Idaho asks feds to manage some wolves
BONNERS FERRY, Idaho (AP) — Officials with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game are asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a permit to manage wolves in northern Idaho’s panhandle region, which would allow them to kill problem wolves.
One pack of five to seven wolves — adults and pups called the Calder Mountain Pack — is confirmed to range north of I-90 in Boundary and Bonner counties.
Wolves north of I-90 are considered “naturally occurring” and therefore are listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tom Buckley, Fish and Wildlife Service information officer, told The Associated Press on Thursday. He said the wolf pack in the panhandle is thought to have come from western Montana or Canada.
Idaho officials recently took over management of wolves south of I-90, which are considered nonessential, experimental and are protected as a threatened species because they were reintroduced to Idaho in the mid-1990s.
“This permit will allow the state to conduct wolf control,” said Buckley. “That means lethal take of problem wolves.”
Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for Fish and Game, said the agency is already involved in management of wolves north of I-90 under a verbal agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“The bottom line is there won’t be much change to the wolves north of I-90,” Nadeau told the Bonner Daily Bee.
The request for the permit opens a 30-day public comment period. Buckley said issuing the permit could take from two to six weeks.
The permit would allow workers with Fish and Game to collar, handle, take blood samples, and relocate wolves. In some instances, problem wolves could be killed. Without the permit, Fish and Game workers would have to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before killing a problem wolf.
“Generally, the thinking has been that from the start we have agreed to control wolves that present problems in terms of preying on livestock,” said Joan Jewett, regional Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman. “The way that contributes to the recovery of the wolves is it builds public support to having the wolves in the first place.”
Nadeau said nobody has reported wolves killing or harassing livestock in the panhandle region.
Earlier this week, Fish and Game managers introduced a plan to kill no more than 43 wolves south of I-90 in the Lolo elk-hunting area on the state’s mountainous border with Montana. The state hopes to boost the elk herds there.