I wonder what the "unofficial kill" is. In N.MN. there were a lot more wolves killed than the official number, those were the ones that slowed the population growth, there hss to be some of that also in the area outside Yellowstone.

quote:

More lies, coyotes kill 28% more sheep, duh!

From the article: "Coyotes kill 28 times more sheep and lambs than wolves,..."

Duh is right.

It's not 28 PERCENT more; it's 28 TIMES as many, as in 10 per wolves and 280 per coyotes. I believe that calculates to a LOT more than 28 percent, which would be wolves - 10; coyotes 12.8

Metinks the feds know they will lose the lawsuit! Let the blasting begin!

Possible solution to wolf management plan?
By JARED MILLER
Star-Tribune capital bureau Thursday, December 14, 2006





CHEYENNE?Hoping to resolve the standoff over Wyoming's wolf management plan without further litigation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly suggested what it hopes will be a compromise solution.

The plan would alter somewhat the boundary of the wolf safe zone in northwest Wyoming, while potentially allowing Wyoming to manage wolves as predators in the rest of the state.

Mitch King, director of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Mountain-Prairie Region, based in Denver, suggested the idea to state officials about a month ago, said Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator.

Wyoming's standoff with the federal government over wolves has stalled delisting of the animals in the three-state area where reintroduction occurred. Wyoming's federal lawsuit challenging the rejection of its wolf management plan could take years to reach resolution, officials have said.

“We're thinking maybe this will spark some new discussion with Wyoming on a way to move forward and get delisting done, because that's where everybody wants to go,†Bangs said.

For more of this and other stories read Friday's Casper Star-Tribune.

A little more detail.

Sounds like a plan that might work. Even though the majority of the wolves are in the designated area. Wyoming could go back to the combo license of the old days when we had multiple species tags, buy an elk or deer tag in this proposed area and you get a wolf combo. I like it. Out side of the area, shoot on site!


New proposal changes wolf management boundaries
By JARED MILLER
Star-Tribune capital bureau Friday, December 15, 2006



CHEYENNE?Hoping to end the standoff over Wyoming's wolf management plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly suggested what it hopes is a compromise solution.

The plan would alter somewhat the boundaries of the wolf management area in northwest Wyoming, while allowing the state to maintain a controversial provision to manage wolves as predators in most of the state.

Mitch King, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Denver-based Mountain-Prairie Region, suggested the idea to state officials about a month ago, said Ed Bangs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator.

“This is us kind of reaching out with the olive branch,†Bangs said.

Just six months ago, the Fish and Wildlife Service rejected Wyoming's wolf plan chiefly because it regarded wolves outside northwestern Wyoming as predators that could be shot on sight.

The Fish and Wildlife Service argued that the plan did not provide ample protection and would limit the ability of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department to maintain a minimum number of breeding pairs in the recovery areas outside Yellowstone National Park. Wyoming quickly filed a lawsuit.

Bangs now says Wyoming's predator designation will likely achieve the same result as year-round hunting in parts of Montana and Idaho. The federal government already approved wolf management plans from those states.

“Semantically it's a little different, but in terms of management strategy it's the same effect,†Bangs said.

Rep. Pat Childers, R-Cody, chairman of the Legislature's Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Culture Resources Committee, has ordered legislative staff to draft a bill to redraw the wolf management area in accordance with the new federal proposal.

However, he said the legislation is purely conceptual and many hurdles must be overcome before the Legislature would consider changes to Wyoming's wolf management plan, which is written in state law.

“The only thing I'm having drafted is the description of the boundary,†Childers said.

The new boundary would start at the Wyoming-Montana border south of Red Lodge and run roughly south on Highway 120 to Meeteetse, then southwest to the northwest corner of the Wind River Indian Reservation. From there it would drop south to Pinedale before continuing northwest on Highway 191 to the Alpine area south of Jackson and then north to Yellowstone National Park.

Only one wolf pack resides outside that area today, and that pack has been pared down to just two wolves after repeated conflicts, Bangs said.

The redrawn boundary includes some private land, and land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Wolves in those areas would be managed as trophy game by the state Game and Fish Department.

Childers said livestock producers, land owners and hunters he talked to had mixed reactions to the plan.

“Some like it, some don't,†he said. “A number of them like the idea that the Game and Fish Department would be managing wolves instead of the Fish and Wildlife Service.â€

Childers also noted that all discussions about the new plan have been informal and verbal.

“We don't even have it in writing that who we're hearing from is truly authorized by the Department of the Interior to negotiate,†he said.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal's office declined to comment directly on the plan. Spokeswoman Lara Azar said: “We've heard a lot from a lot of people, but we don't have firm information from the federal government on what its proposal is going to be. We'll wait to judge it until we hear it.â€

The Wyoming Stock Growers Association, however, rejected the idea outright. Spokesman Jim Magagna said the group frowns on the inclusion of private land between Meeteetse and Cody and around Dubois in the expanded wolf management area.

He said about 10,000 head of cattle and 4,000 head of sheep graze on U.S. Forest Service land inside the redrawn boundaries.

“Perhaps the state can come up with a counter offer to take back, but we will urge strongly that this proposal not be accepted,†Magagna said.

Wyoming's standoff with the federal government over wolves has stalled delisting of the animals in the three-state area where reintroduction occurred a decade ago.

Wyoming's federal lawsuit challenging the rejection of its wolf management plan could take years to reach resolution, officials have said.

Meanwhile, the combined wolf population in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana has reached roughly 1,200 animals, Bangs said.

“We're thinking maybe this will spark some new discussion with Wyoming on a way to move forward and get delisting done, because that's where everybody wants to go,†Bangs said.