Feds may make it easier to kill wolves
Rocky Barker
The Idaho Statesman
Federal authorities will propose relaxing rules to allow Idaho officials to kill wolves that threaten big game populations and let pet owners kill wolves threatening their animals.
The new rule, which will be announced today, also would make it easier for Idaho and Montana ranchers to kill wolves harassing or killing their livestock on private land. Hunting of wolves will not be allowed.
Wyomingýs wolf management will continue unchanged until it rewrites its wolf plan to meet federal requirements.
The public will get 60 days to comment before the rule can take effect. Idaho officials, who have been negotiating with the Department of Interior for a year, said they hope it will take effect as early as this summer.
ýThis will provide Idaho with the opportunity and responsibility to address wolf predation on livestock and our big game herds,ý Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said.
Wolves are both admired and hated in the West. An important natural check on big game herds, they also kill livestock and pets.
Wolves were exterminated in Idaho and the West until the 1970s when a few lone wolves began migrating south from Canada. They were protected by the Endangered Species Act. In 1995 and ý96, 35 wolves were re-introduced into the state as an experimental population that allowed wolves to be killed if livestock was killed.
Today, biologists estimate the population in Idaho at 378 wolves, including 25 breeding pairs.
The proposed amendment gives the right to kill wolves to state officials seeking to protect elk, deer and other big game and to pet owners. It would not remove wolves from the protection of the Endangered Species Act or the control of the federal government.
That canýt happen until Wyoming writes a wolf management plan like Idaho and Montana have done, gaining the approval of the Bush administrationýs Department of Interior. However, the rule would allow Interior Secretary Gale Norton to hand over management of wolves to Idaho or Montana once it is finalized.
The Wyoming Legislature last week rejected a plan that met the federal test and has suggested it may sue. If Wyoming approves a plan, it also would be under the new rule, benefitting from the relaxed rules on killing wolves.
ýThey seem to be offering Wyoming a carrot,ý said Curt Mack, Gray Wolf Recovery coordinator for the Nez Perce Tribe, which shares responsibility for wolf management in Idaho.
Under the current rule, federal officials can move wolves if they are causing an undefined ýunacceptable impactý on big game herds. The new rule allows the state to move or kill wolves after consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the event that elk, deer, moose or bighorn sheep populations are not meeting established state population goals in an area.
It does not require the decline to be caused by wolves. Steve Huffaker, Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director, said the Lochsa area of North Central Idaho meets that test.
ýThere are other areas in the state weýll look at, too,ý he said.
He didnýt expect the agency to initiate a widespread campaign to kill wolves soon. With the relaxed rules allowing additional private killings, they have to ensure that wolf numbers donýt fall too far.
ýWeýve got to get geared up,ý Huffaker said. ýItýs going to take some time.ý
The rule will not allow wolf hunting, Huffaker said.
Wolf advocate Suzanne Stone, Rocky Mountain field representative for the Defenders of Wildlife, called the decision a step backward in the recovery of wolves.
ýIým very concerned weýll see dramatic losses that will destabilize the viability of the wolf population in the region,ý Stone, of Boise, said.
Conversely, Ron Gillett, of the Central Idaho Anti-Wolf Coalition, which wants all wolves removed from the state, called it a step in the right direction. But he doesnýt think it will make much difference.
His group continues its efforts to raise funds to sue the federal government in an attempt to force them to remove all the wolves.
ýIt does not change our stance at all,ý he said. ýNo compromise, no consensus and no Canadian gray wolves in Idaho.ý
Mack said increased flexibility will give managers more tools to manage wolves. The Nez Perce and the state have an agreement ýin principle,ý according to Michael Bogert, Kempthorneýs chief counsel, which divides responsibilities between the state and tribe.
Mack acknowledged that wolf managers in Idaho will face a balancing act between the survival of wolf and big game populations.
ýThe timing and application of the broadened flexibility is going to be crucial to the state,ý he said.