Wildlife manager tackles wolf issue
Fish and Game plan would transport problem animals
By John O’Connell – Journal Writer
IDAHO FALLS – Idaho Fish and Game Director Steve Huffaker said Thursday at
the Idaho Fish and Game Commission’s quarterly meeting he expects
paperwork to be completed by this winter enabling his department to
transport problem wolves.
Currently, only the Idaho Fish and Wildlife Service is allowed to remove
wolves when they kill livestock or when their concentrations are too high
for a particular area.
Huffaker said wolves have reached population goals and could be delisted
by December of 2004.
“They have biologically surpassed the level at which they’re endangered,”
Huffaker said. “It’s appropriate that they be delisted and return to state
management.”
Idaho has already drafted a wolf management plan in preparation for the
animal’s delisting. The plan allows hunting after the species is shown to
be stable after a certain number of years under state management, Huffaker
said.
Huffaker said he recently met with Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who has
worked to get federal protection removed for wolves.
“I think we’re making really good progress on wolf delisting,” Huffaker
said.
The commission approved a plan Friday to impose catch-and-release
regulations on native cutthroat throughout the South Fork of the Snake
River and to open a stretch from Heise to the Palisades Dam to year-round
fishing.
The regulation changes, which go into effect Jan. 1, also remove the
six-fish catch limit on rainbow trout in an effort to restore dwindling
cutthroat numbers in the South Fork.
The stretch from Heise to the dam will close Nov. 30 and reopen when the
new rules take effect.
Huffaker said Thursday his department sold 450 fewer out-of-state elk and
deer hunting tags than last year, creating a $350,000 budget shortfall.
He said his department has adjusted spending to compensate. The Idaho
Department of Fish and Game caps out-of-state deer tag sales at 12,000 and
has sold 4,000.
Huffaker said several elk tags are still available to nonresidents, and
the department is now selling hunters second tags.
“Normally we’ll sell out of elk tags by now,” Huffaker said.
Within the state, the department estimates 83,000 residents will hunt elk
this year, which is down slightly from recent years.
Region 5 Commissioner Marcus Gibbs said southeast Idaho archery hunters
were successful this year.
“The archery hunt people saw lots of elk and had a good time,” Gibbs said.
“Deer look to be in better shape than we thought they might be for as hot
and dry as it’s been.”
Gibbs said nonresident hunting tags might be down because of the high
number of smaller, two-point deer in the population.