Draft state wolf plan revised; review process planned

[Kain]

http://wdfw.wa.gov/news/release.php?id=may2711a

May 27, 2011
Contact: Rocky Beach (360) 902-2510
or Madonna Luers, (509) 892-7853


Draft state wolf plan revised; review process planned


OLYMPIA —The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has revised a draft plan for state wolf recovery and management, and will conduct more public review later this year.

The draft state Wolf Conservation and Management Plan was revised after scientific peer review and an earlier public input process, which concluded last year.

The revised draft plan is available on the WDFW website at http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/gray_wolf/. The website also contains information on the wolf plan development process, including past public input and scientific peer review. The public-comment process included 19 public meetings, three surveys and a comment period that drew nearly 65,000 responses.

The plan is intended to guide state wolf management while wolves naturally disperse and re-establish a sustainable breeding population in the state. The plan contains recovery objectives that would allow the state to eventually remove wolves from protection lists, as well as management strategies to address wolf-livestock conflicts.

The revised draft plan affirms 15 successful wolf breeding pairs as the goal for statewide wolf recovery. Among the revisions are proposals regarding lethal control of wolves observed attacking livestock and dogs, and WDFW management options if wolf predation limits at-risk populations of elk, deer or other ungulates.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission—the citizen panel that guides WDFW policy— will be briefed on the draft plan and review process during its June 4 meeting at the Natural Resource Building in Olympia.

The 17-member citizen Wolf Working Group, which helped draft the plan, will meet June 8-9 to review the proposed revisions. The meeting will be held at the Heritage Center of the Kittitas Valley Event Center, 512 N. Poplar St., in Ellensburg, and will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 8, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., June 9. As with past meetings of the advisory group, the working group’s meeting is open to the public but it is not a public-comment opportunity.

WDFW will consider guidance from the working group and may release further draft plan revisions, with an updated environmental impact statement, before the Fish and Wildlife Commission takes public comments on the draft plan during its Aug. 4-6 meeting in Olympia.

Two commission workshops on the draft wolf plan are scheduled in eastern and western Washington in September and October. Those workshops will be open to the public. The commission is scheduled to consider adoption of the plan during its Dec. 2-3 meeting in Olympia.

[denali]

The revised draft plan affirms 15 successful wolf breeding pairs as the goal for statewide wolf recovery.

Well is anybody surprised by this ?? the other alternative plans were nothing more than a CYA

I would like to quote an Oregon rancher     "Wolf plans are fine...till you have wolves"

[Kain]

I love how the meetings are set up during hunting season.

[bearpaw]

The people in charge of the wolf plan at WDFW are wolf lovers, of course they want the most liberal plan of any state. The WDFW initially weighted the wolf working group heavy to wolf lovers. Every part of the wolf plan has been orchestrated to promote wolves and new information coming out of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada, and Michigan is being ignored.

The only recourse I see is to try to get legislators involved. 

[denali]

Don't worry about the elk herds, according to the plan elk # have gone up 6-10% -  just in time for the wolves to make a return

[rtspring]

The states wolf plan and my wolf plan are two totally different plans...

[lastmk8]

It's nice to have a "plan", so the state moves forward on theirs.  Good for them, I have a plan also, the difference in our plans will most likely be in the "execution" of the plan!!!

[3nails]

It's nice to have a "plan", so the state moves forward on theirs.  Good for them, I have a plan also, the difference in our plans will most likely be in the "execution" of the plan!!!

 

[asl20bball]

We all know by the time 15 breeding pairs are confirmed in actuallity there will be many, many more out there. There is a reason why the wolf was near extinction.....the true heroes in wolf management will be the people who live in the rural areas that take wolf management into their own hands.

[bigcountry]

Washington wolf plan calls for 15 packs in state
After hosting 19 public meetings and reviewing more than 65,000 comments, the state released its revised plan to recover gray wolves in Washington that should both please and upset cattlemen, hunters and conservationists.

By K.C. MEHAFFEY

The Wenatchee World

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WENATCHEE, Wash. —
After hosting 19 public meetings and reviewing more than 65,000 comments, the state released its revised plan to recover gray wolves in Washington that should both please and upset cattlemen, hunters and conservationists.

Some aren't happy that the plan still requires 15 packs of wolves for three consecutive years in order to remove protections required under the Endangered Species Act.

Others might not like the agency's plan to seek higher penalties for poaching wolves.

Scheduled for final review in August by the Washington Wildlife Commission, the plan will guide state strategies for recovering gray wolves in Washington. Wolves are listed as federally endangered in the western two-thirds of the state, where the only known pack is the Methow Valley's Lookout Pack. The federal government recently delisted Rocky Mountain gray wolves, including lands east of Highway 97 where the state's two other known packs reside. Additional unconfirmed packs may exist in the Blue Mountains, North Cascades National Park, and Kittitas County, according to the draft document.

Rocky Beach, wildlife diversity manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, said overall, the plan is largely the same as the state's draft proposal, although many parts were "tweaked" to reflect comments and scientific peer reviews.

One of the biggest changes has to do with the numbers of breeding pairs needed to remove wolves from federal protections, he said. The draft plan required two successful breeding pairs in the Eastern Washington region, two in the North Cascades, and five in the Southern Cascades and Northwest Coast. Six additional breeding pairs in any part of the state were also needed.

Now, six breeding pairs are required in Eastern Washington, four in the North Cascades and five altogether in Southern Cascades and the Northwest Coast to delist them. Beach said the change allows wildlife managers more certainty in recovery before delisting, and more flexibility in managing wolves in the separate areas. Fifteen successful breeding pairs is equal to between 97 and 361 wolves, the plan says.

One of the most controversial changes will likely be allowing landowners or state Wildlife officers to kill a wolf in the act of killing livestock, guard animals or domestic dogs while on private or leased property. The wolf must be caught "in the act" of attacking the animal. "It's a very rare event, as we know from the Rocky Mountain states," Beach said.

The plan also gives Wildlife managers new options to kill or move wolves that threaten at-risk populations of deer, elk or caribou. Beach said it's also unlikely that wolves will be plentiful enough to harm the state's elk or deer herds while they're still endangered, but it gives wildlife managers more options. Approximately 300 wolves will kill between 6,700 and 10,000 deer and elk each year, the plan states.

The plan also:

- Adds new recommendations for homeowners who own dogs and live in areas with wolves, including not leaving dogs outside overnight unless they are in a sturdy kennel, and not allowing dogs to run at large.

- Adds new recommendations for people who hike with dogs, including considering leaving dogs at home while hiking in areas with wolves, keeping dogs on a leash when hiking in known wolf habitat and placing a bell on the dog's collar to alert wolves that people are present.

- Adds information about parasitic tapeworms, which have recently been found in more than half of the wolves tested in Idaho and Montana. Beach said the parasite can also make its way into the state from traveling coyotes, fox, deer, elk or other ungulates.

The Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will review the new draft plan during its June 4 meeting in Olympia, and a 17-member citizens group which helped draft the plan will look at changes before the state releases its updated Environmental Impact Statement to the public. The Commission will hear public comments on the final plan in August before considering adoption in December.

 

[huntnfmly]

 

[rebal69972]

from what Ive read and seen just on this forum the state should all ready be close to the 15 pair that they want. it could be that i got some bad chew this morning but i have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about all the predator laws and introduction that the state has going on

[ribka]

Rocky Beach, wildlife diversity manager for the state Department of Fish and Wildlife,

Whenever the word "diversity" is used you know there will be big damage and harm will be done

[pianoman9701]

As many as possible should be in Olympia Saturday for the predators meeting.

[KNOPHISH]

Isn't 300 the number they wanted in the entire Rocky mt states?  If 300 are eating, I mean killing 10k deer & elk a year it won't be long till they're endangered too. Wolves bring no benefit to the economy whereas deer & elk hunters do to the tune of millions.