Font ResizeA bill seeking to keep wolves out of Utah advanced Monday when a House committee passed it unanimously.
The latest version of SB36, sponsored by Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, asks the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to take wolves off the endangered-species list in all of Utah and allow state wildlife officials to manage them.
The bill, which previously passed the Senate and now goes to the full House, makes it clear that wolves would not be tolerated nor allowed to establish packs in the Beehive State.
The original bill would have allowed any wolf in Utah to be shot, but legislative attorneys warned that such a measure probably would be unconstitutional.
In 2007, after two years of discussion, the state established a wolf-management plan that Division of Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz says is operational. The problem, he says, is the plan didn't anticipate that the wolves would be considered endangered in most of Utah.
Christensen and bill supporters are miffed the FWS never acknowledged nor accepted the state plan.
Wolves have been delisted in the northeastern corner of the state, which is part of a gray wolf recovery area. Two federal court cases over the wolves' endangered status are pending in Wyoming and Montana.
Patty Henetz
