Against all odds, Whitehawk Pack Survives Summer: Alpha pair and probably all 9 pups still thrive in Idaho's Sawtooth Valley area.

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As of last July, betting folks wouldn't have wagered a dime on the future of the Whitehawk Pack. It had just taken over the territory of the dispersed Stanley Pack, but had killed some sheep, a cow calf, and had 9 pups to feed with only 2 adults after the initial control action was completed.

Now is it mid-November, the sheep have been gone for a month and only a few cattle are left in the area. The adults are alive and well and so probably are all nine pups, although none are radio-collared, so the status of each cannot be known.

The pack, led by alpha male B47M, and a beautiful, uncollared, nearly white female, owe their existence to the intense public controversy surrounding conflict between sheep and wolves in one of Idaho's most scenic locations.

The wolves and the sheep were kept apart during the summer by a number of volunteers, organized by Defenders of Wildlife in cooperation with the Nez Perce tribal wolf team. Defenders declared the volunteer program a success in Sept. in a story in Defenders Magazine "Idaho's Underdogs" (Pdf). I wanted to wait until the grazing season was entirely over before I did the story.

The controversy also generated a lawsuit by the Idaho Conservation League and the Western Watersheds Project demanding that wildlife be given first priority on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area as the 1972 law creating the area mandated. That lawsuit has not been settled yet, but folks are still demanded that elk, deer, moose, bears, cougar, wolves, etc. be given priority over sheep and cattle operations, especially those not based in the area.

I talked with some of the wolf guardians and others involved. My impressions were that two of the three sheep operators involved were cooperative ("wolf guardians" also worked to keep the Landmark Pack and sheep apart). One operator was not cooperative, but that all the sheepherders (the folks who do the actual work) were glad to work with the volunteers). Because the sheepherders are usually forewing nationals, often not English-speaking, the job is lonely, and some company is welcomed.

A note on the Landmark Pack. This is one of the first three naturally formed packs in Idaho after the reintroduction. Their home range has always been the southwest corner of the Frank Church Wilderness. This summer they moved a bit south to occupy the upper reaches of Marsh Creek, Knapp Creek, and the Capehorn area. There were sheep in part of that area. 

The Landmark Pack consists of 6-8 adults and 6 gray pups. One radio collar exists in the pack, that of the alpha female B91F.

Previous stories on the Whitehawk Pack:

• Sawtooth Valley's Whitehawk Pack has pups and trouble. 6-14-2001

• Brailsford's sheep head directly into wolf pack. 6-18-2001

• Kill order on Whitehawk Pack lifted. 6-21-2991.

• Wildlife Services kills two of the Whitehawk Pack. 7-1-2001.

• Western Watersheds Project and ICL to Sue Sawtooth National Forest over failure to keep Whitehawk Pack and sheep apart. 7-2-2001

• Defenders calls for volunteers to help keep Whitehawk Pack and sheep apart.. 7-2-2001

• Volunteers successful so far keeping wolves and sheep apart in Sawtooth Valley. 7-9-2001.

• Defenders' Volunteers keep Whitehawk Pack wolves and sheep apart so far. 8-6-2001

• More Idaho Wolf Guardians Needed. 8-13-2001.

If any volunteers want to write their own story for this web page, I would be glad to publish it.

                                                         . . . . Ralph Maughan

Addition 11-14-2001. Tamra Smith of the California Wolf Center has consented to publishing her diary of being a volunter in Idaho this summer. "Being A Wolf Guardian in Idaho" by Tamra Smith.

 

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