Debate over wolf management heats up
By Eric Barker of the Lewiston Morning Tribune
Hunters and wolf advocates squared off Tuesday at a hearing in Lewiston over a controversial proposal to boost elk herds by killing wolves.
Elk hunters applauded an Idaho Department of Fish and Game plan to kill up to 75 percent of the wolves in the Lolo Hunting Zone. The five-year plan is designed to boost struggling elk herds there.
But wolf advocates ridiculed the department's study supporting the proposal and said poor habitat is to blame for declining elk herds. More than 150 people showed up for the meeting
"Most of us know the habitat in the Clearwater is pretty much shot for elk," said Nick Fiore of the Wolf Education and Research Center in Lewiston.
Will Boyd of the Friends of the Clearwater environmental group also blamed habitat for elk declines. He said elk numbers of the past were abnormally high and due largely to huge wild fires in the first half of the 20th century that created good habitat. That habitat is now changing.
"Elk habitat in the Clearwater is ephemeral," he said.
He called the department's elk population goals unrealistic.
The department produced a study that acknowledges elk have suffered from poor habitat. But the study also says wolves are killing too many cow elk for the herds to rebound.
Department officials would like to kill up to 43 wolves in the Lolo Hunting Zone and keep wolf packs there at 25 percent to 40 percent of current numbers. They say when combined with programs to reduce populations of black bears and mountain lions, efforts to improve habitat and hunting restrictions, temporary wolf control will give elk the boost they need.
The department is working on a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that asks for permission to kill some of the protected predators.
Several hunters supported the proposal and said it is long overdue. Many like Brian Perry of Grangeville said wolves have already changed Idaho's hunting opportunities for the worse.
He called the nonessential, experimental population of wolves "an experiment gone wrong for all of us."
Several speakers told stories of encounters with wolves and said they no longer feel safe in the mountains. They fear wolves may attack them, their children, stock, dogs or families.
Don Graham of Troy told of wolves lurking near him as he dressed out a five-point bull in the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness Area and of the animals harassing his horses.
"I've never been scared of anything out in the mountains," he said. "From now on I'll be looking over my shoulder."
Outfitter Mike Popp said mountain lion and black bear populations are also suffering because of the wolves.
"I have noticed the population of black bears and cougars declining since the emergency of the large pack predators."
Jim Caswell, the director of the Idaho Office of Species Conservation, said Gov. Dirk Kempthorne supports the proposal. He also said wolf numbers could be reduced without harming recovery of wolves.
Joseph Peterson, a hunting outfitter from Lowell, said the department would learn valuable information if the proposal is allowed to be implemented.
"I think population manipulation experiments are good as we go into state management of this animal," he said. "Wolves are no different then elk, deer, bears and mountain lion or anything else. They need to be managed."
The department is accepting public comment on its proposal through Feb. 17. Officials expect to forward a petition to the Fish and Wildlife Service as early as next month.
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