Idaho asks to manage wolf pack
By LUCY DUKES
Hagadone News Network
BONNERS FERRY — The state is asking U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a permit to manage wolves in the Idaho Panhandle, including those in Boundary County.
One confirmed pack of five to seven animals — adults and pups dubbed the Calder Mountain Pack — ranges in Boundary and Bonner counties and in Lincoln County, Mont. The pack is the first confirmed in the area in about 80 years. Also, two wolves were spotted traveling together in the Priest Lake area, said Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for Idaho Fish and Game.
Idaho already manages the rest of the wolves in the state under an agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service signed on Jan. 5. Those north of Interstate 90 require a separate agreement, however, because they are considered “naturally occurring” and therefore endangered. Wolves south of the roadway are considered threatened because they were reintroduced to Idaho in the mid-1990s.
Fish and Game is already involved in management north of I-90 under a verbal agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service, but the permit secures legal day-to-day management authority, said Nadeau.
“The bottom line is there won’t be much change to the wolves north of I-90,” he said.
The permit request opens a 30-day public comment period. Issuing the permit may take anywhere from two to six weeks, said Tom Buckley, Fish and Wildlife Service information officer.
It allows Fish and Game to collar, handle, take blood samples, relocate and otherwise “harass” or “take” wolves in the interest of enhancing the wolf population’s survival. Also, the federal permit would give the state some leeway to kill wolves if they attack livestock in North Idaho, although other options may have to be attempted first. Nobody has reported wolves preying upon or even harassing livestock in the Panhandle, said Nadeau.
“Generally the thinking has been that from the start we have agreed to control wolves that present problems in terms of preying on livestock. The way that contributes to the recovery of the wolves is it builds public support to having the wolves in the first place,” said Joan Jewett, regional Fish and Wildlife spokesperson.
While Fish and Game will have management control if the permit is issued, because the animals are endangered, consultation with the Fish and Wildlife Service will be required for population control decisions, Nadeau said.
South of I-90, the consultation is not required. So far, 61 wolves have been killed and 27 relocated to protect livestock. Between 1995 and 2004, 80 cattle, 518 sheep and 27 dogs have been confirmed to have been killed by wolves.
Fish and Game is required to annually count the number of wolves in the area, said Nadeau.
Panhandle wolves would be treated like the rest of Idaho wolves are only if the federal government takes them off of the Endangered Species Act list in a three-state region.
Already, wolves more than exceed goals for delisting, set at 30 breeding pairs in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, Nadeau said. Idaho alone has 36 breeding pairs and 61 packs. More than 600 wolves are estimated to live in the state, he said, calling the recovery goal at this point “bureaucratic.”
Fish and Wildlife, however, says Wyoming’s wolf plan is inadequate and that state is in litigation with the federal government. Idaho and Montana have proposals out to delist wolves separately if Wyoming doesn’t come to the table, said Nadeau.