Wyoming House passes wolf bill

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The Wyoming state House voted Wednesday to accept a wolf management bill that would leave it up to the governor to negotiate with the federal government on the boundaries of a permanent wolf management area in northwestern Wyoming.

Proponents say the bill would let Wyoming try to negotiate an end to the three-year standoff with the federal government over wolf management. The state sued the federal government over its rejection of the state’s first wolf plan in 2004.

The bill would allow Gov. Dave Freudenthal’s administration to negotiate with the federal government over the boundaries of a permanent wolf management area within which wolves would be treated as trophy game animals and killed by licensed hunters. Outside that area, they would be treated as predators that could be shot on sight.

Freudenthal said Wednesday he was pleased that the House approved the bill, which has already cleared the Senate and now awaits his signature. But he emphasized that the legislation itself wouldn’t resolve the state’s problems.

“I’m pleased that they saw fit to concur,” Freudenthal said of the House vote. “I would remind everyone that that legislation in and of itself does not change the state of the law in Wyoming, either in terms of the boundary or the litigation.

“It simply gives us the opportunity, in the event that the federal government follows the path that they seem to be on to be more responsive, it gives us the chance to take advantage of that,” Freudenthal said. “If they’re not more responsive, we’ll stay where we’re at.”

The bill that passed the House 33-26 on Wednesday specifies that it would be void after February 2008 unless the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removes wolves from Endangered Species Act protection and turns management authority over to the state by then.

The Fish and Wildlife Service last month announced that it intended to remove wolves from its list of threatened and endangered species within a year. The agency said it was prepared to keep federal protections in place in Wyoming alone if the state hasn’t developed an acceptable management plan in time.

Mitch King, regional director of the Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said Wednesday that the House vote was great news.

King said the bill would allow the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to negotiate an acceptable wolf management plan with his agency. He said his agency intends to have a final decision on its proposal to remove wolves from protection by next January, but said he couldn’t predict whether legal challenges could delay that.

King also said he intends to try to address his own agency’s policy on when states can kill wolves for killing too much wildlife in some areas.