Wolf Delisting Bill Pt 2
I'm Bob Larson. 19, and growing. That is the number of known Wolf packs living in our state, 16 of them in four counties along the Canadian border.House Bill 1872 would remove Gray Wolves from the endangered species act, but just in those counties where residents worry the number of attacks on livestock will rise as the number of packs grows ...
JOEL KRETZ ... "What this would do, I think, is take the first step toward, how are we going to handle wolves when they're de-listed statewide? It makes sense to me to do it in a small area and we can find what works, find out what doesn't. We'll make mistakes, but it would be better, to me, to fine tune that new status on four counties rather than the whole state and hopefully we'll get it right. And then when the state is ready to de-list, they'll have a model."
Representative Joel Kretz says his district is willing to work with environmentalist groups ...
JOEL KRETZ ... "And I understand their concerns. I think we've got to figure out something that works though because we've got one small area that's disproportionately impacted and it's a hot issue up there and I think they've got interest in solving it. You know, I'm looking for a balanced approach on this thing and I don't know what exactly it looks like. I mean, that's going to be subject to negotiations. I'll be meeting with some of those folks in the next few days. If they've got ideas, I'm really open to them. But we do need to take this seriously that we've got to do something in these areas that have been pretty well over run."
Kretz thinks there will be a lot of back and forth on his bill, but he's confident some version will eventually pass.