Wildlife panel OKs wolf return

The new policy allows wolves to roam freely in Colorado while permitting the

killing of "problem" predators and reimbursing ranchers for livestock

losses.

By Theo Stein

Denver Post Staff Writer

Avon - The Colorado Wildlife Commission on Thursday set a course toward

reconciliation with an old enemy: the wolf.

The Wildlife Commission, which sets policy for the state Division of

Wildlife, agreed to accept the return of the migrating predators from

Yellowstone National Park and to formalize a plan to manage the state's

first packs.

The vote on the policy, set forth in a report by the Wolf Working Group, a

panel of sportsmen, ranchers and conservation groups, was unanimous.

"I don't know if you realize the significance of the vote you took and how

different that story could have been," Bruce McCloskey, the Division of

Wildlife's director, told the commission.

The plan says the state will let wolves roam wherever they choose but urges

a swift response to trouble, including killing wolves that prey on

livestock. The policy also calls for a program to fairly compensate ranchers

for their losses with money not raised from existing game-damage funds or

license fees.

However, the policy leaves unanswered more intractable questions, like how

to deal with numerous packs and whether Colorado should reintroduce wolves

on its own. And it comes during a period of turmoil and uncertainty in the

national wolf debate.

Earlier this year, an Oregon judge agreed with environmentalists that the

federal system of dividing wolves into regional subpopulations - and the

reclassification of wolves as threatened - was illegal. The ruling

reclassified all wolves as "endangered" and eliminated rules that allowed

ranchers to shoot problem wolves.

The court decision will likely push permanent state management further into

the future.

But on Wednesday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it would agree to

let Colorado manage problem wolves through an unspecified

permit process.

Del Benson, a professor at Colorado State University and chairman of the

wolf panel, said he hoped environmental groups would step forward with money

to help the state manage wolves.

"This animal should be the poster child for these groups," he said. "They

don't get more charismatic."

While polls show a majority of Coloradans welcome the wolf's return, many in

the livestock community remain skeptical.

Craig rancher Jean Stetson said many ranchers have accused her of selling

them out by agreeing to even a single wolf in the state.

"There's one faction in the state that wants wolves here now," she said.

"We have another faction that says, 'Hell no - I'll shoot every one I see."'

The division continues to receive wolf sightings, though none has been

confirmed since a young female from Yellowstone was struck and killed on

Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs last June.

While McCloskey applauded the panel's report, it also left him with more

work. He has to find money for the new wolf policy.

"It's tough to have a contingency fund in tough budget times," he said. "But

it would be good to set something aside so we can pull the trigger when we

need to."

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_2714225

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Ranchers howl in protest of wolf management plan

Saturday, May 07, 2005

By DAVE BUCHANAN

The Daily Sentinel

AVON — Jean Stetson already has felt the rake of a wolf’s claws, and the

predator officially isn’t even in Colorado.

Stetson, a third-generation rancher from Craig, was one of four livestock

producers on the 13-person Wolf Management Working Group that painstakingly

hammered out a wolf management plan adopted unanimously Thursday by the

Colorado Wildlife Commission.

The panel was composed of ranchers, sportsmen and conservation groups, and

Stetson said the group’s decision to allow migrating wolves to come into the

state brought howls of protest from the ranching community, some of whom

clawed at Stetson and accused her of selling out by signing off on the group

decision.

“There are a lot of unhappy people who feel they’re caught in a Catch 22,”

Stetson said Thursday. “They thought (with this plan) they could protect

their livestock and their livelihood, but now we’re at the mercy of the

judges and the (U.S.) Fish and Wildlife Service.”

The state plan allows wolves to migrate into Colorado without being

harassed. However, once a wolf gets into trouble, including killing

livestock, a quick response is urged. That might not be possible, ranchers

fear, in the light of an Oregon judge’s recent decision to return the wolves

to endangered status.

Ed Bangs, wolf program coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service in

Helena, Mont., said the government agency doesn’t hesitate to kill any wolf

caught killing livestock.

The plan also seeks a compensation program for ranchers for losses. The

compensation must come from funds other than the DOW’s game-cash fund or

from license fees.

However, the plan left unanswered what to do about wolves entering the state

in packs or the even more sensitive matter of whether Colorado should

reintroduce wolves.

Just having a plan is a major step forward in dealing with an endangered

species, said Division of Wildlife Director Bruce McCloskey.

“I don’t know if you realize the significance of the vote you just took,”

said McCloskey after the commission voted 8-0 for the plan. “It’s a pretty

remarkable difference between (Colorado) and other Western states.”

The news was welcome by several conservation groups.

“This decision is remarkable, and it cracks the door for wolves that might

wander into the state on their own,” said Rob Edward of Sinapu, also a

member of the working group.

What has ranchers riled was the recent ruling in Oregon that said the

Service erred in dividing wolves into regional subpopulations and

unilaterally deciding that wolves were threatened, not endangered. The judge

’s ruling re-established the wolfs’ endangered listing, making it

near-impossible for a rancher to protect his livestock from a predating

wolf.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has said it will develop some unspecified

permit process to allow Colorado to manage wolves, including some take of

predating wolves, but McCloskey was skeptical.

“I’d better see that in black and white before I say anything,” he said.

But even allowing a single wolf to enter the state is a bad choice, Stetson

said.

“There’s one faction in the state that wants wolves here now,” she said. “We

have another faction that says, “Hell no, I’ll shoot everyone I see.”

Although the DOW receives several unverified reports of wolf sightings every

year, the only confirmed sighting in 60 years occurred last summer when a

female wolf from a pack in Yellowstone National Park was killed on

Interstate 70 near Idaho Springs.

That puts pressure on the state to be ready to deal with migrating wolves,

said working group member Dyanne Singler of the National Wildlife

Federation.

“I’m proud of the ranchers, hunters and other conservationists on this

group,” Singler said. “Now, this group needs to press on with developing a

recovery plan for wolves in Colorado.”

McCloskey said finding money to fund the wolf plan, including keeping the

working group together, will be a challenge.

“It’s going to be tough in these days of tight budgets,” McCloskey said.

“But it would be good to have something set aside.”

http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/news/stories/2005/05/07/5_7_Wolf_plan_a

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