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BY ROCKY BARKER
rbarker@idahostatesman.com
At least 1,500 wolves live in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and parts of Utah, Oregon and Washington, federal biologists say, and the once-decimated population has recovered and is growing quickly every year.
But some conservation biologists, geneticists and environmental groups say 2,000 to 5,000 wolves are needed in the region for a viable population.
They argue that there isn't enough connectivity between the wolves of the Northern Rockies and the wolves in Canada. Plus, the wolves in Yellowstone National Park, some geneticists say, are not mixing with wolves in Idaho, Montana and the rest of Wyoming.
The major thrust of a lawsuit against the federal decision to drop endangered species protection from Northern Rockies wolves is to make sure wolf numbers are high enough to ensure the population will survive over time. But environmental groups are split about delisting and about how many wolves are needed.
The Idaho Conservation League and the Greater Yellowstone Coalition are two groups that support delisting. The National Wildlife Federation, though, can't support delisting with Wyoming's open-ended kill zone, said Hank Fischer, of the NWF in Missoula.
Fischer, the former Northern Rockies director of the Defenders of Wildlife, was the father of the successful Defender program that paid ranchers private money for their losses to wolves. And he was the point man for the wildlife advocacy group as it prodded political leaders to accept the reintroduction plan prior to 1995 when wolves were reintroduced.
He doesn't agree with the move to raise the recovery goals previously set with the approval of environmental groups then.
"It's not like we pulled these numbers out of thin air," Fischer said. "We got them from the wolf experts of the time. We exceeded those numbers by a great deal."
Suzanne Asha Stone, who holds Fischer's old job at Defenders of Wildlife, said Defenders' scientists have long questioned that the recovery goal of 300 wolves in the region was enough.
As genetic science has improved, the evidence more wolves are needed has grown, she said.
"It isn't about changing the bar," Stone said. "It's about having a viable population of wolves in the region."
Seven environmental groups say the federal government should not have removed endangered species protection from wolves in the Northern Rockies.
The groups are: Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Humane Society, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance and Help Our Wolves Live.
Seven wolf advocacy groups are unlikely to stand in the way this week as Idaho and five other states take over the management of Northern Rockies wolves.
The predators are being removed from the endangered species list and control over the animals will transfer Friday from the federal government to the states - a move that should make it easier for ranchers, outfitters and game managers to kill problem wolves.
An attorney for the environmental groups says the advocates don't plan to ask a federal court this week to stop the transfer.
Federal managers predict little change in how the animals are managed in most places, but in much of Wyoming, wolves will become fair game to whoever wants to kill them.
Seven environmental and animal-rights groups have filed a notice of their intent to sue over the decision, but they are limited by the Endangered Species Act from filing until 60 days after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made its official decision on delisting, which was Feb. 28.
The groups do not plan to file until the deadline, April 28, unless one or more of the states allows a significant numbers of wolves to be killed, said Jenny Harbine, an attorney with Earthjustice, a lawyers group that filed on behalf of the environmental groups.
"Our intent is to stop the wolf killing in court of we can," Harbine said. "If a large number of wolves are getting killed, we'll act."
Idaho's limited wolf-hunting season won't begin until fall. And the states are regulating how many wolves can be killed in Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, northern Utah and parts of Wyoming around Yellowstone.
But in most of Wyoming, wolves would be designated as a predator and open to killing by anyone at any time, said Ed Bangs, Wolf Recovery Coordinator U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena, Mont.
"We don't have many wolves out there anyway," Bangs said.
The environmental and animal-rights groups, which include Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, said in a court notice that the delisting is premature because Wyoming and Idaho's laws for protecting wolves are inadequate.
Idaho's Department of Fish and Game approved a policy earlier this month to manage wolves with the goal of keeping them at 2005-07 levels - between 518 to 732 animals.
Harbine acknowledged that Idaho has backed off its earlier anti-wolf rhetoric - Gov. Butch Otter said he wanted to be among the first to shoot one legally, for example - but she pointed out the state has not yet changed its laws that could allow it to kill wolves down to 150 animals.
Wyoming is worse, she said.
"In the face of contradictory wildlife management principles, science and law, Wyoming is thumbing their nose at everyone," she said.
But Bangs said he's confident the states, including Wyoming, won't condone a major wolf killing campaign.
"The worst thing that could happen is a bunch of knuckleheads would go out and kill some wolves and post it on the Internet," Bangs said.
Recently a new pack of wolves has been seen, but not confirmed, in Utah near Flaming Gorge on the Wyoming border. The pack would be protected while it wanders in Utah or Colorado. But in Wyoming, its members would be fair game.
"It illustrates the piecemeal approach to wolf recovery the Fish and Wildlife Service is taking in this country," Harbine said.
Rocky Barker: 377-6484
