Idaho likely to seek authority to kill wolves preying on elk
By CHRISTOPHER SMITH – Associated Press Writer – 03/03/06
BOISE, Idaho A final decision wont be made until Friday, but members of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission say they will likely ask the federal government for permission to kill up to 43 gray wolves preying on elk in the Lolo Pass region.
Commissioners said they were inclined to make the request despite overwhelming public opposition and the likelihood that the states application would trigger a lengthy federal analysis and court battle. At their meeting Thursday, they put off a decision on whether to proceed with the lethal-control application to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service until Friday.
Though the wolves reintroduced here in 1995 are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the federal agency last year modified a provision of the law to allow Idaho to kill wolves that are reducing big-game animal numbers below state wildlife-management goals.
Lethal action is allowed only if the agency agrees with the states science-based proposal that wolf removal, rather than other means, would restore the game populations to the desired level.
Idaho took over day-to-day management of the estimated 600 wolves in the northern and central mountains of the state in January from the federal government. At issue are approximately 58 wolves near the state border with Montana, which the state wants to reduce to 15 animals. The state says wolves have been responsible for 32 percent of elk deaths in the Lolo region since 2002.
Chairman John Watts of Boise said he was frustrated that the federal government still had the upper hand in deciding if the state could kill wolves to help boost the size of the Lolo elk herd size.
We have the responsibility but not the power, he said. Were in a a spot where the cars going 160 miles an hour and it doesnt have a steering wheel and were in the damn thing.
The commission heard that an overwhelming number people from around the country registered their opposition to the plan during a public comment period that ended Feb. 17. Of the 42,400 comments received, over 41,000 were generated by an e-mail campaign from Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington, D.C.-based group that opposes the states plan to kill 43 members of the Lolo pack.
We have to look at making people in Idaho happy versus making all the people of the Defenders of Wildlife happy, said Commissioner Wayne Wright of Twin Falls. Theyre two different things.
The state-based comments opposed the kill by a margin of 2-to-1.
Gary Power, a commissioner from Salmon, said the agency had not done a good job of communicating to the public the need for controlling wolf numbers to help the elk herd grow. He also stressed that Idahos application must be able to withstand scientific scrutiny.
If we go out there with enough doubt in enough peoples minds that this is poor science, its going to make our job of managing wolves a lot tougher, Power said.
But commission members said they felt the states biologists had compiled data that makes a compelling case for reducing wolf numbers in the Lolo region. Watts said he felt the application should be submitted after a few minor changes.
We should fix and clean it up as best we can so we dont look like a bunch of radical rednecks from Idaho, he said. The dynamics of this issue are just impossible.
Idaho Fish and Game Department Director Steve Huffaker said he wanted to pursue the application because it was important for the state to keep pressure on the federal government to remove the gray wolf from protected status.
I want to keep the de-listing pressure on them as hot as we can, he said.