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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 down to the management objective averaging about 500 wolves.
“...we'd need an annual level of 37 percent human caused mortality to reach that management goal,” Fredericks said, describing model projections and recent harvest rates that averaged near that figure.
He also outlined management tools: regulated hunting and trapping, Wildlife Services removals for depredation, producer grants from the Wolf Depredation Control Board, Foundation for Wildlife Management reimbursement incentives and producer kill permits. The director said those producer kill permits are not affected by the federal trapping injunction.
Fredericks warned that a federal court injunction in 2024 substantially restricted recreational wolf trapping in 19 counties identified as grizzly habitat by limiting trapping months, which historically accounted for a significant portion of harvest in those areas. The state has moved for reconsideration in federal court and is also exploring broader efforts related to grizzly delisting status; the injunction was issued in litigation alleging incidental take of grizzly bears via traps.
Committee members asked about the department’s legal and rule responses. Fredericks said the agency filed a motion for reconsideration and has proposed regulatory clarifications to ensure state-authorized activities do not authorize incidental take of federally listed species. He said agency and contractor trapping and other control tools remain available, but recreational trapping closures in the affected months will likely reduce overall harvest compared with prior years.
On conflicts, Fredericks said reported livestock depredations have declined since their peak but cautioned reporting can be incomplete because some producers do not always report depredations; wildlife services data remain the main source for confirmed incidents.
The director said the agency remains committed to reaching management objectives and will continue to use the available tools to reduce impacts to elk populations that are below objective and to address chronic depredation areas.
