Idaho Wolf Update: All the 1998 packs have official names
Aug. 11, 1998 (updated 8/16)
The latest Idaho wolf update is out and all of the packs have official names now. Some of the new packs were given names different than the ones I have informally used. Let me try and clarify.
Here are the packs as we move from north to south in Idaho.
Snow Peak Pack, wolves B20F and B31M and pups. They frequent the Idaho/Montana border near the headwaters of the St. Joe River. I had called them the "St. Joe Pack."
Kelly Creek Pack, wolves B15F and 9013M, their yearlings and new pups. They frequent the Idaho/Montana border near Kelly Creek north of Lolo Pass.
Big Hole Pack, wolves, B7M and B11F ("Blackfire") and their new pups. They frequent the Bitterroot divide just south of Lolo Pass on the Lolo and Clearwater National Forests. This pack has concentrated their movements in the South Fork of Lolo drainage in Montana and the Brushy Fork Drainage in Idaho. The pair originally settled in the Big Hole Valley of SW Montana in 1996, hence their name.
The Selway Pack, wolves B5M ("Moonstar Shadow") and B10F ("Libre"), and two, two-year old offspring from 1996. They have a very large range from the Montana border westward almost to Elk City. They were last located in Bargamin Creek in the northern end of the Frank Church Wilderness.
These three lone wolves live north of the Salmon River -- B43F, B33M, and B51F. The latter is the number assigned to the yearling from the Moyer Basin Pack that was trapped on a cow the pack had killed in Panther Creek near Cobalt. She was collared, numbered, and relocated into the Selway/Bitterroot Wilderness.
Chamberlain or Chamberlain Basin Pack, wolves B9M and B16F, is on their third litter since they paired in 1995. The Chamberlain Basin pack was last located on the western side of Chamberlain Basin in Ramey and Beaver Creek drainages. This is a very deep wilderness pack.
Thunder Mountain Pack. This is wolf B22F and an unidentified mate and pups, a new pack, which I had briefly called the "Monumental Pack." They were last located on Pistol Creek ridge in the Frank Church Wilderness, east of the crossroads of Landmark.
Jureano Mountain pack, alpha wolves B25F ("Raven") and B32M, yearlings and new pups were again located in the Moose Creek/Napias Creek drainages. Monitoring crews found two dead wolf pups from the Jureano Mountain pack. The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Carcasses were collected by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' division of Law Enforcement and sent to the National Forensics Lab in Oregon to determine cause of death.
Moyer Basin pack, alpha pair B29M and B37F, yearlings and new pups were located in the headwaters of Morgan Creek. Note: they apparently killed some cows in Panther Creek recently, but there have been no new depredations (see earlier story, and my second story about typical Salmon area hysteria). Morgan Creek is a long drainage that runs southeastward down the mountains to the Salmon River towards Challis. Panther Creek is a long drainage that runs northward down the mountains into the Salmon River.
Twin Peaks Pack, B35F and B18M and their first pups were located in the headwaters of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon and Warm Springs Creek in the Frank Church Wilderness. Their range is to the south of the Moyer Basin Pack and about ten miles west of Challis. I had briefly called this pack the "Warm Springs Pack."
The Stanley Basin pack, alpha pair B23F and B27M, yearlings and pups, continue to be found mostly on the east side of scenic Stanley Basin. These are the wolves that inhabit the area made famous in Jim Dutcher's films of the captive Sawtooth Pack which is now located north in an enclosure near Winchester, Idaho.
The new White Clouds pack, alpha female B36F, an unknown mate and first pups were located southwest of the Boulder Mountains in the Big Wood River. This is a very scenic area in the Sawtooth National Forest and/or the Sawtooth National Recreation Area, a few miles north of Sun Valley/Ketchum, Idaho's most southerly wolf pack.
Southwest-facing flank of the Boulder Mountains in the Sawtooth National
Recreation Area. © Ralph MaughanHere is what the Nez Perce tribal wolf recovery team said about the "lost" Landmark Pack, "Field efforts continue to determine the whereabouts and status of the Landmark pack. We appreciate the reports of wolves and wolf sign we have received from the public as this information is helpful in targeting field crew's efforts to locate and re-collar members of this pack. Following a report of wolves in Bear Valley, Tribal field crews found evidence of recent wolf activity in this area. It is still uncertain if observed wolf activity is attributable to the Bear Valley pair, or other uncollared wolves such as members of the Landmark pack. Capture and collaring efforts continue in this area."
As a final note, the Bear Valley Pair, B30F and B28M, was located in Sulphur Creek in the southwestern corner of the Frank Church Wilderness. Their former pack mate B19M has been frequently the southwestern edge of the Frank Church near Beaver Creek and Rapid River.
Update: we went to Stanley, Idaho vicinity to look for the Stanley Pack near the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains. After several days searching we located them in a dense copse of timber surrounded by beaver ponds on all sides. They would come out onto the nearby meadow at night to hunt elk They were close to several roads, but the pack was well isolated by what amounted to a moat. We couldn't tell how many wolves there were because they came out at night.
We learned that a number of people have now seen the new White Clouds pack in the headwaters of the Big Wood River, mostly on the south side of Galena Summit. They were observed on a deer kill.
Wolf Pack Territory map of Idaho as of mid-August 1998
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