Fish & Game vows to pursue all legal options  

The Idaho Fish and Game Commission pledged to pursue all legal options to regain full management authority over wolves Monday, including the appeal of a recent federal court decision or legislation reversing it.
Commissioners rejected calls for the state to end all cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to manage wolves in Idaho. Instead commissioners decided Idaho would be best served by the state retaining its role as the lead wolf management agency in the state, even though the court ruling stripped it of authority to conduct regulated hunting seasons.
Earlier this month, Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula, Mont., struck down a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rule that removed wolves in Idaho and Montana from federal protection, ending a year of state management and dashing plans for a second consecutive wolf hunting season. Monday’s commission meeting in Idaho Falls was the first chance the body had to officially comment on the ruling and chart a course forward.
In a unanimous decision, the commission passed a resolution calling for Idaho to continue to abide by the state’s wolf management plan and support an earlier objective of managing for a population of about 520 wolves in Idaho.
But commissioners want to draft a new agreement with the federal government matching the state’s now limited wolf management authority with its financial resources. Commissioners committed to work with Gov. C.L. (Butch) Otter’s office to reach a new agreement that ensures revenue from the sale of hunting tags and permits is not used on some wolf management duties such as the enforcement laws prohibiting the killing of wolves. Commissioners said if Idaho doesn’t have full authority to manage wolves, it should not incur all the costs of doing so.
Commission chairman Wayne Write, of Twin Falls, said when Idaho briefly possessed full management of wolves, it could raise money through the sale of wolf hunting tags. "Now we are left in a situation where we can’t raise funds," he said.
Commissioner Gary Powers of Salmon described the situation as a quagmire, but said the best way to get out of it is to stay engaged in the fight. "I think it’s important to continue to do as much as we can to manage wolves," he said.
Robin Thorson, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, addressed the commission and said the agency was disappointed in Molloy’s ruling, but has not decided if it will appeal.
She called the failure of the rule removing federal protections for wolves a legal and administrative issue but said wolves continue to be biologically recovered. Thorson also said it is unlikely the state would be able to conduct a wolf hunting season while wolves are under federal management.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service is not going to go forward with something that has a high risk of litigation loss - that is the caution I am compelled to share."
Thorson said future wolf recovery would proceed more quickly if Idaho retains its commitment to its federally approved wolf management plan. Deputy Attorney General Kathleen Trever told commissioners that backing away from its commitment to manage wolves could jeopardize the state’s ability to appeal Molloy’s ruling. She also said it would revert the state back to more restrictive wolf management rules approved in 2004 instead of more flexible rules approved in 2008.
A copy of the commission’s resolution is available at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/ under "Headlines".
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Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273.