Idaho suspends wolf control in River of No Return Wilderness

PREDATORS — Idaho Fish and Game will not conduct wolf control actions this winter in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness, according to a press release Wednesday from Earthjustice.

State wildlife officials have not yet issued a statement.

Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental law organization, released the memo, along with a copy of the letter received from the U.S. Forest Service stating “that no wolf-killing by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game will occur in the federally-protected Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness during the winter of 2015-16.”

The Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness is located in central Idaho and encompasses nearly 2.4 million acres. It is the largest contiguous wilderness area in the lower 48 and second largest National Wilderness Preservation System in the lower 48, according to the U.S. Forest Service website.

Earthjustice brought forward a lawsuit against Idaho Fish and Game on behalf of conservationist Ralph Maughan and conservation groups Defenders of Wildlife, Western Watershed Project, Wilderness Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity to halt the killings.