Tribe tells a wolf success story
SPALDING, Idaho (AP) – Nez Perce tribal officials say successful restoration the gray wolf in Idaho has preserved a significant part of their heritage.
The Defenders of Wildlife conservation group, meanwhile, filed notice that it could pursue legal steps to keep wolf recovery on track.
The tribe estimates nearly 300 wolves are roaming Idaho in about 20 packs, said Aaron Miles, natural resource director for the tribe.
He spoke to visitors Sunday at the Nez Perce National Historical Park, sharing the tribe’s views on a variety of natural resource issues.
The tribe took on wolf management in 1995 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tried to hand it to Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Miles said.
The Legislature did not go along with the move, and the tribe started managing the 30 or so wolves released in the Idaho backcountry in 1995 and 1996. Miles said wolf foes figured the Nez Perce could not bring the animal back.
‘They felt we didn’t have the capacity to bring them back. They thought we would fail miserably.’
Wolves and all other predators are highly respected in the tribe’s tradition, Miles said.
‘The wolf is regarded as an equal, as a brother,’ he said. ‘They were demonized in the 1900s and eradicated. We sympathize. We know what they’ve gone through.’
The tribe is working with Fish and Game and the Governor’s Office of Species Conservation preparing for the future of the wolves, Miles said.
Dropping the recovered population from the endangered species list will allow Idaho, Wyoming and Montana to manage them, including possible limited hunting.
‘We’re still a little bit leery of how they will manage the wolves,’ Miles said. ‘It’s hard for us to turn something over to them if we feel they’re not going to do it right.’
On Tuesday, Defenders of Wildlife filed a 60-day notice with the Department of the Interior, pointing to several legal deficiencies in the final gray wolf rule from Fish and Wildlife.
A March 18 Fish and Wildlife decision downlisted the wolf from ‘endangered’ to ‘threatened’ throughout the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest.
Defenders said that sharply limits wolf recovery in the West to Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, and precludes wolf recovery in other parts of the West and the Northeast.
‘It saddens us to have to take this step, when we’ve made such a tremendous start toward real, sustainable wolf recovery,’ Defenders President Rodger Schlickeisen said.
‘But by backing away from wolf protection before the job is finished, Interior Secretary Gale Norton is endangering everything her agency has achieved so far. It may be April Fools’ Day, but we’re not going to fall for it.’
Defenders petitioned Fish and Wildlife for a ‘distinct population segment’ for wolf recovery in the Northeast. The group said lumping those wolves with the large population in the Great Lakes area means the East Coast would remain devoid of wolves.