Forty years ago, there were no known wolf packs in the northern Rockies because people had driven them to near extinction in the region. Today, 1,500 wolves roam across Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Returning wolves to the wild has been a remarkable wildlife achievement, but this is a story whose next chapters are just now being written. The question is: Will this story have a happy ending?
Wolves have a long history in the West and are part of Idaho's unique heritage. They lived alongside Native Americans here and howled from the forests when Lewis and Clark crossed the Lolo Trail. Throughout the world, humans and wolves have successfully coexisted for thousands of years and we should be able to continue to live with them. Consider how few wolves are here today compared with other wildlife populations. For example, there are 3,000 mountain lions here in Idaho alone, as well as 20,000 black bears and more than 50,000 coyotes. Living with wildlife, including bears, cougar, coyotes and wolves, is part of our Western way of life.
Scientists also underscore the importance of managing for thousands of wolves in the northern Rockies. According to the North American Society for Conservation Biology, one of country's most well respected science organizations, "managing for a population of wolves in the hundreds instead of thousands, as envisioned in the Idaho and Wyoming state plans, may increase the risk of rapid population declines and loss of connectivity between populations." The Society noted that a smaller wolf population would be more vulnerable to disease, genetic bottlenecks and other threats, which would, "threaten the future viability of wolves" in the northern Rockies.
Unfortunately, a few people in Idaho continue to view wolves as pests instead of a resource to be managed like other wildlife species. In January 2007, Gov. Butch Otter announced his intention to reduce the number of wolves in Idaho to just 10 packs and 100 wolves once they are under state management. He said he hoped to personally shoot the first of hundreds of wolves that would have to be killed to reach this arbitrary target.
Some people want fewer wolves because they worry that wolves will harm elk populations, but these fears are proving largely overblown. Hunter harvest rates of elk are higher in Idaho that they were 20 years ago, before wolves were restored. Idaho elk numbers have increased in recent years, "even with the presence of wolves. In fact, more elk and deer are killed by cars and poachers than by wolves. There are more than 300,000 elk and more than one million deer in the region today according to state wildlife agencies."
And wolves are very important to our natural ecosystems. Wildlife biologists tell us that wolves help keep game herds healthy by pursuing the weakest prey, "culling diseases like brucellosis and chronic wasting disease from herds."
As Idaho residents, we have an opportunity to bring together people from all sides to work to ensure our state has a fair and balanced wolf management plan based on sound science rather than politics. Working together, we can ensure that we maintain healthy populations of all our native species, including our wolves.
There are signs of progress. The Idaho Fish and Game just announced that it would strive to manage between 500 and 700 wolves in Idaho, which is closer to the number of wolves needed within the state.
This is an encouraging step in the right direction and brings us closer to a happy ending in which wolves are simply part of the Idaho landscape, one of the many species of native wildlife that make living in Idaho special.
Suzanne Asha Stone of Boise is the wolf conservation specialist for Defenders of Wildlife.
