They're Ours: Now What?

Wolves are delisted again, and on many people's minds recently following the news that Secretary of Interior Salazar moved to accept the U.S. Fish and Wildlfie Service's wolf delisting rule.

How did we get here?
Wolf recovery started when wolves were listed under the Endangered Species Act in 1974 under the Nixon Administration. Thirty-five years and seven presidents later, wolf populations are recovered and delisted in the Midwest and Northern Rocky Mountain populations. The act is a powerful piece of legislation that requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to recover all species on the list.

Why state management is important
States are uniquely set up to manage wildlife. The North American model of wildlife management has worked well over the past 50-80 years and has recovered dozens of species from near extinction to healthy, huntable populations.

The model identifies wildlife as the property of the states, and allows the states to develop laws and regulations to restrict hunting and fishing, and to charge a fee for the privilege to hunt and fish.

Idaho Fish and Game's mission states: "All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho. It shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions, or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law perdemitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing and trapping."

This law is key to the culture and purpose of Idaho Fish and Game. The professional biologists and managers understand that all species are important. The law also requires Fish and Game to provide the public with continued supplies of wildlife for hunting and fishing.

How will Fish and Game manage wolf populations?
In 2002 the Legislature passed a Wolf Conservation and Management Plan under which wolves in Idaho would not be allowed to drop below the minimum of 10 breeding pairs and 100 wolves, but would also be allowed to persist where they did not cause conflicts.

In 2008, with the help of representatives of interest groups, Fish and Game developed, and the Idaho Fish and Game Commission approved, the Idaho Wolf Population Management Plan. This plan is similar to other Idaho big game species plans. The commission set the statewide population goal to stabilize the population between the 2005 and 2007 population levels, levels at which the population appeared have exceeded recovery goals and seemed to saturate the optimal and available habitat.

Fish and Game divided the state into 12 wolf zones based on livestock conflict levels, elk population health, and similarity in habitat and conditions. These wolf zones will be used to focus wolf management and harvest based on conflict levels, health of the wolf population, and social issues.

Wolf harvest will be delineated as follows:

Mortality limits will be based on statewide population goals and on wolf zone objectives.
Annual mortality limits will be calculated for each zone based on the annual increase due to the birth rate, and the number of reported and estimated unreported wolf mortalities.
Once mortality limits are reached, the hunting season for the zone will be closed. If the mortality limit for the state is reached first, all zones will close.
Season length and methods of take were set at the March commission meeting following public input.
Harvest quota based on remaining mortality limits will be set just prior to the hunting season by Commission directive.
The Fish and Game director has emergency closure authority to shut down the hunting season in any location or statewide should the need exist.

Won't hunting endanger wolves?
Wolves live in packs, are territorial, and have large territories that they actively defend. They are relatively easy to count when compared to solitary predators, such as cougars and bears. Eighty-eight wolf packs were documented in Idaho at the end of 2008, and wolves in 58-or two-thirds-of those packs were radio marked. The estimated population is at least 846 wolves. They can reproduce at remarkable rates of 40 to 50 percent annually, without mortality.

In Idaho over the last several years, despite annual mortality of 20 to 30 percent, the population continues to grow at a rate of 15 percent annually. Their growth rate is greater than any other big game animal, and a higher percentage of the population is monitored than any other big game animal. Hunting wolves is sustainable in Idaho.

Is hunting the only thing Fish and Game will do to manage wolves?
Wolf management is complex enough to warrant the need and use of many tools. Hunting would be the primary tool, preferred by biologists as well as most licensed hunters. But by itself hunting will not eliminate all conflicts.

Fish and Game will continue to use the tools and legal techniques developed during recovery to enhance management and control of conflicts -measures such as wolf hazing and aversive conditioning, increased vigilance of flocks and herds of domestic animals with guarding dogs and herders and hazers, visual and psychological barriers known as fladry, Radio Activated Guard device, or RAG box, and others.

Research continues on technology and methods to improve responses to problems and to increase knowledge of wolves. Fish and Game will continue its intensive research efforts looking at elk, moose, and deer populations across the state to determine the effects of wolf predation under various conditions.