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Idaho Fish and Game reports declining wolf population trend, warns federal injunction limiting trap seasons may curb harvest
Summary
Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks told the House committee that two independent monitoring methods corroborate a recent decline in Idaho’s wolf population and that achieving the management plan target of roughly 500 wolves will require sustained human-caused mortality near 37 percent.
Director Jim Fredericks told the committee that two independent monitoring methods — a trail‑camera occupancy/abundance program and a genetics-based estimate derived from harvested-wolf teeth — produce consistent trends showing Idaho’s wolf population has been declining since 2021.
Fredericks summarized the methods and results: camera-based monitoring (2016–2019 grid then expanded) and a genetics/age model (using teeth collected from harvested wolves) produce similar estimates for overlapping years, giving the agency confidence in the trend. He said analysis suggests an annual human-caused mortality rate of roughly 37% would be needed to move the statewide annual abundance cycle…
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