Chronology of Wolves in Idaho, Mt, and Wyoming

[JoseCuervo]

Wolf Chronology in Northern Rocky Mountains

* 1700 -- Wolves could be found abundantly in most regions of North America.

* Mid-1800s -- Settlers in the West begin killing large numbers of predators, including wolves.

* Early 1900s -- Unregulated hunting of wolves leads to near extermination of the species.

* 1925 -- No sustainable wolf population is detected in the West.

* 1950s -- Lone wolf sightings continue in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.

* 1966 -- The Canadians begin a wolf recovery effort in British Columbia, leading to an increasing wolf population and escalating wolf sightings in the Western United States.

* Late 1960s -- Biologists call for the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park.

* 1973 -- Congress passes the Endangered Species Act to protect and recover threatened and endangered species. The Rocky Mountain gray wolf is listed as endangered.

* 1974 -- The federal government establishes a wolf recovery team for gray wolves in the northern Rockies.

* 1977 -- Idaho state law includes wolves under its protection.

* 1978 -- In central Idaho, a lone wolf is spotted; another is killed.

* 1980 -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service completes its Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Recovery Plan.

* 1980s -- Field reports are conducted in Idaho to document the presence of wolves.

* 1987 -- Rep. Wayne Owens, D-Utah, introduces a bill to require wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone National Park.

* 1988 -- The Idaho Legislature restricts the involvement of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game in wolf recovery unless authorized by a state statue.

* 1990 -- Sen. James McClure, R-Idaho, submits legislation to reintroduce gray wolves to Yellowstone National Park and the central Idaho wilderness. Congress establishes the national Wolf Management Committee.

* 1991 -- Congress charges the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with preparing a draft environmental assessment of wolf recovery in Yellowstone and central Idaho. The assessment is federally funded. Two radio-collared wolves move into Idaho. One remains in Idaho while the other returns to Canada. A black wolf is illegally poisoned in central Idaho.

* 1992 -- The Idaho Legislature allows the Department of Fish and Game to work with the Fish and Wildlife Service on the environmental assessment. Northwestern Montana is home to an estimated 40 wolves in four packs including the famous Ninemile Pack. Lone wolf sightings persist in Wyoming and Idaho.

* 1993 -- The Fish and Wildlife Service publishes its draft environmental assessment of wolf recovery in central Idaho and Yellowstone. The draft receives a total of 160,284 comments from the public, government agencies and interest groups.

* 1994 -- The final assessment of wolf recovery is released. The Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to reintroduce wolves in central Idaho and Yellowstone as a nonessential experimental population. Secretary of Interior Bruce Babbitt signs the record of decision on the assessment. Rules governing repopulation are published. The rules specify that the states and American Indian tribes can enter cooperative agreements with the Fish and Wildlife Service to take the lead in recovery if suitable wolf management plans are developed. Idaho holds public meetings regarding its state wolf management plan.

* 1995 -- Wolves are released in central Idaho wilderness and Yellowstone. The Idaho Legislature rejects wolf recovery and management plan that would have allowed the Department of Fish and Game to assume lead role in wolf recovery. The Nez Perce Tribe steps in and leads wolf recovery in Idaho.

* 1996 -- A second release of wolves in Yellowstone and central Idaho takes place. First wolf pups are born in Idaho.

* 1998 -- Idaho's wolf oversight committee commences work on a conservation and management plan. The wolf population in Idaho is estimated to be at 115 animals.

* 2000 -- The Office of Species Conservation is created by the Idaho Legislature to coordinate endangered species issues for the state. The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that the Rocky Mountain recovery area of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming have 30 breeding pair of wolves, a requirement for delisting the species.

* 2002 -- The Idaho Legislature adopts a state wolf management plan that names the Department of Fish and Game as assuming the lead management role with the Nez Perce Tribe continuing to play a significant role.

* 2003 -- The states of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana submit state management plans to the Fish and Wildlife Service for review.

* 2004 -- The Fish and Wildlife Service determines that Idaho and Montana's plans are acceptable but rejects Wyoming's wolf management plan. The state of Wyoming sues the federal agency over its rejection. The Fish and Wildlife Service publish its 10(j) amendment -- a proposal that would allow states with accepted management plans a larger role in management. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game begins working with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Nez Perce Tribe in anticipation of assuming wolf management responsibilities.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Put tags on them for hunters, that will bring in both $$$ for management and controls on numbers...

 

[Elkhunter]

Thanks for the info Gunner.

Russ, that will happen in time. Just taking a lot longer that it should.