Idaho Wolf Update:
Finally a count on the pup numbers in each
pack
9-5-98
Here is the latest Idaho wolf update. The information came from the Nez Perce Tribal Wolf Recovery Team. Those comments of a political, socio/economic nature are mine, not theirs.
There is finally a count on the number of pups in each of the Idaho wolf packs. It is as follows:
A minimum of 51 pups have been counted to date. This compares to 42 new pups this year in Yellowstone. The total population related to the two years' of wolf reintroductions is estimated at 124 wolves. This figure does not include the mortality of un-collared, undiscovered wolves, of which there must be a number.
By Pack:
Snow Peak 5
Kelly Creek 6
Big Hole 5
Chamberlain 4
Thunder Mountain 5-6
Jureano Mountain 4-6
Moyer Basin 4
Twin Peaks 3
Stanley Basin 6-8
White Clouds 9The average litter size was five.
Here are the latest pack locations generally going from north to south.
North of the Salmon River-
The Snow Peak Pack remains, as it has since wolves 20F and 31M paired last winter, along the Bitterroot Divide (Idaho/Montana) border near the headwaters of the St. Joe River.The Kelly Creek Pack continues to inhabit its normal range along the Idaho/Montana border on the Bitterroot Divide to the north of Lolo Pass.
The Big Hole Pack, a new pack this year, is in its normal range south of Lolo Pass in the Bitterroot Divide in and near the northern edge of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. The alpha pair are B7M and B11F.
The Selway Pack was located as usual in its vast range at the intersection of the Frank Church and Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness. This time they were located near the headwaters of the Selway River. They range of the Idaho/Montana border westward almost to Elk City (3/4 the way across north central Idaho).
Five lone wolves are known to be in the area north of the Salmon River. They are 33M, 43F, 51F, 52M, and 54F. Number 33M, one of the wolves introduced from British Columbia in 1996 was located on the eastern side of the Gospel Hump Wilderness, just northwest of the tiny town of Dixie, Idaho. The surviving Boulder pack pup of the two raised last summer in the Running Creek pen, no. 43F continues to survive and was located in the area of Elk City. Nos. 52 and 54 are yearlings from the Jureano Mountain Pack that were recently relocated into the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness after some minor cattle depredations in pack's range to the west of the town of Salmon, Idaho. 51F was located in the Elk Summit area near the northern end of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. She was formerly of the Moyer Basin Pack, but was relocated about 6 weeks ago after she was trapped on top of a dead cow in Panther Creek miles to the south of her present location.
South of the Salmon River-
The Chamberlain Basin pack including alpha wolves B9M and B16F, their 4 new pups and unnunmbered pups from 1996 and 1997 continue to use the western side of Chamberlain Basin. They were last located in the upper Chamberlain Basin Creek drainage. This pack inhabits the most remote portion of the Frank Church Wilderness.The new Thunder Mountain pack, alpha female 22F and an uncollared mate and their 5-6 pups, was located near Meadow Creek Lookout southeast of the tiny central Idaho hamlet of Yellow Pine.
The Jureano Mountain pack including alpha wolves B25F (Raven) and B32M and their new 4-6 pups and some pups from last year has killed livestock for the first time and have been the target of an ongoing control action for the past several week. Two subadults from this pack, B52M and B54F (mentioned elsewhere in the report), have so far been relocated as part of this ongoing control action. The rest of the pack members appear to be on the move constantly, but continue to confine their movements within the Moose Creek/Napias Creek drainages. My comment. Given the hysteria from the Salmon City town council last fall when the wolves killed some hounds being used by local hunters to hunt bobcat out of season, this control situation bears watching. The Moyer Basin pack including alpha pair B29M and B37F and their 4 new pups and pups from last year continue to use areas surrounding the upper Panther Creek drainage including the Moyer Basin area, and upper Silver and Morgan Creek drainages. There have been no additional cattle depredations since they killed a few cows earlier this summer.The new Twin Peaks pack including alpha wolves B35F and B18M and their 3 pups-of-the-year continue to frequent habitats in the upper Yankee Fork and Warm Springs Creek drainages. This pack was last located in the upper Yankee Fork at the head of Challis Creek.
The wolf team reports the "Stanley Basin pack including wolf pair B23F and B27M and their 6-8 pups is starting to move more widely across the Basin, as the pups grow and become more mobile. Over the past few weeks, the pack has frequented areas from just east of highway 75, west to Trout Lake on the western side of [Stanley] Basin. Most of their movements have been restricted to the north side of the Basin but members of the pack have been on occasion located on the south side of the Basin as well." Last year the pack had 5 pups. I believe that at least four of these survive and may be with the pack.
In late August Jackie (my spouse) and I found them near Blind Summit just north of the northern boundary of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
Regarding the exciting new White Clouds Pack, the team reports that the eleven member pack (9 pups plus B36F and a mate that probably predates the wolf reintroduction) avoided a control action and moved out of the area where they killed 5 sheep. Lately they have been in Germania Creek at the SE corner of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area.
As I have written in previous reports the development and increasing visibility of the Stanley Basin and White Clouds Packs bodes well for Idaho wolf watchers. The scenic mountains and valleys they inhabit could do for Idaho what the wolves of the Lamar in Yellowstone have done for that area.
Other wolves-
B30F and B28M (who were formerly teamed with another adult wolf, B19M) were found in the West Fork of Elk Creek in SW corner of the Frank Church Wilderness. It is almost certain now that they did not have a litter of pups this spring. Their former partner, B19M, continues to inhabit the area on the southern boundary of the Frank Church in Beaver Creek, Rapid River, and Loon Creek.
Email addresses
for members of Congress, other officials, and the media
Return To Maughan Wolf Report Page
Copyright © 1998 Ralph Maughan
Not to be reprinted, archived, redistributed, etc., without permission.
Ralph Maughan PO Box 8264, Pocatello, ID 83209