Idaho Elk Herd Dwindling Due to Wolf Predation
W.I.S.E. Forest, Climate and Wildlife News posted an article last week [here] about an Idaho study that found declining elk populations due to increasing predation by “endangered” wolves.
I have not been able to locate the actual study, but some excellent questions about it are asked by Tom Remington of Montana Hunting Today [here]:
Idaho F&G Announces Wolves Major Cause Of Elk Kills
November 28, 2008
Reports coming out of Northern Idaho say that Fish and Game Deputy Director Jim Unsworth is blaming the gray wolf as the main reason for a 13% per year reduction in cow elk in the Lolo Hunting Zone. Another F&G biologist, George Pauley, states that at least 87% of the elk in this region needs to survive each year in order to sustain an elk herd. At present that survival rate is estimated at 75%.
And with this information, I have some questions. The first one and most obvious is what took IDFG so long to make an official announcement, assuming Unsworth’s announcement is official and not some rogue event?
One report from The Olympian said:
The agency estimates cow elk in a remote area designated as the Lolo Hunting Zone have dwindled by as much as 13 percent each year. A recent study of radio-collared cow elk indicates that for the most part, wolves are to blame, Fish and Game says.
My second question now becomes, for how many years have they determined, or better yet, known, that the cow elk have been dwindling at such a rate? Which leads me to my final question.
Why hasn’t IDFG done something about this problem? …
For more of this discussion please see Montana Hunting Today [here].
by YPmule
by Lee
I believe this is the study to which you refer. It came out in 2006 and was not accepted by the USFWS as reason enough to control wolves in the Lolo area at that time. IDFG are using an old study to push a renewed agenda.
http://fwcb.cfans.umn.edu/courses/FW5603/Idaho_wolf_plan.pdf (2.3 MB)
This has an interesting critique and some background information.
Thank you, Lee. The study is:
Effects of Wolf Predation on North Central Idaho Elk Populations
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, April 4, 2006
This document supports the State’s determination that gray wolf predation is having an unacceptable impact on a wild ungulate population. Specifically, this document reviews the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) evaluation of the effect of wolf predation on an elk population below state management objectives. The document includes a review of elk population data, the cause-specific mortality research being conducted on elk, the wolf population data, and the modeling conducted to simulate impacts of wolf predation on elk using known population parameters. Additionally, this report identifies remedies and conservation measures that have already been attempted to reduce impacts of the multiple factors influencing the current elk population status, and identifies management actions and objectives to improve and monitor elk populations in the Lolo Zone.
The study mentioned above is now posted at the W.I.S.E. Colloquium: Wildlife Sciences [here]
Wolf numbers are definitely out of control in the Northern Rocky Mountains, and Idaho alone has nearly as many wolves as Montana and Wyoming combined although those two states are catching up quickly. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks recently revealed that there was a whopping 34% increase in the number of wolves in this state from 2007 to 2008.
Our U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sits around twiddling their thumbs while wolves decimate our elk and deer herds that took decades to rebuild. And some sportsmen have already grown tired of “government control” of the problem and have taken matters into their own hands. Dead wolves are beginning to show up.
I’ve just started a new advocacy group known as LOBO WATCH. Our mission is to push for strong wolf population control and to counter the wolf hogwash being pushed by lame so-called conservation groups like the Sierra Club and the Defenders of Wildlife. In mid February there will even be a new website devoted to this issue. The start of that site can be seen at -
http://www.lobowatch.homestead.com/
We’re looking for watch dogs who will contact and let us know of wolf problems anywhere in the U.S. - or problems with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failing to do something about the high price we’re paying for a few wolf huggers to have things their way.
Toby Bridges
LOBO WATCH
In our part of central Idaho - folks say they are seeing less elk and more wolf tracks.