‘It is time for delisting’ wolves, Nez Perce Tribe leader says

LEWISTON – Officials with the Nez Perce Tribe say they support the federal government’s plans to remove wolves from the list of protected animals and attribute much of the success of wolves in the state to the tribe’s wolf management efforts.

“Wolves are such a highly regarded species historically to our people,” Rebecca Miles, chairwoman of the Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee, told the Lewiston Tribune. “It’s a huge accomplishment by all the parties. We know it is time for delisting. In spite of any debate elsewhere, the tribe is very supportive of that effort.”

The Interior Department on Monday said it would like to remove about 1,200 wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming from the endangered and threatened list within a year, making state and tribal governments responsible for keeping their numbers at healthy levels.

“The Nez Perce Tribe has been leading wolf management efforts from about the first time we put wolves back into north-central Idaho, and they have been doing an outstanding job,” said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Billings.

Before wolves were reintroduced to Idaho in the mid-1990s, Idaho lawmakers passed a law forbidding the state Department of Fish and Game from taking part in management of wolves in an effort to prevent wolves from entering the state.

But the Nez Perce Tribe volunteered to help with on-the-ground management and took a leading role in dealing with conflicts between wolves and humans.

“It is the only place we know of in the nation where a tribe has led the effort for recovery of a listed species on a statewide basis,” said Keith Lawrence, director of the tribe’s wildlife program.

Wildlife biologist Curt Mack began as a one-man field crew, but was joined by both tribal and nontribal members to help deal with and reduce conflicts between humans and wolves.

“We kind of knew the social end of it was going to be the largest primary challenge,” Mack said. “That is why we really started this thing from a grass-roots kind of deal and really prioritized one-on-one working relationships with those individuals being affected by wolves.”

After Idaho signed an agreement with the federal government in 2005 to manage wolves, the tribe’s role was reduced. However, the tribe still monitors and helps manage wolves in the McCall area and Clearwater region of North Idaho, which accounts for about half of the wolves in the state.

“The whole goal of the Endangered Species Act was to get to this point,” said Miles. “We are really focused on that, and the long-term management – that will need to be carefully discussed in the future.”