Fish and Game director reports low but spreading chronic wasting disease, declining wolf numbers and increasing grizzly conflicts

Jim Fredericks, director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, gave the committee an agency update covering chronic wasting disease (CWD), wolves and grizzly bears and described current surveillance, management tools and legal challenges.

On CWD, Fredericks explained that the disease is caused by a misfolded protein called a prion and is infectious, untreatable and fatal. He said there are no confirmed human cases and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people not eat meat from animals that tested positive. Fredericks described Idaho’s detection history: the first detections in Slate Creek in 2021 prompted mandatory testing and focused surveillance hunts; prevalence in that focal area has remained under 3 percent through 2024. In the Panhandle, the department detected CWD near Bonners Ferry in August 2024; subsequent surveillance and mandatory testing produced six positives out of roughly 1,400 samples (under 0.5 percent prevalence). Fredericks noted the department has tested nearly 40,000 samples since 1997 and that prions can persist in the environment for years.

On wolves, Fredericks reviewed methods used to estimate population size over time: earlier collar-and-helicopter counts, camera-grid occupancy and abundance estimates developed in 2019, and a newer genetics-based method that uses age and genetic data from mandatory hunter- and trapper-submitted teeth. He said the different methods validate one another and that Idaho’s wolf population has declined from highs of roughly 1,100 toward a target management level of approximately 500 wolves (Fredericks described the 500 figure as the management objective and noted typical seasonal fluctuation and a possible ±250 range). He also said wolf-caused livestock depredations and Wildlife Services investigations have trended down alongside the population decline, though some producers may not report all depredations.

Fredericks told the committee a federal court order in spring 2024 restricted recreational wolf trapping in 19 counties (the injunction limited trapping March–November in those counties because of concerns a grizzly could be caught in a wolf trap). He said trapping historically accounted for about half of wolf harvest in recent years and that the restriction has reduced harvest in affected areas; the department has filed motions for reconsideration and plans to appeal to the Ninth Circuit. "There has never been in Bridal a grizzly bear caught in a legally set wolf trap," Fredericks said when asked about documented incidents (the director said no grizzly has been caught in a legally set wolf trap in Idaho to his knowledge).

On grizzly bears, Fredericks said 2024 saw an "unprecedented" number of livestock depredations in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem portion of Idaho: 43 Wildlife Services investigations and 25 confirmed livestock depredations that resulted in four adult male grizzlies being lethally removed and one adult female captured, collared and relocated. He described other conflict types (bears in garbage, threats to public safety and self-defense shootings) and said the department conducted prevention and outreach that reached more than 7,000 people. Fredericks discussed the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed distinct population segment (DPS) rule for grizzlies and an updated 4(d) rule (the ESA provision that can authorize limited take); he said the department has submitted preliminary comments and will file detailed comments before a March 17 deadline, and urged the Service to consider state flexibility, including take authorizations for landowners and coverage that would not impede wolf-trapping activities where appropriate.

Ending: Director Fredericks said the department will continue surveillance and management actions—testing hunters’ animals at no charge, focused surveillance hunts, outreach and legal action where court decisions affect management tools—and will submit formal comments to the federal proposed rules.