Wolves may be shot on site

Under a federal proposal to take them off the endangered species list, they could find safe harbor, a hunting tag with their name on it or, in most of Wyoming except for the northwest corner, a law that allows them to be killed on sight.

Wandering wolves may need to watch their step.

Under a federal proposal to take them off the endangered species list, they could find safe harbor, a hunting tag with their name on it or, in most of Wyoming except for the northwest corner, a law that allows them to be killed on sight.

Such varying treatment is part of the price for considering the 1,200 or so wolves in the Northern Rockies a recovered population and shifting management over to state agencies.

On Thursday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a 35-page proposal for delisting wolves in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and slivers of Washington, Oregon and Utah.

The proposal is now open to two months of public comment. A final decision is expected in about a year.

Although the plan is expected to draw significant attention - and is likely to be litigated - it's not very straightforward. And because wolves sometimes like to roam, how they're treated will be governed by which boundary they cross.

"It's a complicated issue," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Wolves in the Northern Rockies have long since passed one of the key federal benchmarks for recovery: at least 300 wolves with 30 breeding pairs.

The chore for the Fish and Wildlife Service in recent years has been to come up with a plan to lift federal protections, pass management to states and keep the wolf population from dipping too low.

Under the proposal, wolves would continue to get full protection in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

In Montana and Idaho, management would be passed to state agencies. Each is already talking about setting up hunts as long as each state's wolves meet minimum population requirements.

The situation with Wyoming is more complicated.

Federal officials several years ago rejected a plan approved by the Wyoming Legislature, primarily because of how wolves were classified.

If Wyoming and FWS come to an agreement, wolves in the entire state would be delisted and those in the northwest corner, where the vast majority of the state's wolves are, could be classified as trophy game and possibly hunted, excepting those in the national parks. Any wolves found in the rest of the state would be considered predators and could be killed without regulation.

If Wyoming and FWS can't come to an agreement, wolves would be delisted in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming with the notable exception of the northwest corner of Wyoming, where they'd remain under federal protection. Wolves in the rest of that state would then come under state law classifying them as predators.

The federal proposal also includes eastern portions of Washington and Oregon and a small part of northern Utah. Any wolves that wander into those states would be considered delisted from the federal perspective, but still fall under statewide endangered species protections.

And finally, any wolves that wander out of the Northern Rockies "distinct population segment" area, and into Colorado or the Dakotas or elsewhere, would be protected under federal law because they're not part of the delisted area.

Although a few wolves have made it that far, the line drawn for delisted wolves is meant to include almost all roaming wolves in the Northern Rockies, Bangs said.

"All we have to do is protect wolves in a significant portion of its range," Bangs said. "Protect that core population and we're good to go."

Questions still linger in Wyoming.

Bills are pending in the state House and Senate dealing with the wolf proposals. State officials say they have until only about Monday to get something passed, or the delisting proposal moves on without the northwest corner of the state.

Ryan Lance, in Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office, said state and federal officials are still wrangling over the state's request for more flexibility in dealing with wolf packs that they believe are hurting elk and moose populations.

"Until we see some movement on that, it's not likely that anything's going to shift in Wyoming," Lance said.