This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Wolves would be reclassified as a species that can be hunted by permit under a bill advanced Wednesday by the Utah Legislature's Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment Interim Committee.

Current state code lists wolves — an endangered species and largely absent in most of the state — as furbearers, for which the state does not issue rifle permits as it would for bears or cougars. The bill, proposed by Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, would allow the Wildlife Board to initiate a hunt if the state ever decides to do so.

"Before we have any wolf hunt in Utah we want to get the classification right," Division of Wildlife Resources Director Jim Karpowitz told the committee. "We don't have any plans for that yet."

Hunting is part of the state's management plan should the predators ever establish themselves in sufficient numbers within the state. Individual sightings have increased in northern Utah in recent years, but officials have not confirmed any breeding packs.

Congress removed wolves in the northern Rocky Mountain population from endangered species protections, though that decision remains in legal dispute. If it stands, wolves occurring in Utah's part of that recovery zone would not be federally protected against hunting.

Utah's portion of the recovery zone is roughly limited to the corner north and east of Interstate 84. Any wolves occurring south of that line retain endangered species status.

Planning now for a hunt of such a rare species is wrongheaded, said Jacob Schipaanboord, executive director of the Utah Environmental Congress. His organization produces bumper stickers saying, "Wolves Belong in Utah."

"They were decimated in Utah, hunted to extinction," he said. "They deserve protection in Utah until they've been re-established and removed from the endangered species list by scientific consensus, and not by politics."

But there is clear animosity toward wolf recovery by many Utah politicians. Christensen has previously sought to keep any wolves from entering the state, and Sen. Margaret Dayton, R-Orem, said Wednesday the state should battle them as "invasive species."

Her comment provoked muted laughter from at least one committee member

"It's not really a laughing matter, although I see some chuckles here," Dayton said. "It [the wolf] is not really a native species."

Gray wolves are native to Utah, though state officials contend that the Mexican subspecies — another population that federal officials have discussed protecting in southern Utah — never lived here. Federal biologists say genetic samples from wolves killed in Utah during the 19th century show similarities to Mexican wolves.

The wolf classification bill needed only seven minutes of committee consideration, and will go to the full Legislature this winter with a positive recommendation. Only Rep. Joel Briscoe, D-Salt Lake City, voted against it.