LAKEVIEW, Ore. —(AP)— The newest plan for managing the 275,000-acre Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge includes what managers say is a key component for boosting antelope herds: killing coyotes.

"What we're shooting for, if you'll excuse the term, is in the spring of 2000, being able to control coyotes," said Mike Dunbar, wildlife biologist for the refuge in south-central Oregon.

A two-year study found that coyotes were chiefly responsible for keeping fawn survival rates down.

Several years ago, the refuge proposed aerial coyote hunts but shelved the idea after a public outcry. Last winter, a lawsuit blocked a proposed hunt intended to kill about half the adult coyotes on the fawning grounds.

The inability to mount any coyote-control program led managers to conclude that they needed clearer legal authority to authorize such actions.

Dunbar said he expects to find that in the new pronghorn plan, which could be completed by this time next year.

"It will allow us to have that tool," he said.

No one says the antelope herd is at risk of collapsing. Dunbar, however, believes that the herd is shrinking rapidly and that it's composed of too many elderly animals. The old and the very young are at greater risk of dying during harsh weather. The herd was estimated at about 1200 in the summer of 1997. Last summer, the number was estimated at less than 900.

Some opponents of coyote hunting note that antelope populations naturally fluctuate.

Jim Yoakum, who has studied the Hart Mountain herd since the 1950s, claims there is no reason to begin killing coyotes.

Yoakum, who lives outside Reno, Nev., said Hart Mountain antelope suffer more from poor habitat conditions than a surplus of coyotes. He said decades of heavy grazing and fire suppression have left the range in poor shape.

"That's the biggest problem in Hart Mountain," he said.

Brooks Fahy, director of the Eugene-based Predator Defense Institute, said refuge officials have become blinded by anti-coyote prejudices.

"There's this mindset that Hart Mountain is this breeding reservoir of varmints that skulk off the refuge to attack other animals," Fahy said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which operates the refuge, held three meetings last week in Reno, Lakeview and Portland to explain the effort and solicit public opinion.