Wolf Article from the AP.

[Huntbear]

I found this on the Oregon Live website, thought I would share it.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/wolves_could_help_curb_booming.html

Wolves could help curb booming herds of deer, elk in national parks
By The Associated Press
February 07, 2010, 7:52AM
BILLINGS, Mont. -- Researchers say small packs of gray wolves introduced to national parks and other sites across the country could curb oversized elk and deer herds that are eating up parklands.

But keeping the predators on target would be a tricky prospect: They breed prolifically, roam hundreds of square miles and easily pick up a taste for cows and sheep.

The proposed solution, outlined in a paper for the journal BioScience: Neuter the wolves, fence them in, fit them with shock collars and add a tracking device so they can be hunted and killed if they get too far afield.

Wolves were wiped out across most of the country last century, letting big game herds balloon from the Adirondacks to the Sierra Nevada. That led to overgrazing in many parks and protected areas.

The researchers, led by a National Park Service biologist in the Midwest, propose using wolves as park "stewards" that could the way back to ecological balance.

[Shootmoore]

There we go, while fencing National Parks goes against the idea of the park.  It's the only way to let the pro wolves people have there wolves without pushing them onto people that don't want them.  While it sounds like an "extreme" plan, I am afraid at this point its going to take some extreme to push back.

The trouble is you give an inch, the environmental groups take a mile.  The original plan was for 10 BP per state of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.  That number was reached years ago, but the environmentalists both inside government and out fought to keep them listed.  We are now much, much higher in those 3 states, and the enviro's are pushing to keep them listed today, now they want 5000 wolves.  Any bets if they get it locked down in the courts again, when they hit there new number they will want 8000 or 10000?

Washington State was never in the initial plan, yet the enviro's are up to there elbows to push for 15 BP in this state with there Wolf propagation plan, it should be noted that there 3 plans has no actual management of the wolves, just propagation.  Learning from the past, any bets when we hit 15 they will push for 20 or 25?

Utah is working to keep wolves out of there state, they were never in the initial experimental plan, yet guess who is fighting them?  Give them an inch, they take a mile.

While incredibly expensive, keep them in the National Parks if the Feds with the ESA want wolves.  Keep the population at a reasonable level and let them observe them.  I think it would be a great experiment, and under controlled conditions I think a lot of the wolf myths propagated by the enviro's would be exposed.

Shootmoore

[wolfbait]

I found this on the Oregon Live website, thought I would share it.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/02/wolves_could_help_curb_booming.html

Wolves could help curb booming herds of deer, elk in national parks
By The Associated Press
February 07, 2010, 7:52AM
BILLINGS, Mont. -- Researchers say small packs of gray wolves introduced to national parks and other sites across the country could curb oversized elk and deer herds that are eating up parklands.

But keeping the predators on target would be a tricky prospect: They breed prolifically, roam hundreds of square miles and easily pick up a taste for cows and sheep.

The proposed solution, outlined in a paper for the journal BioScience: Neuter the wolves, fence them in, fit them with shock collars and add a tracking device so they can be hunted and killed if they get too far afield.

Like Shootmoore said, this is just a means to translocate more wolves around the country, once their foot is in the door the lawsuits start and plans change.

(They breed prolifically, roam hundreds of square miles)

The parks are not fenced now, the wolves will get their on their own do to the lack of any kind of management that we have today. I can think of far better ways to control game herd populations other than with the wolves and their diseases.