Sights set on gray wolves | sctimes.com
January 29, 2012
Glen Schmitt
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources offered its first glimpse of what the state’s inaugural gray wolf hunting and trapping season would like this week.
On Wednesday, the DNR rolled out its proposal for the potential season that if approved during this year’s legislative session, would begin as early as this fall.
The state is taking a measured approach to its initial wolf season, allowing a harvest quota of 400 animals via hunting and trapping. The proposal also allocates 6,000 licenses, which will be available through a lottery process.
Dan Stark is a large carnivore specialist with the DNR. He says research indicates that Minnesota’s wolf population could sustain a higher harvest quota.
But DNR officials want to take a conservative approach during the state’s first season.
“This is a big shift in wolf management and we have a responsibility to see that the wolf population continues to maintain itself,” Stark said. “We’re being conservative because we want a couple of seasons to gather information, monitor the harvest, and the amount of interest there’s going to be.”
Proposed details
The state’s proposal includes a $4 fee to apply for a license. A resident hunting or trapping tag would be $50. Non-residents would pay $230 for a hunting license, but they are not allowed to trap wolves in Minnesota, which is consistent with current trapping regulations, according to Stark.
Hunting would be allowed with firearms, including muzzleloaders and archery equipment. The state will issue only one license per hunter or trapper, and party hunting would not be allowed. Click Link Below For Full Story!
via Sights set on gray wolves | St. Cloud TIMES | sctimes.com.
Minnesota Independent: Minnesota’s gray wolf to be removed from endangered species list–again
March 15, 2009
By Andy Birkey
Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Friday that the federal government was removing the gray wolf from the list of species protected under the Endangered Species Act. Minnesota’s gray wolf population is one the nation’s largest, second only to Alaska.
“The recovery of the gray wolf throughout significant portions of its historic range is one of the great success stories of the Endangered Species Act,” Salazar said in a statement on Friday. “When it was listed as endangered in 1974, the wolf had almost disappeared from the continental United States. Today, we have more than 5,500 wolves, including more than 1,600 in the Rockies.”
Minnesota’s gray wolf population was downgraded by the Bush administration from endangered to threatened in 2007, but a court case over-ruled that decision in September 2008. Gray wolf populations were also de-listed in the northern Rockies in early 2008, but a judge over-ruled that decision as well.
Minnesota has far exceeded its goals in its wolf management plan. As of October 2008, the state had a population of at least 2,900 with a goal to maintain a stable population of 1,251 to 1,400 wolves.
Salazar maintained the endangered status of gray wolves in Wyoming because that state offers the wolves no protections from hunters and livestock owners who perceive the wolves to be a threat to their herds. Click link below for full story.
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