If Feds Want Wolves, Wyoming
Thinks They Should Foot Bills

RIVERTON, Wyo. —(AP)— The federal government should pay for Wyoming's management of wolves in the state's northwestern corner, according to state game officials.

Members of the state Game and Fish Commission, during a recent their meeting here, suggested a number of revisions to the wolf management plan prepared by the Game and Fish Department.

One suggestion was that the plan be modified to say the federal government should pay for management efforts until gray wolves are removed from the endangered species list.

"They're everybody's wolves," said Commissioner Hal Corbett of Sheridan. "The burden of that management should not fall just on the hunters and fishers of Wyoming."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has moved wolves from Canada to Yellowstone and central Idaho in an effort to restore the species in America's northern Rockies.

The final federal plan for restoring wolves in the area contains an annual appropriation of $100,000 to $200,000 to help Wyoming pay for management of the predators.

The state estimates annual management costs would run from $100,000 to $300,000.

The state Game and Fish Department had submitted its draft management plan to the commission last month and department Deputy Director Bill Wichers said it will be revised according to commission requests and submitted to Gov. Jim Geringer by mid-November.

If the commission approves the next draft, the plan will be printed in the department's next newsletter and will then be the subject of public meetings in March, Wichers said.

Although Wichers would not release a copy of the draft plan, a summary given to members of a legislative committee in August indicated that the state's population objective for wolves outside of Yellowstone will be set at 60.

In addition, the state will not reduce its big game population goals because of the presence of wolves, even though the department estimates wolves will kill about 600 elk, 150 mule deer, a dozen moose and pronghorn antelope and two bighorn sheep every year.

The summary indicated that once the wolves have been removed from the endangered species list, the state will probably ask that the predators be reclassified as trophy game animals.