Someday a gray wolf will cross the state border into Utah. It may not happen for five or 10 years — or it may already have happened.
The wolf may choose to make its home in the upper reaches of the Logan River drainage. It may wander into the Uinta Mountains.
Will it be welcomed, driven off or shot?
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources will attempt to answer that question over the next couple of years.
It plans to create a committee to draft a statewide policy on management of gray wolves, said Mike Wolfe, the DWR's mammals program coordinator.
"The committee will address the real question of whether there's a place in Utah for wolves or not," Wolfe said.
Environmental groups have long pushed for the recovery of wolf populations in Utah, but it's generally opposed by the livestock industry and hunters.
Kirk Robinson, coordinator of the Salt Lake-based environmental group, Western Wildlife Conservancy, said it's important the average citizen has a say in the management of wolves in Utah.
"The wolf issue tends to generate a lot of passion," Robinson said. "I don't think something like this is going to fly with the larger environmental community in Utah without its strong representation."
Don Peay, director of Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said 65 percent of its membership opposes having wolves in Utah.
"It's a fantasy that nature balances itself, especially when we have 2 million wolves in Utah already — called people," Peay said. "There's only so much pressure that can be put on our deer and elk herds. Wolves don't eat granola, and they're not like bears that hibernate; they're out there eating every day of the year."
The most important thing the committee will have to do is sift through the studies that have been done on wolves and see how they apply to Utah, said Jerry Mason of Brigham City.
Mason, a member of the Utah Wildlife Federation, said, "I think if we can get facts on the table, instead of rumors, we'll find there are places you can have wolves . . . where they can be tolerated by those who don't want them and where they can be loved by people that love them."
Wolfe said the DWR will probably hold several informational meetings around the state, about the end of April, before it actually sets up the committee.
Already, there have been numerous reports of wolf-like animals in Utah in the past few years, including four reports last year in the Cache Valley.
Dennis Austin, a DWR wildlife biologist in the Cache Valley, said three of the reports were quickly dismissed as wolf hybrids. But the fourth, he said, was a little more intriguing.
"One sighting on the Cache sounded pretty good," Austin said. "The guy knew what he was talking about."