Updated: Wyoming, Feds, reach deal on delisting wolves

By JEREMY PELZER Star-Tribune capital bureau trib.com

CHEYENNE - After years of fighting, the state of Wyoming and the federal government have reached an agreement to remove the state's roughly 340 wolves from the endangered species list and put them under state control.

Under the so-called dual-status plan, wolves in the northwest part of the state would be protected as trophy game, meaning they could only be hunted with a license.

The 60 or so wolves in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks -- which includes five to six breeding pairs -- would be delisted but wouldn't be under state control.

In a media release announcing the deal, Mead said wolves have long preyed on livestock and game animals such as moose and elk in the state.

"This is far from the end of this process, but I think we have come up with something that fits with Wyoming's values and economy," Mead said in the release. "Wolves are recovered in Wyoming; let's get them off the endangered species list."

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, who last month inserted a no-litigation clause for any Wyoming wolf deal into a still-pending appropriations bill, praised Mead for reaching a deal over an issue that's been simmering since wolves were re-introduced by the federal government to the state in 1995.

"Today marks one more step in the considerable progress Wyoming has recently made in returning management of the fully recovered gray wolf to our own state experts," Lummis said in a media release. "For years, Wyoming has worked in good faith to produce and defend a wolf management plan. These labors have been difficult and, frankly, haven't produced results -- until today."

Republican Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Enzi also lauded the deal, saying it was long overdue.

However, U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the top-ranking Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, wrote Salazar today to "express grave concern" about the agreement. The minimum population standards in the deal would mean 40 percent of Wyoming's current estimated wolf population will die, he wrote, and suggested that the agreement was based on politics, not just science. "Science, not politics, should ensure the conservation and management [of] the gray wolves in Wyoming, should they be delisted," Markey wrote in the letter.

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Lummis clause preventing wolf lawsuits survives challenge

By JEREMY PELZER Casper Star-Tribune The Billings Gazette

Thursday, July 28, 2011. CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A proposed ban on lawsuits against an impending Wyoming wolf management deal survived a legislative challenge in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

House members voted 250-174 to keep a rider in a 2012 Interior appropriations bill that would prevent any litigation against a potentially imminent agreement between Wyoming and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that would put the state’s roughly 340 wolves under state control.

Earlier this month, Gov. Matt Mead and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said they hoped to reach an agreement by the end of July that would remove Wyoming wolves from the federal endangered-species list and allow unregulated killing of the animals in all but the northwestern part of the state.

Mead and other state officials have repeatedly said that a congressional “no-litigation” clause is vital to protect any agreement reached from lawsuits by environmental groups and others.

The rider, inserted by U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., would also put Wyoming wolves directly under state control as soon as a deal is reached.

Lummis’ budget rider was unsuccessfully challenged by an amendment from U.S. Rep. Norman Dicks, D-Wash., as 24 Democrats joined 226 Republicans in voting to keep the language in the bill.

Congressional observers have said that they expect Lummis’ wolf rider to pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. However, they’re uncertain how the proposal will fare in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Salazar also spoke out against Lummis’ rider earlier this month.

In April, Montana’s two U.S. senators successfully passed a budget rider delisting wolves in five other Western states, along with a no-litigation clause.

Budget amendment votes: fish yes, horses no

By Pete Kasperowicz - 02/16/11 05:09 PM ET The Hill

The House on Wednesday voted to maintain $7.5 million for a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service resource management program that gives grant money to private environmental groups.

Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said the program's authorization has expired, but yet, "the money just keeps rolling on." McClintock's amendment was rejected in a voice vote.

The House did approve an amendment from Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) that would remove $2 million from the Bureau of Land Management as a way of protesting the Bureau's effort to manage the wild horse population in western states.

Burton criticized the Bureau's practice of transporting horses thousands of miles and keeping them in pens and said the cost of the program has more than tripled in the last 10 years. Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.) agreed and said the Bureau should control the size of herds through contraception, a less costly alternative.

Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) opposed Burton's amendment and said Congress has caused problems by preventing the slaughter of wild horses. But Burton's amendment was approved regardless.

Both amendments were considered as part of H.R. 1, the GOP's FY 2011 spending bill, which the House is considering throughout the week.