Commission moves quickly on plan, but transfer to state has to wait for Wyoming legislature to meet (2012)-
As expected the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission acted rapidly to approve the proposed Wyoming wolf management plan. Information available does not indicate whether ay changes were made in the plan when it was adopted.
Wyoming cannot begin to manage wolves until the Wyoming legislature meets and approves the plan. Unless there is a special session, the legislature is not scheduled to meet until January 2012.
Wyoming game commission adopts wolf plan. By Ben Neary. Associated Press
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project and the creator of The Wildlife News.
I guess they were extremely busy reading the written comments over the weekend (all due last friday on the 9th) and implementing them into their plan…
The only change they made was lightening the requirements for anyone who takes a wolf outside the trophy zone–in other words, kills a wolf as a varmint in the 85 percent of Wyoming where they aren’t protected at all—to turn in the skull and some hair for genetic logging.
Wyo G&F has a newfound devotion to genetic science now ( thank you , Professor Molloy for your lecture on genetic dispersal of free ranging carnivores). If they’d had that love of science ten years ago and ranchers had to audit the classes, we would’ve delisted wolves in Wyoming c. 2005
It’s still an awful plan and regressive wildlife policy.