BOISE, Idaho ? Idaho wants to kill as many as 51 wolves in north-central Idaho, according to a plan introduced Wednesday in Boise that state Department of Fish and Game managers said is designed to help boost elk herds in the region.
The killings would take place in the rugged, mountainous region on the state's border with Montana, near State Highway 12. There, state biologists estimate there are between 43 and 69 wolves, but too few elk for hunters.
The plan is to initially kill 75 percent of the wolves in the area.
This would be one of the first management actions taken by the state of Idaho since assuming management control of the more than 500 federally protected wolves in the state last Thursday, when U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton handed off responsibility to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.
Since wolves are still under Endangered Species Act protections, the federal government still has final say over whether wolves can be killed to help wildlife such as elk.
State officials plan to hand over their proposal to control wolves to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by late February or early March, following public meetings in Boise and Lewiston. Federal officials say that science, not politics, will be the litmus test in whether it wins their approval.
''If we get a good proposal, our job is easy ? in a good proposal, a person should see why (state Fish and Game officials) reached this conclusion that control actions are needed,'' said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for Fish and Wildlife Service. ''If they try to give us some political garbage that's just a ploy, we're going to give them the thumbs down.''
Bangs said his agency isn't fundamentally opposed to wolf control actions; since 1995, when wolves were introduced to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, Wildlife Service game managers have shot more than 300 wolves that preyed on livestock.
In the Idaho proposal, this would be the first time that wolves would be killed by agents based on concerns over wildlife populations.
I wonder if it will actually go through.
Eric
The killings would take place in the rugged, mountainous region on the state's border with Montana, near State Highway 12. There, state biologists estimate there are between 43 and 69 wolves, but too few elk for hunters.
The plan is to initially kill 75 percent of the wolves in the area.
This would be one of the first management actions taken by the state of Idaho since assuming management control of the more than 500 federally protected wolves in the state last Thursday, when U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton handed off responsibility to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne.
Since wolves are still under Endangered Species Act protections, the federal government still has final say over whether wolves can be killed to help wildlife such as elk.
State officials plan to hand over their proposal to control wolves to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by late February or early March, following public meetings in Boise and Lewiston. Federal officials say that science, not politics, will be the litmus test in whether it wins their approval.
''If we get a good proposal, our job is easy ? in a good proposal, a person should see why (state Fish and Game officials) reached this conclusion that control actions are needed,'' said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for Fish and Wildlife Service. ''If they try to give us some political garbage that's just a ploy, we're going to give them the thumbs down.''
Bangs said his agency isn't fundamentally opposed to wolf control actions; since 1995, when wolves were introduced to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, Wildlife Service game managers have shot more than 300 wolves that preyed on livestock.
In the Idaho proposal, this would be the first time that wolves would be killed by agents based on concerns over wildlife populations.
I wonder if it will actually go through.
Eric
.
