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F&Amp;G Approves Plan to Kill Wolves in N. Idaho: Killing Up to 43 Wolves in Lolo Zone is Proposed

Posted on: Saturday, 14 January 2006, 15:00 CST

By Roger Phillips, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Jan. 14--The Idaho Fish and Game Commission on Friday unanimously approved the department's plan to kill wolves in the Lolo Elk Zone in northcentral Idaho to bolster struggling elk herds.

The plan will now go out for public comment and could then be forwarded to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for final approval.

F&G will hold public hearings on the wolf proposal in Boise and Lewiston in February and will post it on F&G's Web site for public comment for those who can't make the meetings. Dates for those hearings will be set in the next two weeks.

"If this seems like a quick decision on this, it's not," said commission chairman Cameron Wheeler of Ririe.

He went on to say that F&G and commissioners have spent years looking at wolf and elk data before preparing the proposal.

F&G staff is currently having scientists outside the agency review the proposal, and after gathering public comment, they will present a final proposal to the commission.

Commissioners will not have to vote again before sending a final proposal to the Fish and Wildlife Service, but they can stop it at any time.

The proposal calls for killing up to 75 percent of the wolves in the Lolo Zone to bolster struggling elk herds there.

Up to 43 wolves would be killed there initially, and then the wolf population would be maintained at 15-23 animals for the next five years.

Commissioner Gary Power of Salmon, who has studied wolves in the Salmon area, said the proposal "is focused on one particular area, and I think there's a lot we can learn from it."

Biologists would monitor how elk in the Lolo Zone respond after wolves are killed, and compare it to the adjacent Selway zone, where elk also would be monitored, but no wolves will be killed.

F&G took over day-to-day management of wolves earlier this month, but it does not have full authority over their management.

The agency can kill wolves that attack livestock, and it can issue kill permits to ranchers whose livestock is being attacked, but it cannot kill wolves to benefit other wildlife without federal approval.

Assuming the wolf proposal goes forward, Fish and Wildlife Service will review it and decide whether to approve it based on its scientific merits, not how the public feels about it.

"The key is if it's a good, science-based proposal," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the Fish and Wildlife Service's office in Helena, Mont. "Strong emotion isn't going to affect this, strong information is."

To offer story ideas or comments, contact reporter Roger Phillips at rphillips@idahostatesman.com or 373-6615.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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