1. Petition detail

Environmental groups have petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit shooting wolves from helicopters in Idaho national forests.

“Killing wolves from helicopters is barbaric and scientifically unjustifiable, and we can’t let it happen in our national forests,” Andrea Zaccardi, carnivore conservation legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a release.

The petition follows an Oct. 26 vote by the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board to contract with five ranch groups to help control wolves in priority areas.

Three of the proposals call for a third-party contractor — shared by the three groups — to conduct aerial operations on federal grazing allotments and private land, according to the petition.

The wolf board is funded by the state Department of Fish and Game, the legislature and the livestock industry. Directors of Fish and Game and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture co-chair it.

The wolf board contracts with USDA Wildlife Services to investigate depredations and control wolves. Lethal control actions require Fish and Game approval.

The state Fish and Game Commission in recent years has focused on trapping and hunting wolves where livestock conflicts are chronic or elk populations remain below management objectives.

The petition is not aimed at Wildlife Services, Zaccardi said in an interview. It could impact Fish and Game since the department provides funding to the wolf board.

The federal Airborne Hunting Act prohibits states from issuing permits for sport hunting — relevant because lands covered in the contracts include areas where livestock depredations and elk populations are not a problem, she said.

The wolf board in its recent contracting authorized wolf killing even in areas without any recent conflicts with livestock, or elk and deer populations, Talasi Brooks, of the Western Watersheds Project, said in the release.

The wolf board’s recent decision was “to pursue contracts with livestock producers for the purposes of reimbursing those producers for wolf control activities in areas of chronic depredations,” said ISDA director Chanel Tewalt, who co-chairs the board. Contracts are with producers, not hunters or trappers they may use.

“The board approved entering into agreements with producers” who “may then find appropriate contractors as necessary,” she said. It is up to producers who receive funding to “ensure that proper permits are in place and that the control activities are being implemented legally.”

Idaho’s wolf population remains well above U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service minimums that allow for state management. The state legislature in 2021 substantially increased allowed take and methods. Senate Bill 1211 also allowed the wolf board to contract with private parties.