With Wolves On The Way, Idaho Needs A Plan Fish And Game Would Get Hands-On Control Of The Endangered Animals

Idaho lawmakers and game managers are preparing to come to terms with the reality of wolves in Idaho.

With Canadian wolves soon to be running through Idaho’s wilderness, the state is racing to approve a plan that would allow it to take over management from the federal government.

If the Legislature and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approve the Idaho Wolf Recovery and Management Plan, hands-on control of wolves in the state will shift to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began trapping wolves Saturday for reintroduction into central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. A tranquilizer dart through the lungs killed a wolf Sunday, dealing U.S. biologists their first major disappointment.

Seven wolves had been successfully captured by noon Sunday, either by snares on the ground or by helicopter-borne marksmen with 50-caliber rifles shooting 3-inch tranquilizer darts.

In late afternoon a marksman fired a dart that pierced a fleeing wolf’s lung instead of merely sticking in the skin, said wildlife veterinarian Dave Hunter.

Two of the seven captive wolves suffered minor injuries, both caused by the snares that trapped them, said veterinarian Mark Johnson. One wolf was cut around the hind leg, and another suffered scrapes around the waist when the snare tightened around it, he said.

Both of those animals, as well as the other five awaiting transport south, are in good health, Johnson said.

The first wolves could be in Idaho as early as today.

The Fish and Wildlife Service currently manages wolves in Idaho with the full protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. Reintroduced wolves would be considered “experimental, non-essential,” which allows more flexibility in killing, moving or harassing wolves that kill livestock and allows the federal agency to turn over management to the states.

Federal authorities still will have oversight over state management, said Ted Koch, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist in Boise. But monitoring of the wolves would be handled by the state Fish and Game Department and the Nez Perce Indian tribe.

However, current state law limits the Fish and Game Department’s authority to manage wolves. If lawmakers don’t approve the plan their own Wolf Oversight Committee wrote, the federal agency would turn management and the accompanying $100,000 to $150,000 in funding over to the tribe.

“It would be in the interest of the people in Idaho if we had a plan that’s workable,” said Pat Cudmore, an Idaho Fish and Game spokesman. “The wolves will be here. They need to be monitored and managed.”

The state Senate’s and House’s Natural Resources committees will hold a joint session immediately after Gov. Phil Batt’s State of the State address today to consider Idaho’s wolf plan. House Resources and Conservation Chairman Golden Linford, R-Rexburg, said he expects the two committees to approve the plan.

“We have pushed it to where we have some controls,” Linford said. “We want to know where the wolves are, and that’s why we want to have Fish and Game out there monitoring it.”

The state plan would allow ranchers to kill wolves caught in the act of killing livestock on private property and state grazing lands. Other problem wolves would be moved by federal trappers.

After six wolf packs have been established, wolves could be moved if they severely threaten elk, deer, bighorn sheep and moose populations. Wolves that repeatedly attack domestic pets also could be moved and then killed after six packs have been established.

The Fish and Wildlife Service has approved “99 percent” of the state plan, Koch said. The sticking point is language added at the last minute by the oversight committee that would allow ranchers and domestic pet owners to shoot wolves on private property if the animals are caught killing pets and guard dogs.

The additional language is not consistent with the federal rule allowing the reintroduction, Koch said. Fish and Wildlife Service would have to amend the rule, which would delay the entire program.

Linford said he doubts the minor differences will hold up the plan.

“I don’t see them as go, no-go things in view of the fact that if we don’t give oversight to this, they’re going to give oversight to the Nez Perce.”