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SCR122.........................................by RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT
WOLVES - Stating findings of the Legislature and approving the Idaho Wolf
Conservation and Management Plan.
02/06 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/07 Rpt prt - to Res/Env
|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO ||||
Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session - 2002
IN THE SENATE
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 122
BY RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
2 STATING FINDINGS OF THE LEGISLATURE AND APPROVING THE IDAHO WOLF CONSERVATION
3 AND MANAGEMENT PLAN.
4 Be It Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Idaho:
5 WHEREAS, pursuant to Section 36-715, Idaho Code, the Idaho Department of
6 Fish and Game was authorized to work in conjunction with the Wolf Oversight
7 Committee, as established by the Wolf EIS Participation Plan dated February
8 1992, in the development and implementation of an Idaho Wolf Conservation and
9 Management Plan that would enable the state to take over the management of
10 wolves after they are removed from the endangered species list; and
11 WHEREAS, pursuant to that statutory directive, the Idaho Department of
12 Fish and Game and the Wolf Oversight Committee have reported to the Idaho Sen-
13 ate Resources and Environment Committee and to the Idaho House of Representa-
14 tives Resources and Conservation Committee following their completion of the
15 Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan; and
16 WHEREAS, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is charged with preserving,
17 protecting and managing the state's wildlife resources for the use and enjoy-
18 ment of all people, with several exceptions, including threatened and endan-
19 gered species. The Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan sets forth spe-
20 cific wolf management goals and population objectives that will be adminis-
21 tered by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game upon the delisting of wolves in
22 the state of Idaho; and
23 WHEREAS, upon delisting, the classification of wolves will be changed from
24 an endangered species to either a big game animal or a furbearer at the dis-
25 cretion of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. Such classification will allow
26 the Idaho Department of Fish and Game statutory authority to establish seasons
27 and bag limits to regulate and limit legal public take of wolves in the
28 future, and enable the Department of Fish and Game to protect wolf populations
29 by enforcing regulations and issuing citations for illegal take. Under classi-
30 fication as a big game animal or furbearer, the Department of Fish and Game
31 will also have the authority to manage wolves by offering no open season, and
32 thus preventing sport harvest. Specific wolf population objectives will be
33 developed by the Department of Fish and Game and adopted by the Idaho Fish and
34 Game Commission. Wolf population objectives, annual harvest goals, methods to
35 achieve those goals, and number of permits to be issued will be evaluated
36 annually through the Idaho Department of Fish and Game's big game season set-
37 ting process. If at any time wolf population numbers or reproductive success
38 falls near a low threshold of breeding pairs, nonlethal methods to manage
39 wolves will be preferred to ensure that adequate breeding pairs produce, and
40 successfully rear, litters annually; and
41 WHEREAS, since wolf recovery efforts began in the state of Idaho in 1995
42 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced fifteen gray wolves, with
43 another twenty added in 1996, the wolf population has steadily increased to an
44 estimated two hundred sixty-one in 2001, representing a minimum of seventeen
2
1 packs. Fourteen of the packs have approximately eighty-two pups on the ground
2 that will be of reproductive age within twenty-four months; and
3 WHEREAS, wolves are now at a recovery level in the state of Idaho and it
4 is in the best interest of the citizens of the state to have the wolves
5 delisted so that management can begin to occur. The state of Idaho should be
6 allowed to assume responsibility for wolf management, effective upon the
7 availability of federal funding for management purposes.
8 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the members of the Second Regular Ses-
9 sion of the Fifty-sixth Idaho Legislature, the Senate and the House of Repre-
10 sentatives concurring therein, that the state of Idaho has established law,
11 reflected in the Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, and will also
12 promulgate rules, that provide adequate regulatory mechanisms to ensure the
13 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the public that wolf populations will be
14 maintained at such a level that they will not decline to the point that they
15 will require the protection of the ESA again in the future. The plan addition-
16 ally sets forth clear and specific goals and objectives for the conservation
17 and management of wolves in the state of Idaho. The Idaho Wolf Conservation
18 and Management Plan is hereby approved by the Legislature of the State of
19 Idaho. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service should proceed with the delisting
20 process, removing the gray wolf from the endangered species list, and allowing
21 the state of Idaho to assume responsibility for wolf management, effective
22 upon the availability of federal funding for management purposes.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 11906C1
This Concurrent Resolution will approve the Idaho Wolf
Conservation and Management Plan in support of the immediate
delisting of the wolf by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under
the Endangered Species Act.
FISCAL IMPACT
None.
Contact
Name:
Senator Laird Noh
332-1333
REVISED REVISED REVISED
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/FISCAL NOTE Bill No. SCR 122