MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press writer | Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008 12:00 am
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is objecting to legislation that would ask the federal government to help compensate livestock owners whose animals are killed by wolves.
Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana and Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming sponsored the bill that would approve federal matching money for state trust funds that pay ranchers for those losses. It would also allow federal grants for states to help lower the risk of wolf kills.
Officials testifying at a Senate hearing Wednesday said the payments should not be a federal responsibility. Barrasso said Wyoming paid $1.2 million in such compensation last year.
The legislation follows the federal government's decision to remove gray wolves from protection under the Endangered Species Act and turn over wolf management to Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, where an estimated 1,500 wolves roam. Wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s after the population dwindled significantly, and the species' population has grown rapidly, even as hundreds of the animals were killed to protect livestock.
Both Tester and Barrasso reacted angrily to the administration stance. An Interior official testifying at the hearing declined to answer questions about the administration's position and referred all senators' inquiries to Ed Bangs, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who led the wolf recovery effort. Bangs was reluctant to elaborate on the reasons for administration opposition, saying only that it was most appropriate for the states to determine compensation.
"I think it's terrible," said Tester, who chastised the Interior Department for not sending someone more senior to the hearing. "It's the right thing to do, and for the department to wash its hands of it and say, 'No, it's a state problem now,' is absolutely ridiculous."
In written testimony, the department criticized the bill for being too broad and complicated, saying it could be expensive and difficult to implement.
"As wolf management is now a matter for the state governments, whether and how to use compensation programs to advance state management goals is most appropriately for state governments to decide," wrote Michael Nedd, assistant director of minerals and realty management for the Bureau of Land Management.
Barrasso said the loss of livestock is a direct threat to ranchers' livelihoods.
"Washington forced the wolf on Wyoming," Barrasso said. "Washington has the responsibility to pay for the damage."
The advocacy group Defenders of Wildlife has compensated farmers and ranchers for losses due to wolves for many years, but it is unclear if the program will continue now that wolves have been taken off the endangered species list. Earlier this year, the group announced it would be phasing out its program in Montana, instead making a grant to the state-run compensation program.