Idaho fails in effort to radio-tag wolves

LEWISTON – An attempt by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to attach radio collars to wolves in the Selway-Bitteroot Wilderness Area in North Idaho has failed.

But officials said they learned the wolves’ habits over the summer, including the rendezvous sites of several packs, and are optimistic of success next year.

“If you can focus efforts where you know wolves are coming to, as opposed to just randomly trapping a wolf, your success rates are radically different,” said Steve Nadeau, large carnivore coordinator for the department.

The department wants to place a radio collar on at least one wolf in each wolf pack in Idaho so the state can have a better understanding of wolf populations and their movements when it takes over management of wolves from the federal government.

Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are seeking to end federal oversight of wolves by taking over management of the animals within their respective borders. Each state would be required to maintain a minimum of 100 wolves including 10 breeding pairs.

Idaho has an estimated 788 wolves, up from 673 last year.

“We are required to have a handle on all of the wolves in the state if we are going to delist them and have harvest,” Nadeau said. “Knowing how many wolves are in the wilderness is part of that picture.”

Department officials said wolves in wilderness areas can act as core populations and be used to replace wolves killed in other parts of the state through hunting.

“At some point, once we begin regulated harvest of wolves, it’s going to be harder to keep radio collars on animals,” Nadeau said. “So we are trying to learn as much as we can now about wolves prior to when wolves have no radio collars.”

Capturing the wolves was difficult because department workers had to hike and ride horses into the wilderness area, where helicopters are not allowed to land.

The department asked the U.S. Forest Service for permission to land helicopters in the wilderness, but the agency said that would require a lengthy and expensive environmental study.

Instead, the two agencies agreed to each pay for the effort to capture wolves with workers who entered the wilderness on foot and horseback.