Draft Wyoming Wolf plan is available for public comment

Draft Game and Fish wolf management program emphasizes elk, very small wolf population-

Wyoming Game and Fish, anticipating federal delisting of the wolf in Wyoming, has a new draft wolf plan out for public comment.

Comments are sought on how the wolves will be managed in the wolf “trophy game zone,” but not on the fact that the wolf will receive protection in only about 12% of the state (unlike now, where it is protected statewide). Outside the trophy hunting zone, the national parks and the Wind River Indian Reservation, the wolf will be classified as a “predatory animal” to be killed for any reason if desired. However, there will be reporting requirements after a kill. “The person will be required to report the name and address of the person taking the wolf, date the wolf was killed, the sex of the wolf, and the site of kill (identified by the section, range and township, or UTM coordinates). Within 10 days, the unfrozen pelt and skull shall be presented to a Department employee during business hours to allow for collection of necessary data and genetic samples.”

This is a fair amount of work, and that might discourage killing wolves for fun or trivial reasons in the predator zone.

The plan commits the state only to maintaining at least 100 wolves in 10 breeding pairs. The rest of the required 150 wolves total for the state (that means at least 50 additional  wolves) are expected to be provided by Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Presently there are about 19 packs and 230 wolves in Wyoming outside the two national parks.

Some wolf conservation groups say the plan is an improvement over past proposals regarding wolves and livestock depredation because the plan now gives clear numerical standards for the control and private shooting of wolves that have attacked or threatened livestock. Regarding elk, however, the plan is vague but clearly designed to protect elk first and foremost when the elk population is harmed. A management problem with this is that there are few objective standards set forth in the plan of what “harm” means.

According to the Jackson Hole News and Guide, “The elk population statewide in 2010 was above objective. Game and Fish figures show a census of 104,912 animals last year, more than 21,200 animals above the objective of 83,640.” While data is lacking for about a quarter of the herd units, Game and Fish appears to have to break their analysis down to areas smaller than the herd units to find undesireably low numbers of elk. According to the Guide, “local wildlife managers are worried about the ratio of calf-to-cow elk in some local herd segments, especially in the Gros Ventre.” Anyone who has studied statistics at all will recognize this kind of analysis as a bit of cherry-picking to justify a conclusion arrived at previously by some other method.  This is similar to Idaho and their concern about the Lolo elk, although breaking out the Gros Ventre is choosing an even small land area than the Lolo to worry about.

Official data on livestock depredations shows wolves to be a minor predator of livestock. The plan shows that over the last 12 years wolves killed only 418 sheep in the entire state and 474 cattle (almost all calves). Ag groups say many more livestock are killed by wolves but never found and that wolves cause cattle to fail to gain weight because they are chased so much. There is no data on weight gain, however, only anecdotes. A missing or dead sheep or cow with no cause of death determined, of course, by definition cannot have a known cause.

Wolves also killed some dogs (mostly livestock guard dogs) and 15 “other” livestock over the 12-year period (horses, llamas, mules, donkeys, goats).

Some people say they fear that wolves will also attack humans, although there have been no attacks in the lower 48 states. Of course, the plan allows people to defend themselves.  Others fear that sheep dogs are a more likely source of an attack on humans. Some outdoor enthusiasts I know in Idaho, where sheep dog attacks have taken place, roll up the windows on their vehicle whenever they encounter sheep on a dirt road because they fear being attacked by these huge, alert and rapidly moving sheep dogs before they can grab their firearm or spray.

Most of the wolf plan’s aggressiveness toward wolves is based on the belief that wolves cause a great deal of trouble (especially extra work) at most of the state’s 22 winter elk feedgrounds by chasing the elk off the feedground, into nearby cattle, or disruption of the state’s calculations of how much elk feed to stock. Feedground disruption is a major focus of the plan and control of wolves.

Conservation groups, however, mostly think the feedgrounds are hot spots of elk disease generation and spread, and they should shut down to protect the elk population, especially from lethal chronic wasting disease. From this viewpoint, wolves that chase elk off the feedgrounds are providing an elk health benefit. Feedground disrupting wolves are probably a good thing.

A final wolf plan cannot go into effect until it is approved by the Wyoming legislature and, of course, approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the wolves delisted.

Members of the public who want to give comments on the revised draft Wolf Management Plan must do so in writing. Written comments can be submitted before 5:00 pm on September 9 at any of the public meetings, at any WGFD regional office, or by mail or fax to:

Wolf Plan Comments

Wyoming Game and Fish Department
5400 Bishop Blvd.
Cheyenne, WY 82006

Fax: 307-777-4650

Revised Gray Wolf Management Plan Public Meetings:

Aug. 23 Casper Casper WGFD Office 7-9 pm

Aug. 23 Pinedale Sublette County Library 7-9 pm

Aug. 24 Jackson Center for the Arts 7-9 pm

Aug. 24 Sheridan Sheridan College 7-9 pm

Aug. 25 Cody Holiday Inn 7-9 pm

Aug. 25 Rock Springs Western Wyoming 7-9 pm

Community College

Aug. 29 Cheyenne WYDOT Auditorium 7-9 pm

Aug. 31 Lander Lander WGFD Office 7-9 pm

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