Two Western States want wolves off list
Idaho, Montana hope government will end protection
By Associated Press
LEWISTON, Idaho - Officials in Idaho and Montana say they are hopeful the federal government will approve a plan to remove wolves from the Endangered Species List that leaves out Wyoming, which doesn't have a federally approved wolf management plan.
"There are some favorable discussions going on," Jim Caswell, director of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation at Boise, told the Lewiston Tribune.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers wolves in the three states to be biologically recovered with an estimated 600 wolves in Idaho alone. But before the wolves can be removed from the list, each state has to have an approved management plan in place. Idaho and Montana have plans, but the federal government has refused to approve Wyoming's plan that allows unregulated hunting of wolves outside national parks and wilderness areas.
The Wyoming Legislature adjourned last week without changing its plan, and state officials have appealed a lower court's decision that rejected the state's lawsuit that attempts to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to accept Wyoming's plan.
Meanwhile, Idaho and Montana officials have attempted to move forward without Wyoming.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer last October sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton suggesting the plan, but the letter went unanswered. Following Norton's visit to Boise and the signing of an agreement that gave Idaho more authority to manage wolves, a second letter was sent in January.
That letter led to a meeting last month between state and federal officials in Washington, D.C. Attorneys for the state are working on a legal opinion before meeting with attorneys from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Caswell said. The letter, he said, will explain "why we believe this works and why we believe it's a good defensible approach under the law."
Rocky Mountain News
By Associated Press
LEWISTON, Idaho - Officials in Idaho and Montana say they are hopeful the federal government will approve a plan to remove wolves from the Endangered Species List that leaves out Wyoming, which doesn't have a federally approved wolf management plan.
"There are some favorable discussions going on," Jim Caswell, director of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation at Boise, told the Lewiston Tribune.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers wolves in the three states to be biologically recovered with an estimated 600 wolves in Idaho alone. But before the wolves can be removed from the list, each state has to have an approved management plan in place. Idaho and Montana have plans, but the federal government has refused to approve Wyoming's plan that allows unregulated hunting of wolves outside national parks and wilderness areas.
The Wyoming Legislature adjourned last week without changing its plan, and state officials have appealed a lower court's decision that rejected the state's lawsuit that attempts to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to accept Wyoming's plan.
Meanwhile, Idaho and Montana officials have attempted to move forward without Wyoming.
Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer last October sent a letter to Interior Secretary Gale Norton suggesting the plan, but the letter went unanswered. Following Norton's visit to Boise and the signing of an agreement that gave Idaho more authority to manage wolves, a second letter was sent in January.
That letter led to a meeting last month between state and federal officials in Washington, D.C. Attorneys for the state are working on a legal opinion before meeting with attorneys from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Caswell said. The letter, he said, will explain "why we believe this works and why we believe it's a good defensible approach under the law."
posted by wolf saga at 10:07 AM
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