Wolves in Wyoming and Flip-Flopping Feds

Posted November 4, 2011 in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places

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As I wrote a few months ago, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service reached an agreement this past summer with the State of Wyoming over Wyoming’s long-disputed wolf management plan. And in October, the Service officially proposed removing wolves in Wyoming from the endangered species list and turning over management authority to Wyoming. In my August blog post, I explained how the Service disapproved of, then approved, then disapproved of, and now has again approved Wyoming’s wolf management plan.
In fact, if flip-flopping were an Olympic sport, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service would receive 10s across the board for their performance on wolves in Wyoming. (Well, they’d get a 10 from everybody but the French judge, who, we all know, would stiff ‘em with an 8.5.)

The details can be found in my previous blog post, but here are the critical facts: a huge problem with Wyoming’s wolf management plan is that it has designated wolves as “predators” that can be killed by anyone at any time without a license in almost 90% of the state. The other roughly 10% of Wyoming, the northwest corner of the state, would be classified as a “trophy game area,” where wolves would receive more protections and be primarily managed through regulated hunting.

As for Flipper the Dolphin, I mean the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, for years it said Wyoming’s wolf plan was unacceptable, then in 2008 it accepted Wyoming’s plan, but a federal judge quickly put the kibosh on that one and told the Service its new acceptance was illegal. So the Service went back to disapproving of Wyoming’s plan for a while.

And then Wyoming said this summer that it would slightly improve its plan, and the Service quickly agreed to it.

In the new and improved Wyoming wolf management plan, wolves would again be classified and protected with trophy game status only in the northwest corner of the state, but Wyoming would also establish a “flex zone” for parts of three counties immediately south of the northwest trophy game area. In the flex zone, wolves would be protected from October 15 through the end of the following February. For the remainder of the year, the shoot-on-sight predator status would apply.

Other minor changes to the plan were made, but Wyoming’s leaving intact a kill-on-sight zone for wolves across almost 90% of the state (plus a small seasonal flex zone) has probably drawn the most attention and criticism. In September, for example, the New York Times editorial board denounced Wyoming's revised management plan and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's accession to it, and the superintendent of Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming even criticized the plan a couple of months ago (the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service are both Department of the Interior agencies).

Following the federal judge’s ruling that the Service’s approval of Wyoming’s plan in 2008 was illegal, the Service proposed removing Endangered Species Act protections from all wolves in the Northern Rockies except Wyoming (because of its bad management plan) in early 2009. In that final rule, the Service implored Wyoming to change its plan, drop the predator zone, and implement statewide trophy management.
Let’s travel back in time and take a look at what the Service said in its 2009 rule published in the Federal Register:

“We believe the entire State of Wyoming should be managed as a trophy game area. Continuation of the current regulatory framework in Wyoming would meaningfully affect the [Northern Rocky Mountains Distinct Population Segment’s] resiliency, redundancy, and representation, and decrease the ability to conserve the species.” Page 15,183.

Hmmmm. Looks like the Service wants statewide trophy game status.

“Statewide trophy game status: Will allow Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD) more flexibility to devise a management strategy, including regulated harvest, that provides for self-sustaining populations above recovery goals; prevents a patchwork of different management statutes; will be easier for the public to understand and, thus, will be easier to regulate; is similar to State management of other resources like mountain lions and black-bears; and is consistent with the current regulatory scheme in that the entire State is currently nonessential, experimental.” Page 15,149.

Man, that really sounds like a plug for statewide trophy game status to me.

“‘Trophy game’ status allows the [Wyoming Game & Fish Commission] and [Wyoming Game & Fish Department] to regulate methods of take, hunting seasons, types of allowed take, and numbers of wolves that could be killed. All other States within the [Northern Rocky Mountains Distinct Population Segment] manage wolves as a game species.” Page 15,170.

I’m sensing a desire for statewide trophy game status from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

“A statewide trophy game area is also advisable given the dispersal capabilities of wolves.” Page 15,183.

Yes, I’m definitely sensing that.

“Furthermore, statewide trophy game status will allow more flexibility to devise a management strategy, including regulated harvest that provides for self-sustaining populations above recovery goals.” Page 15,183.

Seriously? This is getting redundant. I get it. You want statewide trophy game status in Wyoming. Talk about beating a dead horse.

“We believe that the best way for Wyoming to provide adequate regulatory mechanisms would be to develop a statewide trophy game management designation as the basis for any revised regulatory framework. At a minimum, this change would require a revision of Wyoming’s wolf management law as the current law establishes the limits of the trophy game area to only 12 percent of the State. Until Wyoming revises their statutes, management plan, and associated regulations, and is again Service approved, wolves in Wyoming shall remain protected by Act.” Page 15,149.

Yet, today, the Fish & Wildlife Service has agreed to shoot-on-sight predator status for almost 90% of Wyoming.
So, to quote the great Mike Lafontaine from “A Mighty Wind”:
“Wha' happened?”

(Wolves photo by SigmaEye on Flickr)

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