Wolf management proposals by the three northern Rockies states grappling with growing wolf populations are in the hands of a panel of wolf experts which will determine if the plans will maintain the current wolf population.

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho must have plans in place for managing gray wolves before a petition to take the animals off the endangered species list can be submitted to federal officials. The plans must assure the wolf population will remain at sustainable levels after delisting, which means at least 15 packs in Wyoming.

Wyoming Game and Fish Commissioners approved a final wolf plan during a meeting in Sheridan on July 29. The plan includes the controversial dual classification of the wolf as both predator and trophy game animal.

The plan stipulates that if more than seven wolf packs occur outside Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks and the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway when delisting occurs, wolves would be classified as a trophy game animal in park, parkway and in nearby wilderness areas. Wolves would be classified as a predator in all other parts of Wyoming.

If the number of wolf packs outside the parks fall to seven or fewer, the trophy game animal designation would be expanded to a larger area.

Game and Fish Acting Director Gregg Arthur said Wednesday Wyoming's wolf plan, along with the Idaho and Montana plans, were submitted last month to the USFWS for a "review of adequacy."

The USFWS recently completed an "initial review of those plans and decided to forward all three plans to an independent review panel of 12 wolf scientists, managers and researchers," he said.

The review panel will determine if the combined plans are adequate to maintain the current recovered wolf population in the three states. "The peer review experts are looking at those plans now and the deadline to get back to the USFWS is about the first of November," he said.

If the panel determines the three plans will maintain a recovered wolf population, the USFWS will propose delisting. Game and Fish assistant Wildlife Division Chief John Emmerich estimated that barring extended litigation, the entire delisting process could be completed by the late summer or fall of 2004.