Utah state officials are balking at the possible inclusion of southern Utah in a recovery zone for the Mexican gray wolf.

The Utah Wildlife Board says in a letter sent this week to the Department of the Interior that science shows the northern limit of the species' range is in central New Mexico and Arizona. The board called the plan bad policy, bad science and bad for the Mexican gray wolf.

The board's letter dovetails with a similar one sent last month by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and governors in Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

Interior officials said in a statement that the department is aware of the letters and will review them along with other comments as they formulate a recovery plan.

In January, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife decided to list the Mexican wolf, a smaller subspecies of the gray wolf, as endangered.