Action Alerts

Northern Rocky Mountain wolf update:

Submitted by foc on Thu, 09/17/2009 - 12:07pm

Quick link to Idaho wolf hunt summary: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/hunt/wolf/quota.cfm

Northern Rockies wolves were delisted by the Obama Administration in May. In August a coalition of environmental groups including Friends of the Clearwater requested the fall hunts be blocked until wolf numbers are stronger, the states develop an adequate legal safety net, and connectivity between recovery areas is assured.

On September 9, U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy found there would be no irreparable harm if the hunt goes forward, though he warned that a coalition of conservation groups represented by Earthjustice have a good chance of prevailing later on their argument that it was wrong to remove endangered species protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana, but not in Wyoming.

Idaho's hunting season on wolves began September 1 in two units, including the Clearwater's Lolo Zone. The rest of the state opened to hunting by the end of the month. Montana's hunting season began September 15.

In mid-November daho Fish & Game extended the wolf hunt in the Panhandle, Palouse-Hells Canyon, Selway, Middle Fork, Salmon, Southern, and South Idaho zones to March 31, well into the denning season. These zones were set to close December 31.

Wolf seasons already have closed in the Dworshak-Elk City wolf zone in north Idaho, the McCall-Weiser zone in west central Idaho, and the Upper Snake zone in eastern Idaho because the each zone reached its harvest limit.

Three other zones are nearing their harvest limits. The Palouse-Hells Canyon zone is two short of its limit of five wolves; the Southern Mountains has three of 10-wolf limit remaining; and the Middle Fork zone has four of its 17-wolf limit remaining.

This page serves as Friends of the Clearwater's Wolf Update Page. Look here timely updates about the ongoing struggle to fully restore a native predator to his rightful ecosystem. You will find news stories, FOC news releases and more information below. Please note that several news stories show pictures of dead wolves. Providing news stories to our membership in no way endorses the story, the author, or the publisher of the source.

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Wolf Updates

Basin Butte pack exterminated from helicopter

http://newsblaze.com/story/20091210082547zzzz.nb/topstory.html

Idaho extends length of wolf hunting season

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/outposts/2009/11/idaho-wolf-hunting.html

Twenty-nine wolves legally killed in Idaho thus far, including one of the Phantoms

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005128163

Wolf Supporters to Hold Vigil

Idaho Mountain Express, September, 15, 2009

http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005127888

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Wolves Aren’t Making It Easy for Idaho Hunters
September 10, 2009

By WILLIAM YARDLEY

BOISE NATIONAL FOREST, Idaho — Hunting and killing are not the same thing. Even as Idaho has sold more than 14,000 wolf-hunting permits, the first 10 days of the first legal wolf hunt here in decades have yielded only three reported legal kills.

Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/us/11wolves.html?

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Judge Clears way for wolf hunt in Idaho and Montana

September 9, Los Angeles Times: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/09/judge-clears-way-for-...

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Friends of the Clearwater Injunction Request News Release

August 20, 2009

Earthjustice • Friends of the Clearwater • Defenders of Wildlife • Natural Resources Defense Council • Sierra Club•Center for Biological Diversity •The Humane Society of the United States• Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance •Alliance for the Wild Rockies• Oregon Wild• Cascadia Wildlands • Western Watersheds Project•Wildlands Network• Hells Canyon Preservation Council

CONTACT: Jenny Harbine, Earthjustice, (406) 586-9699
Will Boyd, Gary Macfarlane, Friends of the Clearwater, (208) 882-9755

Conservation Groups Challenge Wolf Hunting

Missoula, MT— Conservation groups today asked a federal district court to block fall wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana. The request came in an ongoing lawsuit seeking to restore federal Endangered Species Act protections to wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains until wolf numbers are stronger, the states develop an adequate legal safety net, and connectivity between recovery areas is assured.

Idaho has authorized the intentional killing of 255 wolves in a wolf hunt, scheduled to begin September 1. The authorized wolf killing via hunting in Idaho represents 30 percent of the last reported Idaho wolf population estimate, which was 846 wolves at the end of December 2008. Montana has authorized the intentional killing of 75 wolves in a wolf hunt, scheduled to begin September 15. Montana has authorized the killing of 15 percent of its last official wolf population estimate, which was 497 wolves at the end of December 2008. There were only 39 breeding pairs in Idaho last year, and just 34 in Montana.

The wolf hunting is in addition to wolf killing due to livestock conflicts, defense-of-property wolf killing, and natural mortality. The hunting would occur throughout the states, including in core wilderness regions where wolves have virtually no conflicts with human activities. Idaho and Montana currently have no cap on wolf killing. For example, under Idaho law, there is no limit on wolf killing in defense of livestock. The combined loss of all these wolves threatens the recovery of the still-vulnerable regional wolf population in the northern Rockies.

Under the challenged U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf delisting rule, Idaho and Montana are free to reduce the wolf population down to 150 per state – a potential loss of roughly two-thirds of the region’s wolves. The scheduled wolf hunts would cripple the regional wolf population by isolating wolves into disconnected subgroups incapable of genetic or ecological sustainability. The wolf hunts would also allow the killing of the breeding “alpha” male and female wolves, thereby disrupting the social group, leaving pups more vulnerable.

No other endangered species has ever been delisted at such a low population level and then immediately hunted to even lower unsustainable levels.

The decision to hunt wolves comes as Yellowstone National Park wolves declined by 27 percent last year – one of the largest declines reported since wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995. The northern Rockies wolf population also has not achieved a level of connectivity between the greater Yellowstone, central Idaho, and northwest Montana areas that is essential to wolves’ long-term survival.

Wolves are still under federal protection in Wyoming because a federal court previously ruled that Wyoming’s hostile wolf management scheme leaves wolves in “serious jeopardy.” The Fish and Wildlife Service in the recent past held that a state-by-state approach to delisting wolves was not permitted under the Endangered Species Act, but the federal government flip flopped on its earlier position and this year took wolves in Idaho and Montana off the endangered species list while leaving those in Wyoming on the list.
In addition to Wyoming, the states of Idaho and Montana have refused to make enforceable commitments to maintain viable wolf populations within their borders.

Earthjustice represents Friends of the Clearwater, Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, The Humane Society of the United States, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, , Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Western Watersheds Project, Wildlands Network, and Hells Canyon Preservation Council.
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"The state of Idaho's eagerness to substantially reduce the wolf population in the backcountry bleeds through in its 2009 hunting regulations. The infamous Lolo Unit wolf killing proposal again rears its ugly head in these regulations as a seven month (Sept. 1- Mar 31) long season, allowing hunting pressure when the gray wolf is most sensitive." Will Boyd, Education Director, Friends of the Clearwater


“Wolf hunting is premature,” said Doug Honnold of Earthjustice, who represents the conservation groups in the wolf delisting lawsuit. “The states haven’t demonstrated that they are ready to achieve and maintain legitimate wolf recovery. We will work to stop this indiscriminate wolf killing.”

Clearwater Wolves Targeted for First ESA 10(j) Rule Killings

Submitted by foc on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 3:43pm
2009-02-15
Northern Rockies Grey Wolf


In January 2008, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) adopted the revised regulations of section 10(j) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This new rule substantially supports justifications for killing reintroduced, endangered gray wolves to nominally protect herds of elk, deer, and other wild ungulates in the Northern Rockies.

Prior section 10(j) regulations, adopted in 2005, allowed states and tribes to kill wolves if they caused "unacceptable impacts" on an ungulate herd or population. The involved agencies were required to document both a decline in ungulate numbers and wolf predation as the primary source of this loss. The revised ESA section 10(j) regulations, however, eliminate these requirements and instead hold as their major criteria only the failure of a wild ungulate population to meet management objectives and wolves as one of the major causes. The new rule greatly expands the definition of unacceptable impacts to include wolf effects on ungulate behavior, movements, nutrition, cow-calf ratios, and other characteristics beyond population size. State or tribal managers are authorized to kill wolves to accommodate "appropriate" ungulate management goals, even those developed to reduce or eliminate predators in areas with plentiful game animals. Moreover, the modified 10(j) regulations allow not just landowners and federally permitted agents but also any citizen to kill wolves caught attacking their livestock or domestic animals.

All of these provisions were devised in tandem with the first USFWS wolf delisting rule, as stop-gap measures that promote the most effective form of wolf depletion – state agent killing – in case delisting of Northern Rockies wolves does not proceed. Implementation of state wildlife department proposals to reduce wolf numbers under the previous 10(j) regulations was thwarted by several factors. First, despite the presence of a recovering wolf population, most elk populations in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming have not only increased to all-time highs but have exceeded current statewide objectives. Second, wolves are neither the sole predator nor the primary cause of any ungulate population decreases or negative trends in the Northern Rockies, as other factors, such as extreme weather, habitat quality and quantity, and hunter depletion, may also contribute to declines. The Fish and Wildlife Service asserts that the new 10(j) rule is necessary because the prior regulations required "unattainable" thresholds for wolf impacts before state agents could justify wolf killing. Even though a federal court found USFWS wolf recovery goals insufficient to foster genetic interchange and its subsequent delisting plan arbitrary, the agency nonetheless avers that wolf mortality encouraged by the revised 10(j) regulations will not impede recovery if each state maintains 20 breeding pairs and 200 wolves of the approximately 1,500 wolves presently in the region.

Because USFWS must approve state and tribal determinations of unacceptable wolf impacts under the new 10(j) rule, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) has asked its permission to kill wolves in the Lolo management zone of the upper Clearwater River basin, to supposedly protect elk and deer herds. According to Fred Trevey, an Idaho Fish and Game commissioner in Lewiston, the request initiates a contingency plan formulated to advance state wolf reductions if the Northern Rockies population retained federal protections under the current regulatory review process and future decisions of the Obama administration. On November 6, 2008, mere days after the national election selected a more environmentally responsible administration, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission issued six Wolf Management Directives, one of which authorizes IDFG:

"To develop and aggressively utilize all tools and methods available under the new 10(j) Rule to control wolves in critical areas that are impacting ungulates, starting with the Lolo zone and progressing to other critical areas, in the event delisting does not occur."

Idaho Fish and Game Director Cal Groen believes that his agency can provide the scientific proof that wolves are significantly impacting elk in the Clearwater basin. If IDFG can also demonstrate how these elk are not meeting population objectives set by wildlife managers, USFWS could grant the state authority to kill all but the 200 wolves required throughout the state by the federal wolf recovery plan. Elected Idaho officials support these malevolent wolf-control plans and continue to push for ultimate, if not immediate, removal of Idaho wolves from the federal endangered species list. Representative Walt Minnick, Senator Jim Risch, and Governor Butch Otter are working to convince Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the Obama administration that Idaho is prepared to manage wolves and that delisting should proceed. Otter has pledged to enlist the support of other Western states and produce a letter from their governors to the new administration explaining the wolf situation and urging delisting. IDFG is also encouraging Salazar to move forward with delisting on the premises that minimum wolf recovery has occurred and that approved state wolf management plans are sufficient to sustain wolves.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has not yet formally and publicly documented its specific plans to deplete the Clearwater population of wolves. On December 18, 2008, Friends of the Clearwater (FOC) wrote to Steve Nadeau, the IDFG Large Carnivore Program Manager in Boise, requesting information related to wolf predation of elk in the Lolo zone. In accordance with the Idaho Public Records Act, we asked for various data from the Lolo and Selway management zones pertaining to cow elk losses, elk mortality last winter, and the range condition, trend, and carrying capacity of elk habitat. FOC also inquired about the methods that IDFG employs to determine its elk population objectives, the causes and predator species sources of elk death, and wolf population numbers and density. We additionally requested records of communication between IDFG and the Forest Service associated with witnessed helicopter landings in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to presumably facilitate wolf census data collection. In response, on January 8, 2009, FOC received an IDFG letter that explained the calculation method used to estimate wolf densities and referred us to online documents, including their Wolf Management Directives as well as their Wolf Conservation and Management in Idaho Progress Report 2007, available at their website: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/manage.

On February 2, 2009, Friends of the Clearwater, along with other conservation groups represented by Earthjustice, reopened and requested a summary judgment of a lawsuit contesting the revised 10(j) rule. This case was suspended last summer after the same federal district court in Missoula ordered a preliminary injunction of the first wolf delisting plan. The plaintiffs hope to resolve the legality of this latest threat to wolves, especially with the possibility of dozens, if not hundreds, of IDFG-imposed wolf deaths looming over the Clearwater basin. We will continue to closely monitor IDFG’s plans and future USFWS delisting attempts, so that wolf packs in Clearwater wildlands and throughout the Northern Rockies can thrive and attain realistic recovery. We would also appreciate your efforts to persuade Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to retain endangered species status for regional wolves and to revoke the recent changes to the Endangered Species Act section 10(j) regulations. Please contact him by mail at: Department of the Interior, 1849 C Street NW, Washington DC 20240, or by phone at: 202-208-7351.

 

Poachers kill wolves from Washington’s first pack

Submitted by foc on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 2:41pm
2009-03-27


March 27, 2009

For Immediate Release


For more information contact:

Mitch Friedman, Executive Director, Conservation Northwest: (360) 671-9950 ext. 13; (360) 319-9266 (cell)
Jasmine Minbashian, Special Projects Director, Conservation Northwest: (360) 671-9950 ext. 29; (360) 319-3111 (cell)

Poachers kill wolves from Washington’s first pack
Conservation Northwest calls for immediate arrest and full prosecution

Twisp, WA – A search warrant obtained from the Okanogan County District Court reveals that Bill and Tom White, residents of Twisp, are suspected of illegally trapping and shooting two endangered gray wolves and attempting to send a wolf pelt to Canada. An employee of a FedEx drop off facility in Omak became suspicious after a woman, believed to be Tom White’s wife, dropped off a package that was leaking blood. Authorities found inside the bleeding package what appeared to be an unlawful, unprocessed, and untanned pelt of a young gray wolf - a federally and state-listed endangered species.


DNA testing later confirmed that the wolf was a member of Washington’s newly discovered Lookout Pack, likely one of the pups. A search conducted of the White’s residence also uncovered evidence that they had apparently trapped and killed a wolf using a leg-hold trap over a year ago before the pack was confirmed.


It is a federal crime to kill an endangered animal, carrying a criminal penalty of up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison. The Whites are also suspected of illegally hunting bobcat and cougars with hounds and without permits.
“The evidence against the Whites is strong,” said Mitch Friedman, executive director of Conservation Northwest. “We are calling on the authorities to make an arrest and prosecute this case under the full extent of the law.”


Today’s news comes only six months after the pack was first discovered last summer, when volunteers of the wildlife conservation organization Conservation Northwest captured photographs of the adults along with six small pups. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife later confirmed the animals as pure, wild wolves, tracing their lineage to wolves in coastal British Columbia and central Alberta.


“The return of wolves to Washington has been a very positive and hopeful signal for the future of wildlife in the Cascades,” said Friedman. “The news of this senseless and bloody act of poaching hits us very hard, as I’m sure it has hit the pack itself.”


Studies of wolf behavior have revealed just how much wolf packs can resemble human families. Wolves develop close relationships and strong social bonds within their family groups, and may even sacrifice themselves to protect the family unit. Usually just one pair reproduces, though all members of the family unit help care for offspring.
“Washingtonians overwhelmingly support the return of wolves to the state, even if a few individuals hang on to myths and outdated fears about them,” said Friedman. “We need to give wolves a chance to return to their native habitat.”


A 2008 poll conducted by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shows that 75 percent of Washington residents support wolf recovery. A second poll shows that most hunters in the state support managing a self-sustaining population of wolves, citing among other reasons that all wildlife deserve to flourish.
Wolves can, like other large carnivores such as coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions, add extra challenges for livestock owners, but there are many effective non-lethal ways to greatly reduce the conflicts.


“The killing of this pup is a tragic and unnecessary loss of a magnificent creature,” said Camden Shaw, a local livestock producer who raises sheep near the wolves’ home range. “These wolves have been good neighbors, minding their own business in their rightful home.”


Conservation Northwest will be working with livestock owner in the Methow Valley this year to help implement some of the effective deterrents used to reduce conflict with wolves that are widely used elsewhere in wolf country, including:

properly disposing of sick, dead and dying animals;
livestock guarding dogs; fencing, fladry and night pens;
range riders and herders;
using scare devices;
alternative grazing sites.

The deterrents have been used with success in areas such as Idaho and Montana, with both livestock owners and wildlife managers seeing tangible benefits.
“Learning to live with wolves is part of learning to live in the West,” said Shaw. “We have a responsibility for being good stewards and respecting all wildlife.”


This tragic news of the killing demonstrates need for continued protections and public education.
“Poaching of any wildlife is wrong, and people need to be held responsible for breaking the law,” said Derrick Knowles, who works for Conservation Northwest in Spokane, and is a member of the state’s wolf working group. “Public education is an important part of wolf management, and it’s clear from this blatant act of disrespect for wildlife that there needs to be more of it.”

 


For more information, please visit: <http://www.conservationnw.org/>www.conservationnw.org and <http://www.westernwolves.org/>www.westernwolves.org

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Wolves

in
Northern Rockies Gray Wolf

Northern Rockies Gray Wolf

This magnificent creature has less and less room to live freely. Traditionally endemic to the entire Clearwater region and beyond, its habitat has been divided, cut up with barbed wire and fences, the Elk population reduced and pushed aside in favor of domesticated livestock.

Allowed to teeter on the brink of extinction, once protected, now in danger but not quite endangered. She needs your support and voice to remain free to roam through her wilderness.

Statistically, it may be true that their number is just above the threshold for extinction, but bureaucracy moves slower than a wolf population fluctuates. Placing these animals on the Endangered Species list once again could take longer than their population would decline with a single unforseen critical event. All reasonable estimates for a dynamic situation should have a buffer built-in that can accommodate disease or sudden loss of food supply.

We will forward your concerns to legislators at all levels to keep the wolf population healthy.

 

 

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