WY Nears Deal on Wolves

By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyoming

July 8, 2011

State and federal officials could reach a deal on a wolf plan for Wyoming as soon as late September, Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Department officials announced Thursday.

Mead made his comments at a news conference from Cheyenne with Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe.

“I’m pleased to report that we agree in principal on a number of issues,” Mead said.

Under the preliminary agreement, Wyoming would maintain 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves outside of Yellowstone National Park. Those numbers would remain in effect for Wyoming regardless of the number of wolves in Yellowstone. The park consistently has five or six breeding pairs of wolves within its boarders, Ashe said.

The plan also would create a “flex line” on the southern portion of Wyoming’s trophy game area. The proposed trophy game area currently encompasses the northwest corner of Wyoming, about 12 percent of the state’s total area.

The flex line would move further south, expanding the trophy game area, during the winter to allow dispersing wolves connectivity with Idaho through the Snake River Canyon, officials said. During the winter, the wolves inside that boundary would be considered trophy game. The rest of the year, they could be hunted as predators. The exact location of the flex line has not yet been determined, officials said.

“We are much, much closer than we’ve been since I took office,” Mead said.

Salazar agreed the Interior Department is ready to make a deal. “The major issues in terms of boundaries and numbers and flex lines have come to a point that we have a good resolution on those issues,” he said.

Ashe said wolves will “continue to be part of the western landscape, but so will ranching.”

The 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves are “based on what our scientists told us,” Salazar said.

The roughly 340 wolves currently in Wyoming “have resulted in a tremendous loss of elk and moose, in addition to the loss of livestock,” Mead said. “We’re certainly looking at a reduction, and, if my numbers are right, we may be looking at a reduction of two-thirds.”

Mead said his direction to Game and Fish is not to go below 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves.

One point that must still be resolved is the location of the flex line.

Mead said the line will mostly encompass public land, but some private land will have to be included.

Mead said he wants to talk to private landowners and other stakeholders  before making a decision on the flex line’s location.

Another unresolved issue is how wolves will be treated in the predator zone. Under current Wyoming law, wolves in the predator zone would be killed any time, by any means, without a license.

Wildlife advocates say the lack of oversight and restrictions could result in the inhumane killing of wolves.

 “That is one of the things by the end of July that we hope to work out with the Fish and Wildlife Service,” Mead said.

Mead said Congress is still needed to make sure the deal sticks. “What we don’t want to do ... is spend years in court in no-man’s land,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., on Wednesday proposed language in an appropriations bill that would stop lawsuits against any wolf delisting deal reached by Wyoming and the federal government.

Using Congress to avoid litigation circumvents the Endangered Species Act, said Chris Colligan, Wyoming wildlife advocate for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition.

“It’s a rather disappointing lack of leadership from the Department of Interior on conservation issues in the West,” he said. “It appears they’ve tried to take the easy way out.”

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