Helicopters and Wolves
Helicopters in the wilderness raising serious objections by most environmentalists. I’m David Sparks and I’ll be back with the story in a minute. The Magic Valley News reported that six more environmental groups have joined a lawsuit objecting to a U.S. Forest Service decision to allow the state to land helicopters in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness to dart and collar wolves. All those opposed to helicopter landings say they are unnecessary and were pushed through by the Forest Service. You folks probably know that I’m not a big fan of so-called non profit lawyers getting paid huge sums of money to shut down this federal program and that ag program, etc. Regional Forester Harv Forsgren approved a limited number of landings by Idaho Department of Fish and Game employees saying that the state had already tried alternate methods and that the information would help both federal and state biologists. So, knowing that the helicopter landings are an effort to help wolf management, what could the possible enviro-objections be? Here’s John McCarthy with Wilderness Society in Boise: “We think that should require a full environmental study and the opportunity for people to review all of the implications. Number Two: We think there’s other ways to gather the same information. This is working from the ground, from backpacks and from horse supported efforts. We think it’s a lot more in keeping with wilderness values to conduct a study that works from the ground rather than the intrusion of working from the air.”
