U.S. to offer wolf deal to Wyoming

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to offer Wyoming a compromise aimed at ending the standoff over wolf management.

The federal agency proposes to designate a permanent area in northwestern Wyoming where the state would manage wolves as trophy game animals.

The state could consider any wolves found outside of that area as predators that could be killed on sight.

Wyoming this fall sued the federal government for rejecting its proposed wolf management plan. Rather than designating a permanent trophy hunting area for the wolves, Wyoming has called for allowing the state Game and Fish Department to change the area boundaries for trophy hunting as it sees fit to control the wolf population.

Fish and Wildlife Service officials will meet Monday with Gov. Dave Freudenthal to discuss their proposal.

Lara Azar, spokeswoman for Freudenthal, said Friday the governor’s office hasn’t seen specifics from the federal agency.

Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena, said Friday that the federal proposal would incorporate parts of the state’s plan while designating parts of northwest Wyoming a “permanent wolf area.”

The boundary of the proposed permanent area would extend from Cody south to Meeteetse, around the western boundary of the Wind River Reservation down the Pinedale, west to the Alpine area and then back north to Yellowstone National Park.

“If Wyoming would make that a trophy game area and manage for seven packs in that area, we could live with predatory status outside that area,” Bangs said.

Bangs said his agency’s proposal to designate a permanent area for the animals is biologically sound and would ensure a continuing population in the state.

He said the agency will propose that the state commit to managing seven packs of wolves. Together with an additional eight packs in Yellowstone, he said the proposal would ensure that 15 packs survive in the state.

Bangs said the proposal would result in a stable population of about 130 wolves inside the park and between 50 and 100 wolves outside the park.

Officials say there are now about 300 wolves in the state.

Wyoming’s dispute with the federal government over wolf management has prevented removing the animal from Endangered Species Act protections in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

Officials say Wyoming’s federal lawsuit could take years to resolve through the courts.