Our view: Let the states manage own wolf populations
Published 10:15 am Thursday, February 24, 2022
For all of the gnashing of teeth and worries about the impending decline of Idaho’s wolves, any predictions of their demise are greatly exaggerated.
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Last year, the Idaho Legislature modified the law related to hunting and trapping wolves. Since it’s the state’s job to manage them, such laws were well within the purview of lawmakers.
Wolf advocates said the legislators were threatening the state’s 1,500 wolves and any efforts to reduce that number would mark the beginning of the end for the predators.
In the year since the law was passed, not much has happened. The state’s wildlife managers keep tabs on the wolves that have taken up residence in Idaho. What they found is — drum roll, please — the wolf population is about the same as before.
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The wolf population peaks in the summer, after the pups are born. After that, any deaths are counted. The Idaho population’s annual low point is about 900 in the early spring, before the next batch of pups is born.
State wildlife managers say that if for some reason the population began to decrease too far, they could make mid-course adjustments.
That’s the sort of thing wildlife managers do.
Montana’s Legislature passed similar legislation. For the vast majority of the state the new hunting and trapping rules had little impact on the overall wolf population. However, they found that some wolves from Yellowstone National Park had a tendency to drift outside the park and were killed by hunters and trappers.
When wildlife managers saw this, the hunts in that area were called off. The Yellowstone wolf packs will no doubt rebuild.
There is a concept that continues to be circulated about wolves: They are timid creatures that need the help of man to survive in the wild. Environmental groups use that concept to build a case for protecting wolves, and raising money.
Unfortunately for them, wolves are robust, smart and reproduce rapidly. Idaho started with 35 wolves imported from Canada in the mid-1990s. Now the population peaks at 1,500 each year, even with hunting, trapping and culling wolves that attack livestock.
Similarly, the wolf populations in Washington state and Oregon are healthy, yet the way they are managed has frustrated many ranchers.
Idaho and Montana have shouldered the responsibility of managing wolves in those states. They are held accountable and able to make changes as needed to maintain the health of the wolf populations without sacrificing the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers.
Our hope is that, someday, political leaders in the nation’s capital will allow wildlife managers in the states of Oregon and Washington to do the same.
The last thing any of those states need is for the federal government to take over all management of wolves. Idaho and Montana have demonstrated that it’s not needed, or wanted.