Feds propose lifting wolves' protection

Endangered status no longer needed, wildlife officials say

Todd Hartman, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Gray wolves, once hunted to the edge of extinction, have come back so successfully in the northern Rockies that federal wildlife managers say the creatures no longer need the protections of the Endangered Species Act.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Monday that management of wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming be turned over to state governments, a proposal that drew protests from environmental groups who said states are more interested in eradication than preservation.

The proposal doesn't change anything right away. But following a comment period and public hearings during the next several months, the service could call for formally delisting the wolves by the end of the year, according to Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the agency.

The federal government said wolf population in the three states has far exceeded goals for what it considers "recovery" of the species: 1,243 wolves and 89 breeding pairs. That compares with the original recovery target, reached in 2002, of 300 individual wolves and 30 breeding pairs.

The gray wolves, listed as endangered in 1974, are "biologically ready to be de-listed," said Deputy Secretary of the Interior Lynn Scarlett, in a statement. "States, tribes, conservation groups, federal agencies and citizens . . . can be proud of their roles in saving this icon of wilderness."

But conservation groups fretted that wolves appear to face a hostile public in Idaho, where the governor has thundered about hunting many of the animals once federal protections are removed. In Wyoming, state law still considers wolves predators to be eradicated, and state officials have yet to create a plan to protect wolves.

"The government is ready to abandon the fate of wolves to institutions that believe it is still 1870," said Rob Edward, of the Boulder- based wildlife advocacy group Sinapu. "The nation's progress toward wolf recovery will grind to a halt."

But Bangs downplayed the concerns. In Wyoming, he said, if the state can't come up with a wolf management plan ensuring that the population stays higher than 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves in midwinter, then the region around Yellowstone National Park - the core of the wolf population - will remain under federal jurisdictions and wolves won't lose their protected status there.

As for the fiery comments from Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter - including his stated desire to be among those who shoot a wolf - Bangs dismissed them as political rhetoric. In fact, Bangs said, Idaho wildlife officials put together a good management plan, he said, and he has "no doubt they'll do a great job. . . . It's easy to get wrapped up in emotions, but what we looked at are the legal commitments of the state."

In Colorado, wildlife officials, livestock producers and environmental groups are watching the wolf drama closely. Two wolves have been documented in the state in recent years, including one found dead along Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs in 2004 and another videotaped near Walden - and confirmed as likely to be a wolf by state wildlife officials - in March.

If another wolf wanders into Colorado, something biologists say is possible from time-to-time, it still would be considered an endangered species because it is outside the zone of the northern Rockies, where officials propose to strip its protections.

Wolves on the comeback trail

• Where: Wolves in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon and a small part of north-central Utah could have federal protection lifted in less than a year.

• How: In late 2002, wolf populations achieved the recovery goal required for the species to be de-listed, at least 30 breeding pair and 300 wolves.

• In Colorado: Wolves will still be legally classified as endangered. So any wolf wandering into the state - as at least two have done in recent years - would fall under federal protection. But the chances of wolves making it here could actually decline, as those wandering through Wyoming are more likely to be killed by ranchers or hunters no longer constrained by federal wolf protections, federal officials said.

hartmant@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5048