Today, as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Endangered
Species Act, the nation is taking notice of how Idaho is managing
wolves just two years after they were stripped of the protection of the
Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Congress. This weekend anti-wolf
forces are having a highly controversial 2-day wolf and coyote killing
contest where two person teams will receive prizes for the biggest wolf
and most coyotes they kill. At the same time, Idaho Department of Fish
and Game has hired a private trapper to
kill the entire Monumental Creek and Golden Creek packs of wolves deep
inside one of the nation’s largest wilderness areas – the Frank Church
River of No Return Wilderness Area – far away from any livestock simply
because an outfitter whined to an Idaho Department of Fish and Game
commissioner.
The nation is taking notice. This morning the New York Times published a scathing editorial titled “Wolf Haters“, the Idaho Statesman published a Guest Opinion by Rick Johnson of the Idaho Conservation League, and even the BBC reported on the derby.
Idaho’s management of wolves is highly questionable. Since wolves
were stripped of Endangered Species Act protection the population has
declined by over 20%, Idaho Department of Fish and Game has hand
captured and surgically implanted radio transmitters into pups that were
just 9 lbs, they allow hunting year-round in some areas of the state,
they have inflated the number of breeding pairs by changing the
definition of what a breeding pair is, they have shot dozens of wolves
in the Selway/Lochsa from helicopters, and now they are allowing wolf
killing contests and hiring a trapper to kill wolves in the middle of
the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area with the permission
of the US Forest Service who is letting the trapper stay at their Cabin
Creek facility.
The US Forest Service, by the way, should withdraw this
permission since this kind of activity runs contrary to the Wilderness
Act and requires a special use permit. The US Forest Service should
conduct an open and public process before this activity proceeds any
further.
This type of management has fueled the most virulent conflict among
both sides of the debate. The Wildlife News receives virulent comments
that never see the light of day on a regular basis. Things are heating
up and the Idaho political system feeds the virulence or remains silent.
People are even going so far as to poison pups at their den using an
artificial sweetener touted by anti-wolf goons. 4 of them were found
dead this spring.
Clearly Idaho’s predator management violates the North American Model
for Wildlife Conservation. It violates it in many ways that I think
have been spelled out well in this essay published on the For Nature’s Sake blog in October.
Idaho Department of Fish and Game needs to listen to the message that
it received loud and clear at the Wildlife Summit that it organized
last year. But, even before it finished, Director Virgil Moore dashed
any hope that the Department would elevate the thoughts of the
non-hunting and fishing community to the level impact that hunters and
fishermen have.
All Idahoans, and even non-Idahoans, have a stake in how
Idaho’s wolves and wildlife are managed. Our wildlife deserves better
than this politicized and virulent atmosphere that is brewing today. You
need to start listening to all sides not just those who pitch a fit the
loudest. Killing for fun is not sportsmen like. Killing wolves in the
wilderness so that some rich hunter can shoot an elk on a guided trip
violates the meaning of wilderness.
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