East Fork wolf problems return
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
The East Fork of the Salmon River appears to be a mighty
attractive wolf habitat.
A year after the White Cloud wolf pack was disbanded in
the East Fork, another wolf pack has taken its place—at least for the
time being.
It also appears the close quarters wolves must keep with
ranchers in the valley may prove too tempting for any wolves that wonder
into the East Fork’s scenic sagebrush steppe environs.
A gray wolf from the White Hawk Pack was shot and killed
by a livestock producer on March 19 in the East Fork. The radio-collared
wolf was in the act of killing a calf on the rancher’s private property,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement officials said.
The White Hawk Pack is one of Idaho’s newest wolf packs.
It formed last year when dispersing members of the Salmon area’s Moyer
Pack joined with several other wolves near Grandjean along the South Fork
of the Payette River.
Last fall, however, the White Hawk Pack began making
forays into the East Fork of the Salmon River area, Nez Perce Tribe wolf
recovery leader Curt Mack said.
Though disbanded, members of the Stanley Pack are still
roaming the area, and Mack believes the White Hawk Pack and members of the
former Stanley Pack may soon duke it out over territory.
"To have two packs overlap each other in their
territorial movements is very interesting and very unusual," Mack
said. "They’re basically vying for the same territory."
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wolf recovery coordinator
Carter Niemeyer said the East Fork is probably "forever going to be a
wolf corridor," though wolves are probably "never really going
to fit in well" there.
"I don’t think livestock is the attractant at
all," he said. "I think it’s more the terrain, the lay of the
land. There’s certainly something there, but it’s hard to
quantify."
Fish and Wildlife law enforcement officer Paul Weyland
said that though several other wolves were involved in last week’s
depredation, the livestock producer chose to shoot only one of the
animals.
Niemeyer also noted the experimental rule under which
wolves were reintroduced to Idaho allows for livestock producers to injure
or kill a wolf on private land if the animal is in the act of killing,
wounding or biting livestock.
"Evidence revealed that this was a classic wolf
depredation incident and that the property owner had every legal right to
act as he did," Niemeyer said.
Hack said he hopes to find better solutions in areas of
probable conflict like the East Fork. Because wolves will probably
continue to return, and because ranchers there aren’t going anywhere,
innovative solutions must be sought.
The control program is really "reactive," he
said. "It’s not very proactive in the sense of keeping depredations
from happening in the first place, which is where we want to go.
"Eliminating a pack just assures you that you will
have new wolves in that area. We (the Nez Perce Tribe) feel, for the
long-term, it’s better to come up with solutions where you maintain a
consistent pack in an area, because it would make working with and
managing those wolves a lot easier."