For Immediate Release: February 10, 2004
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance
Wyoming Outdoor Council

Contact:
Meredith Taylor, Wyoming Outdoor Council, (307) 349-1159
Tom Darin, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, (307) 733-9417
Lloyd Dorsey, Greater Yellowstone Coalition (307) 734-6004

Lander, WY- Conservationists today urged Governor Dave Freudenthal and the State Legislature to make needed changes to Wyoming's Wolf Plan (House Bill 229) so that the wolf recovery process can move forward, ensuring the continued health of Wyoming's wolf populations and the state management of the species. The Wyoming Outdoor Council, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance called on the state today to designate the wolf a Trophy Game species, to reassess its definition of what comprises a wolf pack and to meet wolf recovery objectives by assuring a minimum of 15 wolf packs in Wyoming.

"Wildlife enthusiasts, sportsmen and conservationists alike support U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Steve Williams' decision to protect Wyoming's wolves," Meredith Taylor, Wyoming Outdoor Council's Yellowstone Field Representative, explains.

The Fish and Wildlife Service opposed Wyoming's plan of classifying wolves as predators outside National Parks and designated Wilderness Areas in part because it would allow any person to kill a wolf anywhere at any time for any reason outside these lands. Within National Parks and Wilderness the species would be classified as a Trophy Game Species.

Conservationists have consistently supported trophy game status for wolves throughout Wyoming. Trophy game status would allow the establishment of management areas, set season dates and ensure harvest quotas to manage wolf populations via regulated take. Under such a management scenario Wyoming would have the authority to address wolf depredation concerns as it would for any other trophy game species. Statewide trophy game status for wolves would sustain wolves above recovery goals and still allow the state control of wolves. The groups agree with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that a "wolf pack" must be biologically defined as at least six wolves traveling together with at least one breeding pair.

"Trophy game classification would give the state room to manage the wolf while sustaining healthy wolf populations. We've already tried the 'kill at any time, in any manner approach' with the wolf and it led to its near extirpation," states Tom Darin, Public Lands Director for the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance.

If the Governor decides to sue the Federal Government over the plan, it could jeopardize the future of the gray wolf and potentially delay the delisting of the species from the endangered species list due to legal and scientific concerns.

"With a biologically defensible wolf plan, we'd support delisting and turning over management to the states. With last year's bad law and plan that cost us a year in that process, and the current climate of threatened lawsuits, backroom negotiations between the Governor and the Fish and Wildlife Service, as well as another 'predator' bill floating around, I'm beginning to wonder if the Wyoming politicians secretly like the wolf in federal control under the Endangered Species Act. Folks in Montana and Idaho must be cringing at the latest round of extremist-politics that will assuredly lead to additional years of delay," asserts Darin.

"Wolf recovery in Greater Yellowstone is considered one of the top conservation success stories of the West today," says Lloyd Dorsey, Greater Yellowstone Coalition spokesperson. "Since their reintroduction, wolves have prospered in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem while restoring some measure of ecological balance. Increased wolf watching activities have created a real economic engine for Yellowstone National Park and satellite communities each winter."

The conservation groups recommend that the legislature repeal HB 229 and direct the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission to adopt a new wolf management and monitoring plan that assures sustainable wolf populations. Such a plan would designate the wolf a Trophy Game animal statewide, assure a minimum of 15 wolf packs in Wyoming and make Wyoming's definition of a wolf pack match those of Idaho and Montana. Additionally, the groups ask that the State Legislature hold a field hearing in Jackson this winter to assess the values and benefits of wolves to local communities and ecosystems.

This is no fairy tale and no one needs to fear the 'big, wild wolf'", says Darin. "The challenge for us is finding the will-and the leadership-to draft a new plan to ensure that the wolf is here to stay."