State preparing for wolf oversight

LEWISTON – In just a few weeks, Idaho will officially take over most wolf management duties from the federal government.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne and U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton are scheduled to sign the wolf management agreement Jan. 5 in Boise, the culmination of a federal rule approved nearly a year ago that makes it possible for Idaho and Montana to take more control over managing gray wolves for the first time since they were reintroduced in both states in the mid-1990s. The wolves are considered a threatened species, protected by the federal Endangered Species Act.

Once the agreement is signed, ranchers will be able to obtain permits to kill wolves that are preying on livestock by going to state officials instead of the federal government.

“They will be the designated agent of the service,” Jim Caswell, the director of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation at Boise, told the Lewiston Tribune. “They call the Fish and Game department and Fish and Game will come out and investigate.”

The rules will also allow the states to petition the federal government for permission to kill wolves that are harming big game herds. Still, gaining such permission won’t be easy – first state officials must conduct peer-reviewed studies proving the wolves are the biggest problem that big game animals such as elk face. Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game is already working on one study, which should go out for peer review soon, Caswell said.

The federal government will still investigate and prosecute any wolf-poaching cases, under the rule.

Since the first 35 wolves were released in central Idaho in the mid-‘90s, the population has grown to an estimated 500 wolves within state lines, state fish and game officials estimate. There are believed to be more than 900 wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming combined.

Wolves in the Northern Rockies are considered biologically recovered, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. But they can’t be removed from federal protection until Idaho, Montana and Wyoming each have federally approved wolf management plans.

Though both Idaho and Montana have approved plans, Wyoming does not.

In September, Idaho and Montana sent a letter to Interior Department officials proposing that wolves be delisted in the two states but remain federally protected in Wyoming. The proposal is not getting much attention from federal officials.

“Right now they are going down the road of all three states and they have not given any serious consideration to doing two states,” Caswell said.