Gary Lundvall, a cattle rancher near Cody and former member of the
state's Game and Fish Commission, worries that more delays will only
lead to more wolves - and more problems.
He, like Geving and many ranchers in the area, believe wolves are
responsible for a smaller-than-normal number of elk calves in their
northern Yellowstone winter range. If elk or deer numbers dwindle much
more, he said, it will affect the number of licenses game officials
can dole out and hurt the economy.
"The wolf is a killer," he said. "I'm not putting him
down. It's just what he does for food, for fun and play."
But Bangs said there have been relatively few problems with gray
wolves. Because wolves have limited prey and range, "that fear of
a huge wave of wolves spreading across eastern Montana and Wyoming and
the Plains like wildfire is not going to happen."
Though wildlife officials are eager to have the gray wolves taken off
the endangered species list, they say they won't push toward that goal
if the state plans don't past muster.
"We'll give it everything we can to make it happen but the
service is going to do the right thing, period," Bangs said.
"We'll be a very transparent program. And, if it looks like we
can't meet the requirements for delisting, we won't go there."
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