USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

   

Current Status:

Intensive human settlement, loss of habitat, conflicts with domestic livestock, lack of understanding of the wolf's ecology and habits, and superstition have had a major impact on the decline of the wolf and on its recovery. Current threats in Idaho include illegal shooting and poisoning. The poisoning of a female wolf from Bear Valley, Idaho, in 1991 set back wolf recovery in the State. A pair of wolves occupied the area in 1991, before the poisoning, and the Fish and Wildlife Service anticipated pack activity in 1992. However, the Service could not confirm more than transitory use of the area by a wolf in 1992.

Achievements:

In 1992, two radio-collared gray wolves were present in Idaho for several weeks in February, and one continues to occupy the Kelly Creek area. This wolf, collared as an adult in Glacier National Park, Montana, in September 1990, dispersed about 150 miles to Kelly Creek in 1991. The second wolf, an adult female from Banff, British Columbia, was radio-located near Lake Pend Oreille, Idaho, for about 2 weeks before returning to Canada. Both of these movements demonstrate how gray wolves are expected to recolonize Idaho by dispersing from adjacent populations in Montana and Canada. The Fish and Wildlife Service received 110 reports of wolf sightings in Idaho in 1991 and 60 in 1992. Wolves were reported in the Red River and Bear Valley areas of central Idaho and portions of the Idaho-Montana border. Pack activity could not be confirmed.

Since 1990, the Service has conducted approximately 100 informal section 7 consultations per year in Idaho with Federal agencies regarding impacts on wolves from such activities as logging, mining, animal damage control, and road management. Potential impacts have been addressed with only slight project modifications.

Current Recovery Needs:

To gain acceptance of wolf recovery efforts in Idaho, it will be necessary to monitor the progress of wolf recolonization and implement public information and education programs.

Partnerships

Forest Service: This Federal agency participates on the Central Idaho Wolf Recovery Steering Committee, the Biological/Scientific Subcommittee, and the Information and Education Subcommittee. The Forest Service provided a biologist to assist with wolf monitoring in Bear Valley in 1992. Additionally, Clearwater, Nez Perce, and Payette National Forests conducted surveys for wolves on their lands in 1992.

Bureau of Land Management: The Bureau participates on the Central Idaho Wolf Recovery Steering Committee, the Biological/Scientific Subcommittee, and the Information and Education Subcommittee.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game: The Department participates on the Central Idaho Wolf Recovery Steering Committee and was recently authorized by the State legislature to assist in preparing the environmental impact statement on wolf reintroduction to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho. Through an interagency agreement, the Fish and Wildlife Service hired two Department biologists to assist with preparing the environmental impact statement.

The Wolf Recovery Foundation and Wolf Haven International: The Foundation assists in information and education about the wolf, and facilitates reporting of wolf sightings to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Wolf Haven International assisted with wolf howling surveys in two national forests in Idaho in 1992, and is soliciting funds from its membership for additional wolf surveys in Idaho.

Recovery Plan Status:

Original plan approved 5/28/80; revised 8/3/87.