Commission to hear wolf plan

The state's plan for managing wolves headlines the agenda for next week's public meetings of the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission, Nov. 15 and 16 in Thermopolis at the Holiday Inn.

The Draft Wyoming Gray Wolf Management Plan will be presented to the Commission Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. Also on the agenda are a presentation from the Big Horn Basin Sage Grouse Working Group, a review of trophy big game management, online licensing, late migratory bird regulations and mountain lion hunting seasons, and an update on black-footed ferret recovery, among other items.

The meetings will be held 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Nov. 15, and 7 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. on Nov. 16. For a complete agenda or to request auxiliary aids to attend, call Connie Coleman at (307) 777-4501.

Hatchery closed for construction

The Speas Fish Rearing Station outside Casper will be closed to visitors until sometime next year while it undergoes more than $17 million in renovations.

The state-owned facility will continue to raise fish during much of the construction but visitors will not be allowed on the premises for safety reasons. Crews will be installing a tower, eight large circular tanks, 36 smaller tanks, new buildings and other improvements. The upgrades will allow the hatchery to triple its output from 100,000 pounds of fish per year to more than 300,000.

The State Legislature allocated funding for the project in 2004 and 2006.

Deer and elk disease spreads

Chronic wasting disease has been detected for the first time in mule deer southwest of Kaycee and in elk southeast of Encampment.

Two mule deer killed by hunters in October tested positive for chronic wasting disease in Deer Hunt Area 163, and a cow elk harvested in October in Elk Hunt Area 110 has tested positive. Wyoming Game and Fish personnel collected the lymph nodes of the animals from hunters at voluntary check stations and analyzed them at the state's lab.

The disease - known to be fatal to deer, elk and moose - had been detected previously in other nearby hunt units near Kaycee and in deer but not elk in units near Encampment. The Department will add the two hunt units to its list of areas that will have restrictions on transporting carcasses.