JFAC backs another $400,000 for wolf-control board next year

The Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted 17-2 this morning to spend another $400,000 in state general funds next year to kill wolves through the year-old Wolf Depredation Control Board under the governor’s office; the vote came a day after Idaho Fish & Game announced that another 19 wolves were killed in the Lolo zone in February as part of the program. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service personnel conducted aerial operations in the rugged zone to shoot the wolves, as part of an effort to ease pressure on elk herds in the area.

Just two JFAC members voted against the appropriation today, Reps. Phylis King and John Gannon, both Boise Democrats. King called it “a colossal waste of money,” and said, “I’d much rather spend my money on schools, guardian ad litem, any other program. … I think this is a real waste of money. I’d rather see non-lethal methods encouraged instead of wholesale slaughter.” Gannon questioned whether lawmakers were giving the program more than it could spend.

The new Wolf Depredation Control Board was responsible for killing another 31 wolves between July 1 and Jan. 1, at a cost of $140,000; all of those wolves were attacking livestock. Last month, after hearing the figures, JFAC members noted that was roughly $4,600 per wolf. Cost estimates aren’t in yet on the latest operation in the Lolo zone.

Sens. Roy Lacey, D-Pocatello, and Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, proposed an alternative budget to allocate another $270,000 in state general funds to the program next year, noting that the board is building up a fund balance and doesn’t expect to spend all the money it was allocated this year, which included $400,000 in state general funds plus donations from Fish & Game and the livestock industry. Lacey said that proposal would still bring the fund back up to $400,000 when the new fiscal year starts on July 1, rather than having it balloon to much more than that. “That then frees $130,000 in one-time money that can be used in other parts of our budget,” he argued.

The Lacey-Nuxoll motion failed on a 6-13 vote, drawing support from Sens. Dan Johnson, R-Lewiston; Dan Schmidt, D-Moscow; Jason Monks, R-Meridian; and Gannon, along with Lacey and Nuxoll. Sen. Steve Bair, R-Blackfoot, who proposed the full $400,000 expenditure, said, “The state of Idaho when this was put into statute made a commitment that we would spend a large amount of money over a number of years, and that commitment comes out to about $400,000 a year. … The $400,000 does represent the governor’s recommendation.” He added, “This is simply to remove wolves that have already proven themselves to be detrimental.”

JFAC set the wolf board budget today in addition to budgets for the state Department of Agriculture, which saw a 3.3 percent increase in state funding for next year; the DEQ, which is getting a 5.2 percent hike, in part because of the ramping up of a multi-year effort to have the state take primacy over water pollution discharge elimination system permits from the EPA; and the state Tax Commission, which saw a 3.9 percent increase.