Posted Monday, March 21, 2005

Wolf plan ready for review

The first draft of a plan that will guide how wolves are managed in Utah is now available for public comment.

The plan is available on this Web site. Comments about the plan must be received no later than April 1.

Utah's Wolf Working Group will consider the comments as the group drafts its final copy of the plan to present to the public at a series of meetings in May. After considering the public comment received at the meetings, the plan will be presented to the Utah Wildlife Board for approval at its June 9 meeting in Salt Lake City.

Wolves are still listed on the federal list of threatened and endangered species and are managed by the federal government. The plan the group is working on will guide how the Division of Wildlife Resources manages wolves in Utah, if wolves are ever taken off the federal list.

The Wolf Working Group consists of 13 citizens. Sportsmen, wolf advocates, ranchers and people with other wolf-related interests are among those in the group. The DWR assembled the group in the summer of 2003 to draft a plan that will guide the management of wolves that may one day make their way to Utah from surrounding states.

"The group has worked on this plan for almost two years," said Kevin Bunnell, mammals program coordinator for the DWR. "Now they're anxious to receive comments from the public about it. I would encourage everyone with an interest in wolves to review what the group has done and provide their comments by April 1."