Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Wildlife Health And Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Fish and Game director briefs committee on chronic wasting disease, wolf monitoring and grizzly conflicts
Summary
Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks updated the Senate committee on chronic wasting disease (CWD) surveillance and results, methods and trends in wolf population monitoring and management, and increasing grizzly bear conflicts and removal actions in the Greater Yellowstone area and other parts of the state.
Jim Fredericks, director of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, gave an agency update covering chronic wasting disease, wolves and grizzly bears and took committee questions on each topic.
On chronic wasting disease, Fredericks explained CWD is caused by a misfolded protein (a prion), not a virus or bacteria, and that prions are infectious, untreatable and can persist in the environment for years. He told the committee that, "the only way you can destroy a prion is by extremely caustic chemicals ... or high temperatures to cremate them." He said the Centers for Disease Control recommends people not eat meat from animals known to be infected with CWD.
Fredericks reviewed Idaho surveillance: CWD was first detected in Idaho in 2021 in the Slate Creek area (between Riggins and Whitebird). The department implemented targeted surveillance hunts and required mandatory testing in affected units. Fredericks reported prevalence in the original focal area has remained low (under 3 percent from 2021–2024) and that nearly 900 samples from targeted units in 2024 produced no additional positives in that zone. He said statewide surveillance identified a separate detection near Bonners Ferry in August 2024; that detection led to a surveillance hunt and the creation of a Unit 1 CWD management zone with mandatory testing. Fredericks said testing of roughly 1,400 samples from the 2024 season in that area produced six positives (including the index detection) for an overall prevalence under 0.5 percent in the sampled population.
The director noted Idaho has tested approximately 40,000 samples for CWD since 1997 and emphasized that the department has been looking for the disease systematically for decades rather than only recently beginning testing.
On wolves, Fredericks outlined how monitoring methods evolved: early collar-and-helicopter counts gave way to statewide camera grids, and more recently to a genetics-based method that uses teeth from harvested wolves to estimate abundance via relatedness and age data. He said the genetics approach and camera methodology produce comparable estimates and that both show the statewide wolf population declining in recent years from a high around 1,100 toward a management objective that "hovers around 500" wolves. Fredericks said the 500 goal is roughly the midpoint of annual seasonal fluctuation and estimated the target range as about plus or minus 250 wolves.
Fredericks reported a decline in livestock depredation and in Wildlife Services investigations in recent years, trends he attributed in part to reduced wolf numbers and to aggressive control of problem animals. He cautioned, however, that some producers may not report depredations, which could understate losses.
He also described a federal court order in spring 2024 that restricted recreational wolf trapping in 19 counties designated as grizzly habitat (March–November), a restriction the department is appealing to the Ninth Circuit. Fredericks said roughly half of recent wolf harvest historically came from trapping and that the injunction affects areas that produced a substantial portion of that harvest.
On grizzly bears, Fredericks and Senator Burton Shaw had earlier discussed a rise in conflicts in parts of Idaho. Fredericks said wildlife investigations in the Greater Yellowstone area in the previous year included 43 Wildlife Services investigations and 25 confirmed livestock depredations; those incidents led to the lethal removal of four adult male grizzly bears and the capture, collaring and relocation of one adult female. He described additional non-livestock conflicts (garbage, beehives, small livestock) in other parts of the state and credited outreach efforts that reached thousands of people.
Fredericks said Fish and Game will comment on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s proposed distinct population segment and 4(d) rule changes for grizzly bears before the March 17 deadline and asked that any updated 4(d) rule provide latitude for livestock producers and landowners and consider implications for wolf-trapping authorizations.
