WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- The Idaho Fish and Game Commission today established a framework for state wolf management and directed the state Fish and Game Department to:

-- Manage wolves in a manner that will ensure wolves remain under responsible state management in conjunction with the rest of Idaho’s wildlife.

--Manage wolves as big game animals consistent with the goals and objectives of the 2002 Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management plan approved by the Idaho Legislature and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep wolves off the Endangered Species List.

--Control wolves where they depredate on livestock and other domestic animals or threaten human safety.

--Control the population of wolves and other predators as needed to address areas where elk or other prey populations are below management objectives.

--Develop wolf hunting season recommendations for consideration at the Commission’s July 2011 meeting and develop trapping recommendations.

-- Conduct additional species management planning as appropriate.

Commissioners also agreed to support Idaho’s legal defense of challenges to state management, such as those lawsuits challenging the 2011 congressional action for wolf delisting.

The commission will urge Congress to continue to provide funding for monitoring, control and depredation compensation related to the wolf population introduced by the federal government into Idaho.