Wolves may be delisted and opened to hunting; a new plan to manage Idaho's roadless areas shocked environmentalists with its green leanings; massive snows led to one of the biggest winters on record (the wildlfire season was also impressive); and a deputy water master accused wealthy homeowners of stealing water.
All told, it was an eventful and memorable year for Idaho's public lands, wildlife and natural resources.
Here is a recap of the top stories:
- Wolves face hunting: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told Idaho Gov. Jim Risch in mid-December that it would begin the process of delisting the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana in January 2007.
Once delisted—the process could take up to a year—wolves would no longer be federally protected and could be opened to a hunting season as early as 2008.
Eleven years after 35 wolves were released into Central Idaho, the total statewide population is pegged at more than 650 in 70 verified packs—more than six times the number necessary to delist the animal. Collectively, more than 1,200 wolves roam Idaho, Wyoming and Montana.
Idaho and Montana both assumed daily management responsibilities of wolves in January 2006.
But Wyoming held up delisting because its plan to manage wolves calls for shooting them on-site outside of wilderness areas—a proposal that didn't comfort the Fish and Wildlife Service, which doesn't want to see populations plummet.
Until the animal is delisted the states cannot control populations through hunts or otherwise.
Steve Nadeau, wolf program supervisor for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, believes a hunting season will be an effective way of controlling populations and managing conflicts, both of which are on the rise.
But Nadeau stresses that "we're not going to do anything drastic."
Wolf advocates are concerned that hunting will shatter pack stability and eliminate the chances of observing the animals in the wild.
"When Idaho starts having a hunting season on wolves, people will rarely see them again," said Lynne Stone, a wolf advocate from Stanley.
- Roadless protection enhanced: Risch "pleasantly surprised" environmentalists when he told a national advisory committee in Washington D.C. that he wants to enhance protection of Idaho's roadless areas.
"There were a lot of jaws on the floor," said Trout Unlimited's Chris Hunt, one of five Idaho sportsmen who testified in the governor's meeting with the Roadless Area Conservation National Advisory Committee in November.
Management of the country's roadless areas was subjected to a rewrite in 2004 after the Bush Administration threw out President Clinton's 2001 roadless rule.
Conservationists, hunters and anglers feared the worst—opening the treasured areas to road building, mining and logging.
"Anytime you talk conservation in Idaho you think of the worst-case scenario," Hunt said.
But Risch's plan actually calls for stricter protection measures than Clinton's rule.
On Dec. 22 U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns accepted the plan, and the federal agency is now working with the state to put the plan into action.
- Fire and ice: Heavy snows buried Baldy under a staggering 360 inches last season, creating some of the best skiing conditions—and the largest floods—in 25 years.
When the resort closed April 23, more than 100 inches still plastered the top of the mountain, and the snowpack in the Big Wood River basin was hovering around 150 percent of average.
"We've all been through a lot of drought and wet cycles, but I can't remember 107 inches at the top of the mountain in late April," said Knox Cannon, of Deer Creek, who's been skiing Sun Valley since 1951, when he was 4 years old. "This has been one of the best years I've ever seen."
But when the snow melted the Big Wood River swelled to a peak height of 7.92 feet and was flowing at an unprecedented 7,800 cubic feet per second in Hailey on May 21.
The spring thaw was followed by a hot and dry summer that fueled dozens of wildfires and smothered Stanley and the Wood River Valley under an intermittent blanket of smoke for several weeks.
By mid-September, a total of 875,518 acres had been charred by wildfire in Idaho. That was 573,029 acres more than the three-year average between 2003-2005. In 2005, a total of 547,460 acres burned in Idaho.
"It's just staying drier and warmer longer," said Tom Wordell, a fire analyst for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise. "Warmer temperatures and rapid snowmelt make higher elevation fuels able to ignite earlier in the season."
- Water Theft: Deputy Water Master David Murphy risked losing his job when he accused wealthy homeowners of illegally diverting water from local streams to beautify their landscapes and fill their manmade ponds.
"Welcome to Sun Valley. This is typical America, the land of greed, where people just take, take, take," Murphy said in August. "There are so many (people stealing) up here. It's a runaway problem."
Murphy said he blew the whistle because he has "a right to deliver water to its rightful owners," most notably farmers and ranchers who rely on the resource for their livelihoods.
"With the farmers it's, 'Yes sir, no sir.' They respect the law," Murphy said. "Up here, people get mad and call their lawyers, and I get all these sharks after me.
"I feel like I'm just chasing smoke."
Photo courtesy Lynne Stone
The Trailhead Fire produces a large plume above Stanley last August.
