BOISE, Idaho—Idaho wildlife officials say they are prepared to manage gray wolves and open the state’s first hunting season on the predators as early as next fall.
But they are also skeptical they’ll get the chance any time soon considering the threat of potential lawsuits and next week’s shift in presidential power.
The federal Interior Department announced Wednesday that the wolves would be removed from the endangered species list in Idaho and Montana. The decision gives those states the responsibility for managing wolves under plans already approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, starting in mid-February.
Jim Unsworth, deputy director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, said he expects the government’s latest attempt to remove federal protection from the wolves will be stalled by more legal wrangling in the federal courts.
Unsworth, speaking Wednesday to the state Senate Resources and Environment Committee, said the ruling could also be suspended when President-elect Barack Obama takes over later this month.
“We’ve got a new administration and a lot of lawsuits in front of us,” Nate Fisher, administrator for the state Office of Species Conservation, told lawmakers.
The federal government has tried previously to remove wolves in the region from the endangered list and turn management authority over to the states. But the efforts have been overruled by courts.
About 1,500 wolves in the Northern Rockies were taken off the list in February 2008. But a federal judge nullified the move in July, saying state management plans could not guarantee their recovery was sustainable.
The Northern Rockies wolf population includes all of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming, the eastern one-third of Washington and Oregon, and a small part of north-central Utah. The federal decision supports removing wolves in Montana and Idaho, but not Wyoming, from the endangered species list.
Still, Idaho’s wolf management plan is not without critics.
Suzanne Stone, spokeswoman for Defenders of Wildlife, said the state plan doesn’t provide enough guarantees to keep the population stable. State wildlife officials estimate Idaho has about 700 wolves.
“I think if they’re going to push forward the same rule as last time then I see this going back to court,” Stone said.
But Fisher contends Idaho has a robust wolf population, estimated at more than five times the national requirement for taking an animal off the endangered species list, and more than enough protections to keep that population healthy.
“As a state, we believe for the most part wolf recovery is done,” Fisher said.
Unsworth also told lawmakers that the state still intends to manage wolf numbers through hunting.
The rules drafted for a 2008 wolf hunt established a season from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31.
The number of wolves to be killed would depend on the population in each region and the number of wolves killed for interacting with livestock. In 2008, as many as 350 wolves were eligible to be killed.
