Feds approve Wyoming’s wolf management plan

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given formal approval to a plan the agency helped write that spells out how wolves would be managed in Wyoming.

The Fish and Wildlife Service began drafting the plan early this year and presented it to state officials, who made changes.

Wyoming’s acceptance of the plan broke a deadlock that had threatened to leave Wyoming out of the ongoing process of removing wolves from protections under the federal Threatened and Endangered Species Act in the northern Rocky Mountains. Both Montana and Idaho already have federally approved plans.

Delays in getting an approved plan in Wyoming had prevented removing federal protections from wolves in all three states.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has been holding public hearings about its proposal to remove the protections from the wolf. Final action could occur in all three states as soon as early next year.

The Wyoming Department of Game and Fish announced Friday that the federal agency had given formal notification this week that it approved the Wyoming wolf management plan. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall informed Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director Terry Cleveland of his decision this week.

“After careful review and consideration, we determined that the 2007 Plan will provide adequate regulatory mechanisms for conserving a recovered wolf population in Wyoming after delisting and meets the requirements of the Endangered Species Act,” the state agency quoted Hall as writing.

Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal stated that the federal agency’s acceptance of the state plan is an encouraging sign that wolves in the state will soon be removed from the endangered species list.