Committee bristles at wolf plan
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff
and the ASSOCIATED PRESS
Idaho lawmakers sparred this week over a proposal from Gov. Dirk
Kempthorne that would delineate management responsibilities over Idaho’s
reintroduced gray wolves and give some management authority to the Nez
Perce Tribe.
A Tuesday afternoon meeting of the House Resources Committee quickly ended
when committee Chairman Bert Stevenson banged his gavel down to end the
heated discussion.
Conservative members of the committee grilled Jim Caswell, the
administrator of the Governor’s Office of Species Conservation, accusing
him of negotiating with the Nez Perce Tribe behind closed doors.
The tribe is contracted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to oversee
gray wolf recovery in Idaho. Wolves, listed as an endangered species, were
reintroduced to Idaho in 1995 and 1996. There are estimated to be 370
wolves in the state.
Earlier this month, Caswell’s office released a memorandum of agreement,
to be presented to the Nez Perce Tribe, outlining a collaborative process
of future wolf management. The agreement would allow the state to begin
sharing wolf management activities more quickly than if it waited for the
animals to be removed from the Endangered Species Act. It would also allow
the tribe to remain involved after the wolves are removed from the list.
Committee members smarted at the idea, partly because they said they were
unaware of the agreement and partly because they said they believed it
compromises the state’s post-listing position with the tribe.
During the Tuesday hearing, Rep. Lenore Barrett, R-Challis, who lives in
one of the state’s hotbeds of wolf controversy, threw her pencil and
argued with Stevenson at the end of the committee table.
During previous sessions, Barrett suggested the only kind of wolf
management Idaho should entertain is extermination. Barrett was angry with
Caswell’s work, pointing to a legislative statement passed in 2001 that
called for the unequivocal removal of wolves from the state.
Barrett said Caswell’s office was given authority to “talk or consult”
with the tribes and federal government.
“That’s not the same as making an agreement with them,” she said.
Republican Rep. Lawerence Denney of Midvale, the House majority leader,
tried to ease the tension.
“You’re hearing the frustration of the committee,” he said. “Nobody
anticipated an expanded role for the tribes. And this was a secret until
about a week ago.”
Barrett, frustrated after 90 minutes of questioning, intended to ask the
committee for a vote against the agreement.
Stevenson said he suspected something was amiss when he noticed Barrett
having pages find fellow conservative members to bring them back to the
hearing room for a vote. Before she was able to ask for the vote,
Stevenson gaveled the meeting closed. Barrett threw her pencil.
“You didn’t allow me to have a say,” protested loudly.
“I don’t allow you to make that kind of motion,” Stevenson said. “I
expected the courtesy of you telling me what the game plan was.”
Caswell said members of the committee have a misconception that the tribe
would be out of the wolf management business after the species is removed
for the ESA. Rather, the tribe would undoubtedly be a part of the
management plan for years to come whether or not the state ultimately
signs the agreement, he said.