LARAMIE - The moose population in the Snowy Range is "stable and possibly increasing," with about 150 such animals, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Terry Creekmore, Game and Fish's wildlife management coordinator for southeast Wyoming, said biologists have proposed that 40 licenses be issued for moose on the Snowy Range and the Sierra Madre hunting areas this year, the same number as last year.

A series of meetings in southeast Wyoming on harvest levels for all species will culminate with the district meeting at the Albany County Public Library in Laramie at 7 p.m. April 1.

Creekmore said the district's biologists and game wardens will be present to hear oral comments from the public. Written comments will also be taken from the public and will be submitted to the Game and Fish Commission, which will set the final harvest numbers in a meeting April 24 in Cheyenne.

The proposal open for public review recommends 15 licenses be issued for any moose except cows with calves, and that 25 additional licenses be issued for cows without calves. Last season, 15 bulls, 19 cows and three calves were taken in the Snowy Range, he said.

Estimating populations of moose is difficult because they are not herd animals and are scattered in heavily timbered mountain forests, Creekmore said. The harvest levels are based partly on observations and interviews with visitors or residents in the area and partly on age analysis of harvested animals.

"Hunters typically seek the larger bulls, and if you find that they are taking very young or small bulls, you would infer a lower population than if they're shooting mature moose," he said. "The average age of harvested bulls last year was four years, which is pretty good. We obtained teeth from 14 of the 15 taken."

"We have a good population now, and the sportsmen of Wyoming pay their money to allow us to manage these populations, so we try to arrive at a sustainable harvest," Creekmore said.

The pine beetle epidemic moving into the southern part of the Medicine Bow Mountains may force changes in the management strategy, he added.

"The Snowy Range may totally change when the beetles come through," Creekmore said. "We don't know what that will do to the moose population. Moose need old spruce/fir trees for thermal cover in winter. We will have to watch whether they can get around with all that deadfall, and how they deal with fire."

Erik Molvar, director of Biodiversity Conservation Alliance in Laramie and a former moose researcher, agreed that obtaining precise population numbers for moose is problematic.

"For that reason, I would say one should be cautious about harvesting a species if one does not have a good idea of the size of the population," he said.

Molvar said the setting of hunting quotas on big game has not been a particular focus of his organization.

"There are many other species of more concern to us on the Snowy Range because of their rarity, and secondarily because this moose population is the result of the introduction of moose in northern Colorado," Molvar said. He cited Canada lynx, pine marten and the northern goshawk as examples of the rare animals his group watches.

Molvar said there are a few records of moose in this area from several decades ago but no firm indications of a steady native population prior to the introductions into Colorado. "The records just don't go back far enough," he said.

Phillip Baigas of Charlotte, N.C., a master's degree student in renewable resources at the University of Wyoming, has spent the past couple of summers analyzing the viability of moose habitats in the Snowy Range. More than 23 moose were fitted with collars in 2005 and 2006, he said, allowing a recording of the animals' locations every 90 minutes.

Baigas said Game and Fish's population estimate is conservative and that the moose harvest proposed by the agency is reasonable.

"I have been studying whether the willows in typical moose habitats are growing taller or are being repressed," he said. "I have found many plant communities where the willows are getting excessive impacts, and it appears to be mostly due to browsing by moose."

Baigas mentioned the willow bogs at Miller Lake west of Fox Park as an example.

He said he observed moose frequently in his study areas, seeing them more than any other big game species. He saw moose "at least every other morning" during his study.

Baigas said studies have shown a recent decline in the moose population in northwest Wyoming. He said a Jackson Hole report shows the harvest numbers for that herd declined from 200 to 50 between 2000 and 2004.

According to figures provided by Game and Fish's biological services supervisor in Cheyenne, Reg Rothwell, Wyoming's estimated moose population grew to 15,180 in 1996 and then declined to around 9,546 in 2005. Rothwell said last year's estimates showed 9,900 moose in Wyoming, nearly 5,000 short of the department's objective of 14,600.