Plan to kill wolves sought

BOISE – Hunters, environmental groups, outfitters and ranchers have begun a series of meetings with state wildlife managers to help develop a plan for killing wolves once Idaho takes over management of the animals from the federal government, possibly as early as January.

Wolves were reintroduced to Idaho a decade ago after being hunted to near-extinction. They now number more than 1,200 in the region, including 673 wolves in 72 packs in Idaho alone.

Some hunting groups blame wolves for killing too many elk, making Idaho’s pre-eminent big game species scarcer than in decades past. Sheep ranchers blame packs for slaughtering hundreds of animals a year. Environmental groups, however, say predators are an integral part of the ecosystem and should be shielded from being wiped out again.

“We have a lot of experience doing harvest plans, but we have zero experience doing a wolf harvest plan,” Steve Nadeau, Idaho Fish and Game’s large carnivore biologist, told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday at a meeting of the advisory group.

Gov. Butch Otter in January retreated from earlier comments that he wanted to reduce wolves to just 10 packs, saying a few days later that his administration’s efforts would focus on keep wolves off the federal endangered species list once they’re removed.

Idaho’s management plan calls for a minimum of 15 packs or at least 100 wolves in the state.

For sheep grower Harry Soulen, one of the advisory group members, that’s too many.

“Zero is really good with me,” said Soulen, a third-generation rancher from Weiser, while conceding that’s unrealistic. “That’s not going to happen.”

Suzanne Stone, of Defenders of Wildlife, the environmental group that’s paid $700,000 since 1987 to ranchers hit by wolf predation, would prefer delaying hunting for another five years.

“We definitely want to see an abundant wolf population,” Stone said.

Nadeau has pledged to manage wolves in Idaho much the same as the state has managed cougars and black bear. Hunters bag dozens of the animals annually, to help keep their numbers in check.

With wolves, that could be difficult because their high-profile reintroduction in 1995 to the northern Rocky Mountains and successful recovery has attracted interest far beyond Idaho’s borders. Last year, a proposal to kill 75 percent of a wolf pack in northcentral Idaho to help boost elk numbers attracted tens of thousands of e-mails.

“We’ve got to walk the tightrope socially and politically,” hunting outfitter Scott Farr said. He said some outfitters have abandoned their businesses because wolves were competing with their clients for big game.

“It can be argued whether wolf impacts did it, but I definitely think it was the final straw,” he said.

Forty percent of the state’s wolves could be killed annually with very little effect on their long-term population, said Jon Rachael, Fish and Game’s big game manager in southwestern Idaho.

Members of the advisory group, which also includes the Idaho Conservation League and pro-hunting Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, agreed a program that focuses on conflict reduction, not just hunting, will help reduce tangles among rival interests.

For instance, remote areas with little human activity may be ideal to let wolves be. More intensive management could be more appropriate around mountain towns such as Stanley, where ranchers historically run livestock, they said.

“This is a national-scale issue, and harvesting wolves is going to be very controversial,” said Curt Mack, wildlife biologist for the Nez Perce Tribe that helps manage the state’s wolves. “If you as a group put together a top-notch plan, it will go a long ways to gaining national support for harvest.”