here are the instructions for how you can submit comments to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) regarding their proposal to kill up to 75% of the wolf population that lives in the Clearwater National Forest. The Idaho wolf population is likely to be the source population for wolves dispersing into Oregon, Washington, California and Nevada. By assuring continued protections for this population we are moving closer to restoring wolves to the rest of the western United States.

During the first week of January, the Bush administration turned over responsibility for wolf management to the state of Idaho. This was done despite the fact that wolves remained listed under the federal Endangered Species Act and it was done through improper means. Defenders of Wildlife is not opposed to the states getting "practice" in wolf management prior to federal delisting -- with responsible federal oversight and a good state wolf plan in place, that's actually a good idea. But Idaho's state wolf plan is very troubling in its vagueness and its focus on wolf control rather than conservation, and the way management authority was turned over to Idaho violates several federal laws, including the Endangered Species Act, the Administrative Procedures Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. Last week, Defenders and six other groups notified the Department of the Interior that we will file a lawsuit if this situation is not rectified.

A significant concern is that the state of Idaho's state wolf management plan is inadequate to conserve wolves and, as if to prove our concern correct, the state's first action upon assuming management authority was to announce a plan to kill 75% of the wolves within the Clearwater National Forest's Lolo district for the next five years, to attempt to boost elk populations.

Scientists have long maintained that elk numbers in this region are low because of poor habitat conditions, which should be addressed, yet Idaho Fish and Game has chosen to use wolves as a scapegoat rather than admitting their elk population objectives are unrealistic under current habitat conditions.

Idaho Fish and Game's proposal to kill wolves in the Clearwater is based on an inadequate study, relying on an astonishingly low sample size of 8 cow elk found to have been killed by wolves. The study was not properly replicated, and the small sample of elk studied fails to meet the most minimum statistical standards for drawing valid scientific conclusions. Perhaps this is not unexpected when the Idaho State legislature has repeatedly called for the elimination of wolves "by any means necessary," and the head of an Idaho anti-wolf coalition has vowed to "get rid of these wolves, one way or another."

Idaho's plan to kill up to 75% of the wolves in the Clearwater is online now at http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/wildlife/wolves/wolf_control.cfm

PLEASE SUBMIT WRITTEN COMMENTS TO IDAHO DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME (IDFG) BY THE FEB. 17th DEADLINE AND ENCOURAGE YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO WRITE AS WELL

Public comments will be accepted at the following locations:

Mail : Attention: Steve Huffaker, Director, Idaho
Department of Fish and Game
IDFG Wolf Comments
P.O. Box 25
Boise ID 83707

Email: wolfcomments@idfg.idaho.gov

SUGGESTED TALKING POINTS:

• The decline in elk has existed since long before wolves were reintroduced;
• Idaho Fish and Game provides no evidence that wolves are a primary factor in elk population decline; at such low population numbers, any factor could result in the failure of this elk herd to rebound;
• Poor habitat conditions make it impossible for the state to currently meet their unrealistic elk population goals;
• Eight radio-collared cow elk killed by wolves out of a total sample of 25 dead elk is too small a sample to draw any statistical conclusions;
• Similar declines in elk numbers or in elk reproduction have occurred in places without wolves;
• There is indeed a strong connection between wolves and elk in Idaho, but research statewide clearly shows that greater numbers of elk support more wolves, not that lots of wolves depress elk numbers;
• Elsewhere in the northern Rockies, impacts of wolves on elk have been found to be less important than climate, range conditions, and even human harvest; and
• Conducting a study to develop sufficient data to draw sound conclusions as to how elk die is a good idea, but this inadequate study provides no basis to conclude that wolves are responsible for this elk population decline.

PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO EXPRESS YOUR VIEWS IN YOUR OWN WORDS ~V REMEMBER, PEOPLE WHO ARE OPPOSED TO WOLVES NEARLY ALWAYS TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE HANDWRITTEN LETTERS IN THEIR OWN WORDS AND THIS HAS GREAT IMPACT ON AGENCY PERSONNEL, LEGISLATORS AND COMMISSIONERS WHEN IT COMES TIME FOR THEM TO MAKE DECISIONS. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR THEM TO SEE THAT PEOPLE WHO SUPPORT WOLVES ALSO CARE ENOUGH TO TAKE THE TIME TO WRITE PERSONALIZED LETTERS.

WHAT ELSE YOU CAN DO:

If you know people that live in Idaho please encourage them to attend one of the 2 upcoming public hearings. The first hearing will be held on February 2nd at the DoubleTree Hotel Riverside in Garden City/Boise (2900 Chinden Blvd), and the second is on February 7th at the Fish and Game Regional Office, 3316 16th St., in Lewiston. Both meetings run from 5 to 9 p.m. Individuals and groups may register to testify and will have three minutes to provide their comments. Please advise them to bring a short, one-page bullet- pointed written summary of their testimony to give to the Commission when they speak.

IN CONCLUSION Thank you for staying involved in protecting wolves in the western states. Stay tuned for future updates

For the wolves and all the wild ones, Amaroq Weiss Defenders of Wildlife