Grizzly occupancy meeting set

Public meetings have been scheduled to present the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s proposal for managing grizzly bear occupancy in northwest Wyoming when delisting occurs. One of the meetings has been scheduled for Pinedale and will take place on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at the Rendezvous Pointe Senior Center.

A Power Point presentation covering the WG&F proposal, including rationale, will be provided followed by a moderated question-and-answer period. WG&F personnel will remain for small group discussions from the end of the question-and- answer period till 10 p.m.

The draft guidelines were developed by an internal WG&F working group and include an analysis of public opinion gathered during the drafting of the grizzly bear state management plan in 2002. The purpose of the meeting will be two-fold. First, WG&F wants to inform the public of the draft grizzly bear occupancy recommendations for Wyoming once grizzlies are delisted and WG&F takes over management. Secondly, the agency wants to understand the degree to which stakeholder concerns have been addressed.

WG&F agreed to further refine the grizzly bear occupancy guidelines following completion of the final grizzly bear state management plan process. This commitment came after concern was expressed that the outer boundary initially described in the plan was too vague and included significant amounts of private property and habitats that were unsuitable for bear occupancy.

All meetings will start at 7 p.m. and conclude no later than 10 p.m. Each attendee will be given a comment and meeting evaluation form as they register. The completed form will be accepted at the end of the meeting, may be mailed to the below address, or comments may be submitted online at the department’s website at http://gf.state.wy.us. Written and online comments will be accepted between Nov. 13 and Dec. 31.

Mail written comments to: Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Attn: Grizzly Bear Occupancy, 5400 Bishop Blvd., Cheyenne, Wyo., 82006.