Idaho Bills

Appropriates and transfers $400,000 from the General Fund to the Wolf Control Fund for fiscal year 2017.

This is a fiscal year 2017 appropriation and transfer of $400,000 from the General Fund to the Wolf Control Fund Other Money Subaccount. Enablinglegislationpassedin2014foundthatadditionalfinancialresourcesareneededtocontinue the implementation of Idaho's Wolf management plan administered by the Department of Fish and Game. It established a five-member Wolf Depredation Control Board in the Governor's Office and created a set of new funds and subaccounts to be administered by the Department of Agriculture. The law established fees from the livestock industry, to be matched up to $110,000 per year by sportsmen, to be transferred into the Wolf Control Fund. Fish and Game authorizes control actions when wolves are causing conflicts with people, domestic animals, and significant measured deer and elk population declines. The responsibility of the Wolf Control Board is to allocate the money for control actions approved by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The Wolf Control Board has a cooperative services agreement and a work plan with Wildlife Services. During calendar year 2015, Wildlife Services responded to 84 livestock depredations, confirmed 59 depredations were a result of wolves, and reported that 72 wolves had been killed using funds provided by the Wolf Depredation Control Board. In February of 2016, Wildlife Services s agents killed 20 wolves consistent with the Elk Management Plan and Lolo Predation Management Plan.