Idaho debates future of wolves in state
By ROCKY BARKER
McClatchy Newspapers
BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Fish and Game’s wolf plan meeting in Boise this week prompted laughter, not anger — an unusual occurrence for an issue that arouses high emotion.
The meeting, which had an even number of wolf advocates and opponents, was different than some recent meetings around the state. A few have been as heated as ever, demonstrating, as Yellowstone wolf biologist Doug Smith says, “The wolf issue is the abortion issue of wildlife management.”
But here in Boise, people on both sides of the issue were respectful of the questions raised by their opposites. Jon Rachael, the southwest region wildlife manager for Fish and Game, moderated with a humorous, laid-back style and kept everyone loose and the tension low.
Wolf advocates, certain that Fish and Game aims to let hunters and federal gunners kill as many wolves as they can, focused on the department’s apparent wide flexibility in determining when a conflict between wolves and livestock or game will trigger wolves to be killed.
Hunters, just as certain that wolves are eating all the elk they never saw this season, expressed concern that the plan underestimates the number of wolves on the ground.
Rachael explained that the plan, written in a manner similar to plans for cougars, bears, elk and other big game, is by definition very general. Biologists and the Fish and Game Commission will use it to guide decisions on setting seasons and dealing with specific situations that come up after the state takes full control.
Most of the issues, he said, are social. “This isn’t a magic scientific equation,” he said.
The reality is that the department is going to have to adapt and learn as it goes. Wolves number at least 800 and the population has been growing at a 20 percent annual pace despite another 20 percent dying each year due to control actions and natural mortality.
That’s going to give wildlife managers a big cushion between the current population and the 150 wolves envisioned when the Idaho Legislature wrote the state management plan. In general, the plan calls for “stabilizing” the population in most areas and decreasing it in some high-conflict areas.
That means hunters could kill 150 wolves a year and the population could still grow. That seems easy but Rachael’s not so sure.
“I suspect after a year when they’re shot at, we’re not going to see wolves walking along the road looking into your windshield,” Rachael said.
The earliest wolves could be delisted by the federal government is March 29 but everyone expects wolf advocates to file a lawsuit immediately. That could postpone plans to start a wolf-hunting season, too.