Scientists, wolves and Butch Otter's big mouth
BYLINE: Jim Fisher Tribune
When Gov. Butch Otter addressed a group of anti-wolf hysterics on the steps of the Idaho Statehouse shortly after assuming office in January, his remarks were calculated to please the crowd. But when a chief executive speaks in public, he is heard by more than one crowd.
Among those who were not so pleased by Otter's vow to help reduce the number of wolves - and his stated desire to be among the first to kill one - were members of a group of more than 230 wildlife biologists, ecologists and other scientists who have now petitioned the U.S. government not to remove wolves from the federal Endangered Species List. The scientists, from nearly each of the 50 states, say the animals still face too many threats in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.
One of those threats, they say, is Idaho's governor.
"We understand that the governor of Idaho, C.L. Butch Otter, has vowed to expeditiously reduce the current number of wolves in his state from around 700 to the FWS' [U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's] minimal standard of just 100 wolves for that state," the scientists' letter says.
The letter was sent to the Fish and Wildlife Service's wolf recovery coordinator, Ed Bangs.
In it, the scientists say the government should delay delisting the wolves because their populations in all three states remain small, and each state's wolves do not intermingle with those from another. They say that means populations should be allowed to grow larger before the wolves are removed from the list.
"This recovery goal is not based on any biologically relevant information such as demographic or genetic data, the letter says.
It adds that wolves face special threats in two of the states, Idaho because of Otter's stated intentions and Wyoming because state government there is still at odds with the feds over a management plan.
"Legislation recently passed in Wyoming would allow hunting of wolves until only seven breeding pairs occur within the state," the letter says.
The letter confirms that Otter has single-handedly moved this state's image back toward the time when state government refused to have anything to do with wolf recovery, and the federal government gave the job of managing it to the Nez Perce Tribe. In more recent years, Idaho had moved closer to Montana's enlightened position, willing to accept and manage wolves as it does other species.
What a shame it will be if Otter's sorry spectacle on the Statehouse steps deters or delays the delisting that was well under way when he became governor. - J.F.