Proposed critical habitat for Selkirk Mountain caribou

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing that 375,562 acres be designated as critical habitat for southern Selkirk Mountain caribou.

The land is located in Boundary and Bonner counties in Idaho, and Pend Oreille County in Washington. These lands are currently considered by the USFWS to be occupied by the caribou.

The majority of the proposed critical habitat lies on the west side of Boundary County.

On Monday at the Kootenai Valley Resource Initiative meeting, the USFWS presented information on the proposed issue.

Protected under the Endangered Species Act, the caribou was listed as endangered in 1984. It is estimated that there are about 46 caribou in the area, according to USFWS. 

The USFWS believes the primary threat to the species survival is the loss of contiguous old growth forest habitats due to timber harvest and wildfires, according to a USFWS press release.

Human activities such as road-building and recreational trails can also fragment caribou habitat and facilitate movement of predators into the caribou’s range.

About 175 people turned out for Monday night’s meeting which was held at Kootenai River Inn. 

In what was supposed to be an informational meeting, citizen disapproval was apparent with several people voicing opinions out loud.

“You have a better chance of spotting Big Foot than a caribou out there,” shouted one disapproving attendee.

The purpose of KVRI as explained by co-chair Dan Dinning is to bring information to the community and that is what the group hoped to accomplish by inviting the USFWS.

“This is not an official public hearing or public meeting it is an informational meeting,” Dinning said. “The object of it is so we can all become very well-educated on what is being proposed and where to interact so we can interact very intelligently according to the process that is laid out for us.”

Boundary County Commissioner Ron Smith said the commissioners are in the process of drafting a letter to the Idaho Department of Wildlife in Boise. He said they would be asking for three public hearings in Boundary County. At these meetings community members can voice their concerns.  He also said they would be asking for a 60-day extension on the comments and public hearings. Deadline for written comments is Jan. 30.

Smith also said the commissioners are trying to coordinate with the Boundary County School District to use the Becker Auditorium for the public meetings which will seat about 500 people.

“We will send out a press release outlining all of this and another press release after IDFG gets back to us about the request,” Smith said.

Bryon Holt of the USFWS said by Nov. 12, 2012 the final critical habitat rule will be delivered.

The question was asked what they thought was causing the declining numbers.

“To be perfectly honest we don’t know exactly what is impacting the population or why the population is declining,” answered Holt.  “We are trying to get a better handle on what exactly is driving the status of the population, but we can’t tell you exactly what that is.”

After Holt’s comment the crowd shouted, “wolves, wolves.”

“We are working with the University of Montana and doing a study to look at the interaction between wolves and caribou  and we are working to get a handle on that,” Holt said.

“We are consistently hearing (about the number of caribou)46 or 47 caribou, how many are in Idaho, is there some way you can show a general designation of how many are actually in Idaho,” asked Dinning.

In a census of the caribou population taken by Idaho Fish and Game from 2000 to 2009,  it stated there were only a few caribou on the U.S. side of the border to Canada.  Patty Perry of KVRI said not to take the numbers from the census out of context.

Perry said  Wayne Wakkinen of Idaho Fish and Game, will be attend the February KVRI meeting.  He will present an overview of three different studies that have gone on over the last several years regarding caribou.

According to USFWS whenever critical habitat is proposed an economic analysis is required.

Holt said economist will look at everything it will cost to manage caribou today without the designation, and then if they designate critical habitat on top of that, they will figure out what the additional cost will be. 

“It is called an incremental analysis which the courts will go one way or the other on,” said Susan Birch with USFWS.

The economic analysis wont be coming out until around April 2012.  Holt said the comment period will reopen after this analysis is presented.th

At the end of the meeting the forest service reitterated that this is not a decision at this point.  People have  time to comment and the forest service is evaluating the plan and how it may effect the community.

“We want to have conversations with you, but if you want your comments submitted you have to submit them first in writing,” said Holt.

To send a comment electronically go to the Federal Rule making eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

To mail in a comment send it to U.S. Fish and Wildflife Service; Division of Policy and Directives Management, 4401 N. Fairfax Dr., MS 2042-PDM; Arlington, VA 22201.

Comments need to be in by Jan. 30, 2012, 11:59 p.m. eastern time.

To view more information go to the USFWS website at www.fws.gov.  People can go to Kootenai.org to view KVRI information from the meeting.