[MCN] Wolves in Idaho’s ‘Lolo Zone’ Being Gunned Down by Wildlife Services

Matthew Koehler mattykoehler at gmail.com
Mon Feb 8 19:28:49 EST 2016


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*February 8, 2016



*Contacts:* Gary Macfarlane, Friends of the Clearwater (208) 882-9755

                  Ken Cole, Western Watersheds Project (208) 429-1679



*Wolves in Idaho’s ‘Lolo Zone’ Being Gunned Down by Government *



*Moscow, ID*- Aerial gunning of wild wolves is underway in remote and
rugged areas of the Clearwater National Forest, conducted by the federal
“Wildlife Services” agency at the behest of the Idaho Fish & Game
Department. The government is using helicopters to kill wolves in the
so-called ‘Lolo Zone,’ which covers portions of the Selway-Bitterroot
Wilderness and stretches north across the North Fork Clearwater drainage.
Approximately 50 wolves have been killed from the air in the Lolo Zone
since 2011, despite the low wolf population in the area and throughout the
state.

Aerial gunning operations are occurring in remote areas of the Clearwater
National Forest. The North Fork Clearwater contains close to 1-million
acres of roadless public wildlands that qualify for wilderness designation.
These wildlands offer some of the best habitat for large carnivores in the
entire Lower 48. Despite this, the IDFG seems to be trying to sanitize the
wild landscape for game animals.

“The Idaho Fish & Game Department is wrongfully blaming the decline of elk
populations in the Lolo Zone on native carnivores, including gray wolves,”
said Gary MacFarlane, Ecosystem Defense Director of the Friends of the
Clearwater. “Everyone, including the Idaho Fish and Game Department, knows
the decline is due to long-term habitat changes in that area. Targeting
predators like recovering gray wolves is unscientific, won’t work to boost
elk numbers and violates the wildness of these public lands.”

“Excellent habitat for native predators like gray wolves, lynx, wolverines,
and fisher exists throughout the Clearwater National Forest, including in
the Lolo Zone,” said Ken Cole, Idaho Director of Western Watersheds
Project. “But the Idaho Fish & Game Department wants to turn this wild
country into an elk farm and that’s ridiculous and inappropriate.”

Conservation groups are especially concerned by the precedent of the wolf
killing in the Lolo Zone that uses radio collars to track the packs,
because earlier this year, the Idaho Fish & Game Department landed
helicopters in the iconic Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness to
collar elk and “accidentally” collared a number of wolves, too.

“The collaring of wolves is one strategy that Idaho Fish & Game uses to
track down and kill wolves in the Lolo Zone,” said Gary Macfarlane. “It is
likely that the department collared the wolves near the Frank Church-River
of No Return Wilderness so that they would eventually know the location of
those individuals and their entire packs. We suspect the wolf collaring
that took place could end up being used to kill wolves there too.”

Money from the Idaho Wolf Depredation Board funds the aerial gunning
operations in the Lolo Zone. The fund is a combination of fees collected
from hunting licenses and state taxpayer dollars.

“It’s important for the citizens of Idaho to realize that their hard-earned
tax-payer dollars on being spent on helicopter wolf gunning operations,”
said Ken Cole. “Governor Otter should be spending that money to fund public
schools, highways and other important services, not on the killing of
Idaho’s native wildlife.”
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