Fish and Game expects healthy wolf-tag sale

BOISE – There’s been some shock and disbelief expressed around the estimate that as many as 70,000 hunters might buy wolf tags for the upcoming, first-ever Idaho wolf hunt.

After all, the Fish and Game Commission set the limit for wolves to be taken statewide at 220, about a quarter of the state’s wolf population, with specific limits within each of 12 zones, including a limit of 30 in the Panhandle.

So why would 70,000 hunters be targeting 220 wolves?

Fish and Game Commissioner Tony McDermott of Sagle, who hazarded the estimate during a press conference shortly after the commission had set the 220 limit, simply figured about half the big-game hunters in Idaho would buy wolf tags, which cost $11.50 for an in-state hunter or $186 for an out-of-state, on top of the cost of a hunting license.

Ed Mitchell, Fish and Game conservation information supervisor, said there are, in fact, roughly 140,000 people out hunting big game in Idaho each year; about 10 percent of them are from out of state. “Hunting is still a very big deal here,” he said.

Though the numbers of hunters have been declining nationwide, they’ve held steady in Idaho, Mitchell said. Nevertheless, that means they’ve dropped as a percentage of the population.

“As the population has grown, our hunter numbers have not climbed very much,” said Mitchell.

Yet hunting remains a staple activity throughout the state, “even on a subsistence basis,” he said. Particularly in rural areas, many people still depend on game as part of their family’s food supply.

McDermott said wolves are elusive enough that many hunters who buy the tags won’t be successful. “We’ll be lucky to probably hit half of the hunter harvest limit that we’ve set,” he said. “Although we’re encouraged that in the open country we’ll be successful, in the forested areas of central Idaho and northern Idaho, it’s going to be much more difficult.”

Whether Idaho’s first wolf hunt will go forward will depend on a federal court hearing in Missoula on Monday. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy will decide whether or not to issue an injunction blocking the planned hunts in both Idaho and Montana.

The Missoulian reported this week that Montana, which has set a limit of 75 wolves statewide for its hunt, had conversations with EarthJustice lawyers, who represent 13 conservation groups that sued over delisting, about designing a Montana hunting season in a way that would be acceptable to the plaintiffs. “But talks broke off when it became apparent that Montana’s season couldn’t be considered independent of Idaho’s plans,” the paper reported.

Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife, one of the 13 groups, noted that Molloy is the same judge who issued an injunction in July 2008 blocking planned wolf hunts last year. This time, Wyoming isn’t part of the equation, but Stone said she views the issues this time as “almost identical.”

“It’s kind of like déjÀ vu all over again,” she said.

BSU offers construction program

A new certificate program in construction management is being offered through Boise State University that will allow construction professionals to complete it by spring, with 96 hours of intensive instruction on one Friday and Saturday each month. It starts Oct. 16 and finishes March 13, 2010.

BSU said it designed the program at the request of the industry, and arranged the schedule so that people from outside the Boise area can easily participate. It also set up the program so that the classes would occur during the winter construction slowdown. For information, call (208) 426-3485.

Watching the stimulus

Idaho’s economic stimulus Web site, accountability.idaho.gov, has received nearly 400,000 hits since it was first set up in April, the state reports, and has recorded 31,934 visitors. The site includes information about how the state is spending its federal economic stimulus money; more detail will be added in October.

“I think it’s very beneficial for people to be able to look and see where their taxpayer money is going,” said Wayne Hammon, Gov. Butch Otter’s budget director. “It’s their money, after all.”

Reach Betsy Russell at betsyr@spokesman.com, (866) 336-2854.