Barrasso takes on congressmen over wolves‏

http://www.wyomingbusinessreport.com/article.asp?id=91001

Barrasso takes on congressmen over wolves
By MJ Clark


January 16, 2008 --
CHEYENNE – Sen. John Barrasso fired a salvo yesterday in response to a letter on wolves written by five members of the House Natural Resources Committee to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.

The five members of Congress asked Kempthorne to delay a plan to remove grey wolves in the Northern Rockies from the federal endangered species list. In the letter, the congressmen note that states “hostile to wolf conservation” could reduce today’s 1.500 wolves to “as few as 300” if wolves lose protected status.

The Dec. 17 letter was signed by Natural Resources Committee Chair Nick Rahall D-W. Va., Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., Rep. Jim Saxton R-N.J; and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which Kempthorne oversees, plans to announce the delisting of wolves next month. Removing wolves from the endangered species list would allow Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to host public hunts for the animals. The states are already setting hunting seasons and quotas.

Barrasso’s response: “This is an issue that directly affects the lives of Wyoming ranchers, energy producers and sportsmen. It has a direct impact on Wyoming livestock and wildlife, not Washington’s. These congressmen don’t even live in our time zone. They have no concept of the damage gray wolves do.”

Wyoming’s wolf management plan, which was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Dec. 13, was determined to have an “adequate regulatory mechanism” that meets the requirements of the Endangered Species Act. Wyoming’s plan contains dual classification for wolves: as trophy animals where the harvest is monitored by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department in certain areas of the state, and as predatory animals (subject to unregulated harvest) in remaining portions of the state.

The Fish and Wildlife Service determined that 15 breeding pairs of wolves within the state will ensure Wyoming’s share of a fully recovered population. The majority of the breeding pairs will be within Yellowstone and Grand Teton National parks and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway. Seven pairs will be maintained by the Game and Fish Dept. elsewhere in the state.

On the Web: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s letter approving Wyoming’s wolf plan: http://gf.state.wy.us/downloads/htm/wolfplanapproved_1.htm