Wolf News Roundup 6/12/2019
by Cat Urbigkit, Pinedale Online!
June 12, 2019
Wyoming wolf conflict
USDA Wildlife Services (WS-Wyoming) has issued its decision for wolf conflict management in Wyoming. The agency had prepared an environmental assessment analyzing "the potential environmental impacts of alternatives for WS-Wyoming’s response to requests for assistance to reduce adverse impacts on livestock and other domestic animals, property damage, and wolf-related threats to human health and safety in Wyoming as requested and authorized by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department (WGFD), the Wyoming Department of Agriculture (WDA), the Eastern Shoshone Tribe, or the Northern Arapaho Tribe. The EA was prepared in cooperation with the WGFD and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and in consultation with the WDA, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the Northern Arapaho Tribe."
The decision document continues the federal agency’s role in wolf conflict management activities, with a few changes. The agency will increase reporting requirements for instances where WS-Wyoming recommends the use of nonlethal methods, cooperator use of nonlethal methods, and limits the annual maximum number of wolves removed for wolf damage management by the agency in Wyoming.
Moving beyond reintroduction
The Idaho Rangeland Resources Commission’s five-part series on wolves looked at how wolf reintroduction and recovery have affected people in Idaho. Read IRRC chair Royce Schwenkfelder’s recap and commentary at the link provided below.
Oregon’s plan
The Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife adopted changes to its wolf management plan that require the use of non-lethal methods to deter predators prior to wolf control, and only allows lethal control as an option if a wolf is involved in at least two confirmed attacks in a nine-month period.
Washington review
Washington State Representative Joel Kretz successfully pushed legislation that requires a statewide analysis of the status of wolves in the state to see if a change in conservation status is warranted. Washington has a state-endangered species law. The bill also provides funding for wolf deterrents and responding to conflicts.
France cull
The wolf population in France has increased to about 530 animals, a 23-percent increase from the year before, and French officials have decided to up the country’s wolf cull from 10-12 percent of the population to 17-19 percent of the population.
For information on these stories, please check the links below.
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