It is important that the public, as much as ranchers, hunters and wolf advocates, have a say in what the councils recommend to the Utah Wildlife Board, and to do that, people will have to express their opinions at the upcoming meetings. If they don't, the fate of gray wolves in Utah could be too heavily influenced by groups with particular interests and biases.

The management of wolves obviously is a hot topic for people who either love the top-of-the-food-chain predators or hate them, but it should be of interest to all of us. No single group should have more influence than the people who live in the environment that wolves now also inhabit.

Gray wolves were eradicated from the West by hunters and ranchers early in the last century. In 1995, after years of debate and study, 14 were reintroduced in the greater Yellowstone area and have thrived, migrating north into Montana, Oregon and Idaho, east to Wyoming and Colorado. There are now more than 700 wolves in those states and a few are expected to make it into Utah.

Because their numbers have grown so rapidly, wolves are about to be removed from the federally protected Endangered Species List, and their management turned over to the states. Most impacted states are formulating wolf management plans that take into account the often-colliding interests of hunters and ranchers who fear predation of livestock and big-game animals, and wolf advocates, who see the positive ecological impact wolves have on the West's wild lands.

Utah's 13-member wolf working group met for 18 months to come up with a plan that takes all interests into account. Unfortunately, Don Peay, founder of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, walked out of the group's final meeting when the other members would not accede to his outrageous demands that hunters be compensated for game animals killed by wolves and that landowners be allowed to kill wolves on sight.

That 11th-hour ultimatum unfairly undermines the compromise plan that other members had accepted. Nevertheless, Peay's vocal group can bring an inordinate amount of pressure to bear on wildlife managers.

The meetings are in Beaver today, Green River on Wednesday and Roosevelt Thursday and in Springville and Brigham City next Tuesday and Wednesday. For more information, see www.wildlife.utah.gov or www.utahwolf.net People who care about wolves in the West should speak up.