Appeals court tweaks ruling on Idaho Fish and Game’s wilderness wolf-collaring operation
An appeals court on Monday handed down its decisions pertaining to a 2016 helicopter operation in which the Idaho Department of Fish and Game violated the National Environmental Policy Act by attaching radio collars to four wolves.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals confirmed parts of a 2017 ruling by an Idaho federal judge and overturned other parts, according to court documents.
The appeals case centered on a Jan. 6, 2016, helicopter operation in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness in which Idaho Fish and Game, with U.S. Forest Service permission, attached radio collars to roughly 60 elk. During the operation, employees also captured and collared four wolves without prior authorization.
At the time, Idaho Fish and Game said the wolf collaring was the result of an internal miscommunication.
Several conservation groups sued Idaho Fish and Game and the Forest Service over the operation, saying the agencies violated NEPA by collaring wolves without conducting an environmental analysis into the impacts of its helicopter landings. Motorized equipment is not allowed in wilderness areas, except under certain exceptions.
In January 2017, U.S. District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered the Forest Service and Fish and Game to destroy all data collected from the elk and wolf collars. He also imposed a 90-day delay on “all future helicopter-assisted wildlife operations,” according to the 9th Circuit ruling. The Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game appealed Winmill’s judgment last October.
Appeals court OKs Idaho Fish and Game to use elk, wolf data — with exceptions
In its Monday ruling, the appeals court said Winmill did not have grounds to order then-Idaho Fish and Game Director Virgil Moore to destroy all data collected from the elk and wolf collars. The court overruled Winmill’s order.
Instead, the Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game can keep the data, but the agencies may not use it “to justify, consider, support or approve future permits for helicopter-assisted wildlife operations.”
Additionally, the appeals court said Winmill’s 90-day delay on future helicopter operations was too broad and too lengthy. The court instead ordered a 30-day delay for future Idaho Fish and Game helicopter operations in the Frank Church wilderness.
In a news release, the conservation groups that brought the lawsuit celebrated the court’s ruling. Earthjustice, Wilderness Watch, Friends of the Clearwater and Western Watersheds Project were plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
“Today’s decision upholds key requirements that protect the public’s interest in maintaining the wilderness as a wild area — not a helicopter landing zone,” Earthjustice attorney Tim Preso said.
Read the 9th Circuit Court’s full ruling below:
