Milestone Reached in Wolf Recovery Plan

A new pair of breeding gray wolves has been confirmed in western Idaho, putting the animals about two-thirds of the way toward qualifying for removal from the endangered species list, a federal wolf recovery official said.

The federal wolf recovery plan for the northern Rocky Mountains calls for 30 breeding pairs of wolves distributed throughout western Montana, central Idaho and the Yellowstone area for three successive years.

With the newly discovered Gold Fork pack and its two yearlings, the region reached 30 breeding pairs in the year 2000 and maintained that level this year.

At the end of 2000, biologists counted 63 wolves in northwestern Montana, 177 in the Yellowstone area and 192 in central Idaho.