What would you pay for a day in the wilds tracking, counting and trapping wolves?
If you were willing to pony up a cool $12,500 you would have topped the bidding for that item at Saturday night's Sagebrush Soiree, the main annual fundraiser for the Sawtooth Society. The Society was formed 10 years ago to help protect the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
The bidding was spirited for this final item of the auction, which took place at the Sawtooth Valley's Busterback Ranch. More than 100 people attended, and when the dust settled over the wolf trip people didn't have to go far to find the winner.
Tom and Elizabeth Tierney, the owners of Busterback, were the top bidders, and Tom bid on the trip so he could give it to the couple's grandchildren.
"What we wanted to do is introduce our grandchildren to endangered species and their actual environment," he said. "This is a unique experience to find out what nature is about in its truest sense."
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game donated the wolf trip, and four people will get to accompany an agency biologist to help manage wolves on the SNRA. That could include tracking the animals on the ground with radio telemetry, helping with a wolf census and trapping and tagging.
"Priceless," was the value listed in the program for the trip.
Other items offered up by auctioneer Steve Wright were stays in wilderness lodges, hayrides, whitewater raft trips and dinners. The auction and the $200-per-person tickets for the event raised about $80,000, said David Genter, the new executive director of the Sawtooth Society.
The auction included a "rolling collective bid" that allowed donors to stuff an envelope with donations. All "rolling bids" will go to fund trail work in the SNRA.
