Gray wolves face longer odds of getting established in Utah

Gray wolves face longer odds of getting established in Utah now that federal protections have ended for the northern Rocky Mountains population, a state wildlife official said Thursday.

To get to Utah from large wolf population centers in Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, wandering wolves face either the prospect of unregulated killing in much of Wyoming or the daunting task of crossing the Snake River, said Kevin Bunnell, wildlife mammals program coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

During a briefing with the state Wildlife Board, Bunnell expressed doubt about many wolves making it to Utah even though the population has grown rapidly in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

It's even less likely that more than one or two wolves would make it to Utah and start a pack, federal officials said.

"It's pretty remote," Amelia Orton-Palmer, an endangered species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a telephone interview from Denver later in the day.

Wildlife managers have confirmed three gray wolves in Utah in recent years, discoveries that gave hope to environmentalists hoping to see the animal expand its range and heartburn for ranchers worried about trouble for their livestock.

"It is an emotional issue for a lot of people," Bunnell said.

Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996. The population grew quicker than most experts expected and now exceeds 1,500. With recovery goals met, the wolf population was taken off the endangered species list late last month.

The change means state agencies are now in charge of wolf management. In Wyoming, wolves outside of the northwest corner are treated as predators where they can be killed on sight. Since de-listing on March 28, 13 wolves in that area have been killed, including nine by private citizens, according to the Wyoming officials.

It would make sense that fewer Wyoming wolves will leave the state "but I certainly would never say that wolves are never going to make it to Utah from Wyoming," said Eric Keszler, a spokesman for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Wolves could arrive from Idaho but the heavily agricultural Snake River Plain, and the river itself, have so far been a "formidable barrier," Bunnell said.

If wolves arrive in the northeastern corner of Utah, they'll be governed by a state plan approved in 2005 that allows for wolves to be shot without a permit if they're harassing or killing livestock. Outside of northeastern Utah, gray wolves would be considered endangered and federal protections would apply.