LANDER - Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies will no longer be protected as an endangered species starting Friday. But Wyoming ranchers and county predator control boards outside the wolves' trophy game zone say they won't send up airplanes that morning to haphazardly hunt the predators.

Going after wolves that aren't killing livestock would not only be a fools' mission for the ranchers and the boards, but it also would be exorbitantly expensive, according to board members.

"The only time we'll fly them is when there is a problem," said Truman Julian, a sheep rancher in Kemmerer and chairman of Lincoln County's predator control board. "Just to put a plane up there looking for a wolf is like looking for a needle in a haystack, and it's expensive, and we have to pay for it. We don't have the money, and that's not our goal. Our goal is to remove the offending animals."

Beginning Friday, ranchers in Wyoming's predator zone for wolves - which includes most of the state, save the extreme northwest - will be able to call USDA Wildlife Services directly if there is a wolf bothering or hunting livestock.

Inside the trophy game zone, wolves will be managed by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department similar to the way they are managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service statewide today. Ranchers will not be able to kill any wolves on sight, but instead must enlist the help of Game and Fish, or obtain take permits from the department.

Outside the trophy game zone, Wildlife Services will be paid through continuing contracts with county predator control boards to aerial hunt and kill wolves, the same way these boards currently pay the agency to destroy animals such as coyotes and foxes.

It currently costs the local boards about $125 per hour to hire a fixed-wing aerial hunting crew, and about $675 per hour for a helicopter.

"We have other problems, too, like ravens, coyotes and foxes," Julian said. "We're not going to blow all of our money flying over wolves."

In Lincoln County, wolves are a less significant problem for ranchers than other pests and predators, Julian said, so ranchers will need to be judicious when it comes to contracting Wildlife Services to shoot wolves.

"We're not indiscriminate killers. We target the animal that's causing the problem for us. I could care less about the wolf, as long as he's not causing me a problem," Julian said.

The Lincoln County predator board will not offer any bounties for wolves, nor will it start any programs to encourage hunters to kill wolves, he said.

Although some money for the animal control contracts with Wildlife Services comes from state and federal agencies, about 60 to 70 percent is paid by each county's predator management board, said Bill Taliaferro of Rock Springs, a rancher and member of the Sweetwater County board.

The local boards are funded, in large part, by area ranchers who contribute just under $1 a head to the statewide predator management program for each cow or sheep they sell.

Taliaferro said the Sweetwater County board and its ranchers will deal with wolves on a case-by-case basis as well. It will not fund any systematic hunting of wolves, nor will it offer any bounties on the animals, he said.

"It's going to be horribly expensive to take many of them," Taliaferro said.

Following the recent, eight-year drought, and in the wake of wolf reintroduction, many ranchers have gone out of business statewide, he said, and as a result, some of the predator boards weren't generating enough money. That's why they requested money from the state Legislature in 2006.

Lawmakers appropriated $6 million for the 2006 and 2007 biennium budget to revive the local predator management programs, and $5.6 million this legislative session for the coming two years.

"There are enough funds now, but who knows about the future?" Taliaferro said. "If (wolves) keep reproducing at the rate they're reproducing - who knows?"

The upshot of the trophy game arrangement is that ranchers inside the zone will still be compensated for livestock lost to wolves, Taliaferro said.

"On the outside, you're just kind of on your own with the predator boards," Taliaferro said. "But at least the public and the hunters will help control the wolves."

Franz Camenzind, biologist and head of the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, said he'd be surprised if wolves establish any kind of sustainable population outside the trophy area after they are delisted.

"They'd have to remain pretty inconspicuous to survive," Camenzind said. "I think it's an unfortunate reality, because I think there are places outside of the trophy game area where they could survive without causing problems."

Although the trophy game zone includes about 12 percent of the state, there's only a small percentage of that region - inside the state and federal parks - where wolves are going to be continuously protected, he said.

"That's less than 4 percent of the state where wolves would be totally protected. I don't think that wolves have a particularly big foothold in the state, and I think for the near future that's what we're going to see," Camenzind said.

If delisting results in the quick slaughter of a large number of wolves, it's likely that a court injunction will be issued next month against the government's decision to lift federal protection, Camenzind said.

Environment reporter Chris Merrill can be reached at chris.merrill@trib.com or at (307) 267-6722.

* Last we knew: The federal government is removing wolves in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana from Endangered Species Act protection, effective Friday.

* The latest: Local predator control boards outside Wyoming's trophy game zone for wolves will contract directly with USDA Wildlife Services to aerial hunt and kill "problem" wolves.

* What's next: Ranchers and predator control board members say they will just target wolves that are killing livestock or pets, and there will be no bounties on the animals.

For more: State prepares for change - B1]]->

* Wolves in most of Wyoming, outside the trophy game zone, will be considered predators, similar to coyotes, and can be shot on sight starting Friday, when they will lose federal Endangered Species Act protection.

* The trophy game zone for wolves will be in the extreme northwest of Wyoming, including about 12 percent of the state's area, with its border running through Cody and Meeteetse, and just outside of Dubois, Pinedale and Jackson.

* It will be legal to kill wolves without limits in the predator zone - in the remaining 88 percent of the state - as long as each kill is reported to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department within 10 days.

* People who kill wolves will also be required to report where the kills took place, and the sex of the animals. They will be obligated to return to Game and Fish any radio or GPS tracking equipment found on the canines.

- Chris Merrill]]->