Governor: State won't back down in wolf debate
Riverton Ranger
By James Wynn,
Staff Writer
Published May 28, 2006
In a no-nonsense speech to a rapt audience in Riverton, Gov Dave Freudenthal used a quote by Winston Churchill to sum up what he believes Wyoming's position on wolves should be.
"Never, never, never give in," said Freudenthal to a gathered audience of more than 100 people attending a two day wolf seminar sponsored by the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.
The seminar at the Riverton Holiday Inn Convention Center focused on an animal that some see as a nuisance and some see as a necessity, but which has never failed to spark controversy since being reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in 1994.
Freudenthal was at the conference to defend a proposed Wyoming wolf management plan which would give the wolf dual classification status within Wyoming borders once the wolf is removed from the federal Endangered Species List.
That dual status has not been accepted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, which objects to Wyoming's desire to classify wolves as both predators and trophy animals.
The USFWS opposes the predatory classification.
Under Wyoming's predatory animal law any animal considered a predator can be shot on sight by anyone at any time.
According to Freudenthal, the discrepancy between the federal government and Wyoming position does not stem from what will happen to wolves under a predatory status. Rather, he believes, the concern is over political fallout caused by designating an animal still on the Endangered Species List as a predator.
"This has become a philosophical issue," said Freudenthal.
The governor said Wyoming originally submitted a plan to the USFWS which met all the agency's criteria for delisting the wolf.
"When we submitted the plan to manage wolves in our state, Wyoming had (federal) legislature assurances, and we had statistical assurances that our plan would meet the requirements put forth by the federal government," said Freudenthal.
That bill known as House Bill 299 and submitted to Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton in 2003, states that the Wyoming Department of Game and Fish, upon delisting of the gray wolf, will maintain and manage at least 15 packs within the state’s borders. Eight of those packs would be within the borders of Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton National Park and the John D Rockefeller Memorial Parkway and managed by the USFWS. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department also would maintain seven packs outside these areas.
'The wolves will be absolutely protected in these areas," said Freudenthal speaking of the national parks.
In the surrounding wilderness areas, which include the North Absaroka, Teton and Washakie wilderness areas, among others, all wolves would fall under the classification of "trophy animals."
"These are not discussions we are having with the federal government. They are dissertations given by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." Gov Dave Freudenthal
"Trophy game status is a status that we give to animals with which we try to maintain population statues," said Freudenthal.
The problem is not Wyoming's plan for managing wolves within these designated borders, but what it would do with wolves that wander outside the designated protection borders.
According comments posted on the Humane Society of the United States website, the problem with Wyoming's wolf plan is that "the predatory animal designation would mean that an unlimited number of wolves could be killed by hunting and trapping. The killing of wolves will be entirely unregulated in designated areas."
While it is true that wolves outside of the designated areas under predatory status could be killed, Freudenthal maintains that Wyoming would remain committed to upholding its end of the deal concerning wolf populations.
"If the number of packs outside the National Parks fell below seven, we would expand those areas in which the wolves' trophy status is enforced," he said.
Freudenthal added that when Wyoming's plan was reviewed by 11 peer reviewers, 10 of them found that plan would lead to sustainable numbers in the restricted areas.
In addition to the almost Orwellian federal government's endorsement of a plan it now refuses to recognize, according to Freudenthal, officials at the Department of the Interior has told him they do not believe habitat outside the protected areas to be suitable habitat for wolves, and that what happens to wolves in these areas is not a concern.
"They are telling me 'we don't care what happens to these wolves, but you have to call them trophy animals," said Freudenthal. "Wolves will not be delisted unless Wyoming changes statuette. It's as though they believe we arrived at this plan without conviction."
Wyoming law lists as animal as a predatory animal if the animal can have a detrimental impact on Wyoming's economy. Jackrabbits, porcupines, skunks, and stray cats are also considered predatory animals pursuant to Wyoming law.
According to a civil action complaint filed by the State of Wyoming against Gale Norton and Steven Williams, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, wolf predation on big game animals in Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park has decreased hunter opportunity in Wyoming by approximately 1,700 hunters per year.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has been deprived of approximately $225,000 in license revenues, and the Wyoming economy and Wyoming citizens have lost $2.9 million in hunter expenditures as a result of the lost hunter opportunities, the complaint states.
Wyoming also has been deprived of substantial sales tax, lodging tax, and fuel taxes as a result of those lost hunter opportunities.
