Source: AHN
Reporter: Kris Alingod
Location: Washington, D.C., United States
Published: February 11, 2011
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http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7023047780?asid=c002be69#ixzz1DnAKG3sbThe U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is one step away from allowing Idaho to kill gray wolves to raise elk populations. The agency is six weeks away from giving a similar authorization to Montana.
The agency has begun taking public comments on a "preferred alternative" that would let Idaho reduce wolves in the Lolo Elk Management Zone down to 20 to 30 from a population of 60 to 80.
Idaho officials have concluded that wolf predation is the leading cause of deaths among female elk and calves in some management zones, and one of the major causes of the current elk population decline in the Lolo zone.
The state, which maintains a robust outfitting and guiding industry, is working to increase the elk population in the area from 6,000 to 9,000 cow elk and 1,300 to 1.900 bull elk. There are currently about 1,300 cows and 590 bulls.
State management of wolves in the Lolo zone, if given final approval, would have to include annual monitoring of both wolf and elk populations, and adjusting wolf removal methods depending on the yearly findings.
"The state has implemented other conservation measures, including more liberal hunting seasons and bag limits for black bears and mountain lions, habitat improvement through prescribed burning and modifications to elk hunting
frameworks that have reduced harvest, in an effort to address other factors that might influence growth rates of the Lolo Zone elk population," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife said in its environmental assessment.
Wolves in Idaho were put under the protection of the Endangered Species Act in 1974 after the animals all but disappeared in the lower 48 states.
As part of its recovery plan, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife re-introduced wolves in central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995. The agency considers the re-introduced animals " non-essential experimental" and says recovery levels were reached by 2002.
However, wolves were returned to the endangered species list last year, after a court ruling that said the agency had illegally delisted the animals in Idaho and Montana but not in Wyoming.
The issues of wolf predation and conservation have long been a source of acrimony and legal wrangling in Idaho and the two other states. A non-profit group working to protect wolves, Defenders of Wildlife, began compensating ranchers in the region for confirmed wolf attacks to livestock in 1986, a year after the first litter of wolves were born in the Northern Rockies in half a century.
There are currently about 1,700 wolves in the region, including the world's last 42 remaining Mexican wolves, called lobos.
Last spring, Idaho filed an appeal to overturn the court decision to re-list wolves as endangered.
In Montana, U.S. Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester have taken the lead by introduced legislation in Washington to remove gray wolves in the Northern Rockies from the protection of the Endangered Species Act, thereby returning the animals to the management of states.
"The debate has gone on long enough. It's time to come together to find a solution, and give ranchers and hunters the lasting certainty they deserve once and for all," Baucus said in a statement.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife said on Thursday it will begin taking public comments about its assessment of Montana's request to control wolf populations within six weeks.
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Topic: Idaho wolf hunts -receive intial federal approval (Read 1963 times)
