Challis area wolf hysteria continues
Feb. 28, 2000
The Twin Peaks wolf pack hasn't done anything new -- no more livestock killed -- just the one cow calf and a horse chase, and that was now three weeks ago. It's some of the local folks who are doing all the howling. After a big rally, a new anti-wolf organization has been formed -- the Central Idaho Wolf Coalition. "Ron Gillette, who owns the Triangle C guest ranch at Stanley and a whitewater outfitting business on the Main and Middle forks of the Salmon River, described the coalition as a group of outfitters, mom-and-pop business owners and ranchers."
Unfortunately, these locals who think that the wolves are hurting the tourist industry, don't seem to perceive what most folks want -- wolves are an attraction, not a drawback. Well, hopefully they will put up their anti-wolf signs in communities like Stanley, Challis, and Salmon so visitors will know wear not to buy their food and gear.
Because the wolves have done nothing new, there must be an explanation for the human response. I would hypothesize that it is result of frustration with what many locals to the area see as a declining way of life. It's a way of letting off steam; and, of course, it's encouraged and mobilized by area politicians who find that whipping this stuff up keeps them safely in office. There's an old political saying in Idaho -- "Once they've been to Washington, they never come back to Pocatello."
Ironically, another factor in the local response may be the mild winter. Normally, cattle growers lose about 5 or 10% of their calves to the weather. Due to the mild weather this winter, they may have more time to worry about small threats like wolves.
There is a bill being prepared in the Idaho Legislature to let the Idaho Department of Fish and Game help manage the wolves along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This was the original plan upon reintroduction of wolves in 1995, but ever since this was overturned in 1995 by local politicians, the Idaho Legislature has shot this proposal down. Will it fare better this year? Perhaps, but my view still remains that wolves are too valuable for Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming politicos in their role as "scapewolves" for them to want to accept responsibility. There was news today that once again Wyoming will forgo preparing a plan to help manage the wolves or plan for delisting them.
Article in Spokane Spokesman-Review. Business owners campaign against wolves: they fear deer and elk herds are being decimated. This sounds just like the outfitters north of Yellowstone who claimed last November that wolves had decimated the northern range elk herd, only to find out the herd had grown 10% in the last year.
by Ralph Maughan
Pocatello, Idaho
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