Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Feds OK helicopters in Frank Church

Plan to collar wolves angers conservationists


By JON DUVAL
Express Staff Writer

The U.S. Forest Service has approved a request from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game to land helicopters in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness during the upcoming winter months.

In September, Fish and Game made the proposal for the landings to tranquilize and attach radio collars to wolves encountered during routine aerial big-game surveys, which take place every few years.

While the federal Wilderness Act does not generally allow such landings, special permission can be granted by the Forest Service.

"After full consideration of Idaho Department of Fish and Game's request, examination of other means for gathering data and all the public comments before me, I decided to permit the helicopter landings," said Forest Service Regional Forester Harv Forsgren in a news release. "I have concluded the potential to harm the biological, physical and social wilderness environment is minimal."

According to the scoping document outlining the proposal, Fish and Game will be permitted to land a helicopter in the wilderness up to 20 times over a two-week period this winter, likely in late March. Up to 12 gray wolves could be darted and collared in the protected wilderness region north of Stanley.

"Biologists want to do the radio-collaring in winter because they are already planning the aerial surveys, and wolves are easier to find in winter than in other seasons of the year," a news release from Idaho Fish and Game states. "In addition, fewer people visit the wilderness in winter."

However, the fact that there will be fewer people in the wilderness at that time is little consolation to conservationists who believe the approval goes against the principles behind the Wilderness Act.

"Why set aside the wilderness in the first place?" said Jon Marvel, executive director of Hailey-based Western Watersheds Project, during an interview last week. "I believe this ignores the intent and spirit of the Wilderness Act, and it's an intrusion into the wilderness with no real gain."

Marvel also said tracking of wolves could lead to an increase in the number of wolves allowed to be shot in the state's wolf hunt.

The Fish and Game statement says nothing about the hunt, which is currently taking place for the first time since wolves were removed from the endangered species list earlier this year, but does say the project would help Idaho abide by federal regulations.

"Information from radio-collared wolves would help provide information on the wolf population and movements within the wilderness and would help meet wolf management requirements. It also would help Fish and Game to meet requirements of the Endangered Species Act, which requires Idaho to monitor wolves within the state for five years after they are delisted."

Marvel, who met with Forsgren and Regional Wilderness Specialist Randy Welsh on Friday, Dec. 11, to discuss the proposed special-use authorization, said there are alternatives to tracking wolves other than using helicopters. That argument was rebutted by Fish and Game, however.

"Fourteen years of efforts to trap and collar wolves in wilderness areas on foot and by horseback have proved largely unsuccessful," Fish and Game Director Cal Groen said in the request to the Forest Service.

In response to the decision, Marvel said litigation could be pursued to keep the helicopter landings from taking place.

"We haven't had a chance to read all the material yet, but there are a lot of people concerned and who think this is a violation of the Wilderness Act and the role of the Forest Service," Marvel said Tuesday. "The Forest Service appears to be bending over backwards for the state of Idaho."

Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com




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