Cattlemen take progressive stance on wolf control
By Julie Pence, For The Prairie Star
SUN VALLEY, Idaho – If the federal government doesn’t expedite efforts to make Idaho the principal agent for wolf control, the Idaho Cattle Association will sue.
The organization passed the resolution to potentially bring suit against the U.S. Department of the Interior at its 93rd annual meeting in Sun Valley earlier this week. Idaho has met recovery efforts established by the Endangered Species Act, the cattlemen say, and therefore the state, not the federal government, should have the right to control and maintain the wolf population within state boundaries. Since 2004, Idaho has been designated as an agent of the federal government for wolf management.
According to Idaho Fish and Game statistics, as of October of this year, numbers for calves killed by wolves are up by 17 percent from the entire year of 2005, with 21 dead animals recorded. During the same time frame, wolves have killed 170 sheep as compared to 148 killed in 2005. In 2004, the agency confirmed that 105 sheep were killed.
The numbers of dogs are down from 2005. So far in 2006, four dogs have been killed compared to 10 in 2005. Three dogs were killed in 2003.
Mike Webster, outgoing ICA president, said one wildlife biologist told him that for every one killed animal found there are six to eight more that wouldn’t be found.
Idaho has been under federal guidelines of the Endangered Species Act for re-establishing a wolf population since 94. The Nez Perce Tribe was assigned oversight because the state Legislature had refused to participate with the federal government in establishing a gray wolf population in Idaho. The federal government determined there would have to be 30 documented breeding packs well distributed in the states of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming before the wolf could be considered a recovered species and eligible to be removed from the endangered species list. In 2002 the three states attained that recovery goal, and the 2003 Idaho Legislature voted to begin working on a plan with the federal government in order to delist the gray wolf. Idaho Fish and Game documented 70 confirmed breeding packs in Idaho in 2006, which amounts to about 650 adult wolves.
Montana is also working on delisting the grey wolf. But Wyoming lawmakers have continually refused to participate in the federal program.
As a result, Idaho and Montana are asking the federal government to allow them to delist according to state boundaries, rather than identifying all three states as one unit, said Jeff Foss of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Wyoming has been a problem, to say the least, he told members of the Idaho Cattle Association.
While Idaho and Wyoming are appealing to the U.S. Department of the Interior for state control according to state boundaries, Idaho does not have any advantage because former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne is now the head of the agency. Kempthorne has had to remove himself from Idaho issues for one year from the time of his appointment in late May, Foss explained.
Foss said attorneys at the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services are working to resolve some contradictory policies between the agencies. Solving that problem would enable Idaho and Montana to achieve state control based upon wolves within their own boundaries. There is no timeline for completing that task, he said.
Meanwhile, ranchers throughout the state are suffering from more than deaths within flocks and herds as a result of wolf depredation. During a July ICA convention in Jackpot, one rancher said since 1994 he has lost more than 540 sheep. But in addition, his animals continue to lose weight as a result of continued harassment by wolf packs.
I can’t account for the loss in pounds, Challis rancher Phil Soulen had said. They just don’t do as well.
Until the federal government acts or there is a court ruling should the ICA prevail in a lawsuit, state officials will have to get federal approval when implementing control measures.