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.”

Quid Pro Quo Wilderness Bills

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Updated September 29, 2009

On September 12, 2006, the Western Lands Project, Wilderness Watch, the Western Watersheds Project, and Friends of the Clearwater issued a press release titled "80 conservation groups urge colleagues to halt support for development/privatization bills."

This coalition of grassroots environmental organizations issued an open letter to the larger conservation community to stop current legislation that would harm public lands. "The undersigned conservation groups call on our colleagues to support a moratorium on bills currently pending in Congress that combine wilderness designation with harmful land and water development provisions," the letter said.

"This extraordinary request stems from our alarm regarding several bills detrimental to public lands heading toward fast-track passage in the U.S. Congress. Some support these bills for their wilderness designations, but the bills are laden with environmentally damaging provisions and land privatization schemes that have dire implications for future public-land and wilderness protection. In recent years, there has been a transformation in the approach both Congress and some wilderness advocates have taken to formulating and gaining support for wilderness legislation.

The new approach carries severely adverse consequences for both public lands and wilderness, and we believe the trend must be stopped now. We ask those organizations that have been supporting these bills to recognize the danger the bills pose to public lands and join with us in opposing their passage."

We ask for a moratorium on all wilderness legislation that contains non-wilderness-related provisions and special exceptions for uses inside wilderness."

Read entire letter at: http://www.westernlands.org/html/moratorium_.html

That was three years ago.

Thankfully the Boulder White Clouds (CIEDRA) bill has yet to be passed. The Owyhee Canyonlands bill passed as part of the massive omnibus "wilderness" bill earlier this year. It was improved upon before passage but still include detrimenal wilderness precedents.

Now, however, Senator Tester of Montana has proposed his own "Quid Pro Quo" bill entitled the “Tester Forest Jobs and Recreation Act of 2009.’’ This bill would mandate logging in public wildlands including in core grizzly habitat in the Cabinet Yaak bioregion. Most of the bill was designed in an exclusive behind closed doors process. The Tester bill logs roadless country and removes protection for several wilderness study areas including the Sapphire Mountains and the West Pioneers.

These kinds of bills circumvent environmental laws and public processes that normally guide such decisions and trade land and resources in one place for wilderness protection in another. Many of these "quid pro quo" proposals bypass the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a cornerstone of U.S. environmental law that provides for analysis, transparency, public involvement, and deliberative decision-making.

Get Ahead of the Curve

The complexity of these bill can unfortunately serve as a stumbling block for many of us. Here are a few resources to get up to speed on how "quid pro quo" originated and its major implications.

http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/required-reading/Content?oi...

www.westernlands.org/download/Carving_up_the_Commons.pdf

 

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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Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness

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Introduction

The United States Congress designated the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in 1964 and it now has a total of 1,340,502 acres. Idaho contains approximately 1,089,059 acres. Montana contains approximately 251,443 acres. It is managed by the United States Forest Service.

Selway

Selway Bitterroot Wilderness

Selway-Bitterroot is the third largest Wilderness in the Lower 48, surpassed in size only by California's Death Valley Wilderness and Idaho's Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness (RONR). Less than one-fifth of the area lies in Montana. Only the 600-foot-wide Nez Perce Trail (The Magruder Corridor), an unimproved dirt road, separates the Selway-Bitterroot from the Frank Church-RONR.

The Wilderness straddles both sides of the Bitterroot Range, which stands along the Montana-Idaho border and includes the Wild and Scenic Selway River, all of which flows through Idaho. This vast wildland is one of the roughest mountain areas on earth, a country of high ridges dropping off into steep-walled canyons. The barren peaks don't hint at the dense forests below, where a number of streams and more than 100 lakes offer excellent trout fishing. Hardly any humans visit the huge trailless portions of this Wilderness, which makes it all the more appealing for the large Selway elk herd, plus deer, moose, black bears, and mountain lions.

Many miles of trails provide access to the Montana side of the Selway-Bitterroot, but large sections are unmaintained and rugged. The Divide Trail (Trail 16) follows the Bitterroot Divide for approximately seven miles north of Nez Perce Pass, offering outstanding views across the Montana and Idaho portions of the Wilderness.

 

USFS Map
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