Idaho aims to reduce wolf numbers

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission unanimously approved a controversial plan to dramatically reduce the state’s gray wolf population.

Under the new direction, the state will strive for a wolf population that fluctuates between around 500 animals, seasonal highs of about 650 in early summer after pups are born, and seasonal lows around 350 in late winter following annual mortality largely from hunting and trapping. Wildlife managers say achieving that number will strike a balance between reducing attacks on livestock, maintaining healthy elk herds and supporting a viable self-sustaining wolf population.

At last count, the state had an estimated wolf population of about 1,300. That was recorded last year and represents a decline of about 200 animals following three consecutive years in which the wolves numbered more than 1,500.

The decline may be in response to Idaho’s existing efforts to cull wolf packs. Over the past four or five years, the commission and the state Legislature have combined to expand wolf hunting and trapping opportunities. Hunting is open year-round in most of the state, bag limits have been eliminated, methods of take expanded and the state, through grants, endorses compensation through incentives that reimburse the expenses of hunters and trappers in targeted areas.

The plan was widely panned during a comment period last spring with 75% of the more than 2,500 people and organizations who submitted opinions saying they were against it. By contrast 18% fully approved the plan and another 6% said they approved of it with reservations.

About 62% of the comments came from nonresidents and of those about 90 percent did not support it. Idahoans were more closely divided with 459 of the resident commenters either fully supporting the plan or supporting it with reservations, compared to 510 who did not support it.

Commissioner Don Ebert, of Weippe, said he listened to the people against the plan but ultimately decided wolves need to be managed in concert with deer, elk and other wildlife.

“We preserve, protect and perpetuate species as a whole, and all species in tandem, so the question in my mind becomes about balance, and I believe things are out of balance with the wolf population,” he said at the meeting in Jerome on Friday.

Suzanne Asha Stone, director of International Wildlife Coexistence Network, said Monday that Ebert and the rest of the commission dismissed the concerns of Idahoans and said Idaho is the worst place in the world to be a wolf.

“The plan was simply unchanged from the proposed plan despite more than half the residents from Idaho who said they opposed the plan,” she said. “There were no changes made based on the feedback they got from the public.”

Ebert was elected chairperson of the commission later in the meeting. He has served on the commission for three years.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.