State agency puts wolves in crosshairs
Wolf recovery coordinator says Game and Fish proposal won't fly.
By Whitney Royster
Jackson Hole News
www.jacksonholenews.com
September 18, 2002

A federal wildlife biologist said this week that Wyoming's push to classify the gray wolf as a "predator" in most of the state faces an uphill battle.

Last week, Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners voted to classify the wolf a trophy game animal in wilderness areas and a predator in the rest of the state. Predator classification means the wolf can be killed at any time by any means and for any reason.

"I find it hard to believe that would pass muster," said Ed Bangs, Wyoming wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The reclassification of the wolf is part of a state management plan - the last piece of the puzzle before wolves can be removed from the Endangered Species List - that the federal government has to approve before it can be enforced. "I don't see the Service accepting that," Bangs said.

Since their reintroduction in 1995, the wolf population has reached the federal objectives required to delist the animals from the Endangered Species list. At the end of 2001, there were 189 wolves in Wyoming operating in 10 packs, each with a breeding pair. All the the wolves currently live within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem in northwest Wyoming.

At their meeting last week, Game and Fish commissioners voted 3-2 to list the wolf as a predator in most of the state and make that designation the cornerstone of their proposed management plan. Commission chairman Doyle Dorner, who did not vote, said that using predator designation was largely a financial decision.

"We don't think we can afford to have wolves as trophy game in most of Wyoming," he said. "If wolves are managed as trophy game, that would cost a lot of money in damage costs. Right now we're claiming poverty."

Trophy game animals, like grizzly bears and mountain lions, are subject to strict hunting regulations and livestock depredations or damage to ranches caused by trophy animals are reimbursed by the state.

Dorner said administrative costs associated with the wolf program are hefty because of extensive investigations into wolf depredations as well as tracking and population monitoring activities that must be supported.

"It is estimated that Montana and Idaho pay $1 million a year [for wolves], and they do not pay damage claims," he said. Currently, with wolves classified as endangered, the conservation group Defenders of Wildlife pays compensation claims for known wolf depredations. Since wolf reintroduction in 1995, the group has paid $35,919.78 to ranchers suffering losses from wolves. If wolves were de-classified the state would be responsible for those compensation costs.

Bangs said losses to ranchers are "immeasurably small" in comparison to losses from other causes, like deaths, still-births and other natural causes. At the end of 2001, wolves had killed 27 cattle, 122 sheep and 15 dogs in the state since reintroduction.

In the greater Yellowstone area, where annual cattle losses number 8,340,wolves and other predators account for less than 3 percent of cattle losses, Bangs said.

At a time when the Wyoming Game and Fish Department is seeking additional revenue sources to manage other wildlife, Dorner said the agency cannot cover the added cost of managing wolves.

Dorner said the commissioners are not opposed to having wolves, but he is concerned that an explosive wolf population will impact other state wildlife herds.

"The rate at which wolves are expanding is incredibly," he said. "Within five years we will have 1,000 wolves if the current trend would continue." Dorner, who said he did not know as much as biologists, said he has read literature saying wolves will go from prey to prey and "annihilate them."

"We have to watch other species," he said.

Bangs dismisses that contention, pointing out that initially a recovered species will boom in numbers before numbers level off.

He said an ecosystem will only have as many wolves as its prey base will allow. "Yellowstone has probably as many wolves as they can have," he said. "If prey goes down, we will have fewer wolves. ... That relationship has been proven everywhere in the world."

Bangs said Wyoming's management plan must respect the federal government's need to be assured the wolf won't become endangered again.

"One of the key issues is, 'What kind of message does this send to the general public when we try to delist species?'" he said. "People will want to know if the Western states' heart is in it."

Bangs said listing the wolf as a trophy game animal will allow the state more flexibility in management. "You will have more ability to address problems and local concerns," Bangs said. "If it's a predator, there is no ability to regulate. Why they would want to take away that ability is confusing to me. ... They have to have the ability to protect wolves so the wolf population won't be jeopardized."

Wyoming, along with Montana and Idaho, has agreed to manage a portion of the federal government's requirement of 30 breeding pairs. Bangs said Wyoming may want to manage a minimal number, but if wolf numbers sink lower than an objective number, the animal may be listed again.

"The Endangered Species Act sets the floor," he said. "If you try to manage one wolf more than the minimum and something bad happens, you talk about the ESA kicking in again. Once you get them endangered again, then you have a really tough sell. It could mean additional protections."

Bangs said the three states have agreed to carry one-third of the minimum population requirements. If Wyoming allows the eradication of wolves by branding them predators that can be killed at will, or fails to protect at least 10 breeding pairs, the whole regional plan will be at risk.

In Montana's state plan, 15 packs are used as the trigger to change management. There, wolves are classified as a species "in need of management," meaning the state has the ability to make changes in populations. The state has said when wolf numbers have increased and population regulation is needed, wolves may be reclassified as a big game animal or a furbearer, allowing hunting and trapping.

Developing a state wolf plan is one of the last pieces in the puzzle before the animal can be removed from federal protection. Idaho and Montana have developed state plans, and with 30 breeding pairs of wolves dispersed through the ecosystem, adoption of a Wyoming management plan is the only action needed to take them off the endangered list.

A draft plan is expected to be presented to the Game and Fish Commission on Oct. 28. There will be an opportunity for public comment until Dec. 12. A final plan will be presented to the Commission in January 2003 for adoption in February.

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