Does imperiled Mexican gray wolf belong in Utah? No way, 4 states say

Federal wildlife officials are set to convene yet another effort to craft a recovery plan for the Mexican gray wolf after three failed attempts over the past three decades. But leaders in Utah and three other states are now attacking the credibility of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's science, alleging it is rigged to improperly include the Four Corners region in the recovery zone for this critically imperiled wolf subspecies. The Utah Wildlife Board on Wednesday piled on when it finalized a letter to FWS insisting the agency reconstitute the recovery team with members who are more "neutral" than the biologists currently assigned to the task. VIDEOS Rescuers race to reach victims of deadly India floods AFP Cops investigate video showing toddler smoking 'joint' NY Daily News California mass shooting: Attackers murder 14 at San Bernardino social services centre Press Association Attackers Had More Than 1,600 Bullets With Them AP Carter Orders All Combat Jobs Open to Women AP Is the Future of Gun Control State-to-State? Bloomberg Rescuers race to reach victims of deadly India floods AFP Cops investigate video showing toddler smoking 'joint' NY Daily News More videos: Carter Orders All Combat Jobs Open to Women Is the Future of Gun Control State-to-State? Rescuers race to reach victims of deadly India floods Cops investigate video showing toddler smoking 'joint' California mass shooting: Attackers murder 14 at San Bernardino social services centre Attackers Had More Than 1,600 Bullets With Them Carter Orders All Combat Jobs Open to Women Is the Future of Gun Control State-to-State? Rescuers race to reach victims of deadly India floods Cops investigate video showing toddler smoking 'joint' California mass shooting: Attackers murder 14 at San Bernardino social services centre Attackers Had More Than 1,600 Bullets With Them TOP JOBS Top Jobs Check out all the Trib TopJobs The team is scheduled to begin meeting next week at the COD Ranch outside Tucson, Ariz. Utah also objects to this venue, because it is has hosted meetings of conservation groups. The states also insist on a major ground rule for the Mexican wolf recovery planning process: No consideration should be given to terrain north of Interstate 40, the freeway that cuts across Arizona and New Mexico about 130 miles south of the Utah state line. That was the sentiment two months ago when the Utah Wildlife Board first authorized Assistant Utah Attorney General Martin Bushman to draft the letter to FWS and the Department of the Interior. A final draft was approved Wednesday, claiming the Mexican wolf's historic range lies south of Arizona's Mogollon Rim forming the southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The complaints raised in this letter closely align with a Nov. 13 letter to FWS director Dan Ashe signed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and three other governors. The four states — Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona as well as Utah — are "seriously troubled" by FWS' selection of "non-neutral" scientists bent on establishing the Mexican wolf outside its historic range. "The panel as presently constituted will be driven as much or more by personal agenda than by science. This is unacceptable," the letter states. "Given that 90 percent of the subspecies' historical range is in Mexico, any serious recovery planning effort must headline a Mexico-centric approach rather than the translocation of the subspecies out of its historical range into new, previously uninhabited ranges of northern Arizona / New Mexico and southern Utah / Colorado." FWS spokesman Jeff Humphrey said the agency has yet to decide how it will respond to the governors' concerns. The letters do not name the allegedly biased scientists or identify who the states do want on the team...more