An attempt to get a federal judge to halt a wolf extermination effort by Idaho Fish and Game in the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness Area has failed. Judge Edward Lodge denied the legal motions for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction filed by Pocatello resident Ralph Maughan and several conservation groups on Friday.

    “We’re appealing it,” Maughan said about Lodge’s decision. “It’s not a wolf issue, it’s a wilderness issue.”

    Maughan, joined by Defenders of Wildlife, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch and the Center for Biological Diversity had filed suit against U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, U.S. Forest Service officials and Virgil Moore, the director of Idaho’s Department of Fish and Game, effort was illegal within the boundaries of a federal wilderness area.

    In their complaint, Maughan and the groups had claimed the wolf killing effort was unlawful under the National Forest Management Act and the Wildness Act and that Idaho Fish and Game had received no special use permit to hunt down and kill two wolf packs in the Frank Church Wilderness Area.

    Idaho Fish and Game hired a hunter in late 2013 to track and kill wolves from two packs in central Idaho because of concern over dwindling elk populations in the area. Aerial surveys in the Frank Church Wilderness showed elk populations dropped 43 percent since 2002 and wolf populations are too high in relation to elk numbers, according to Idaho Fish and Game.

    Among the issues in the legal complaint was the fact the U.S. Forest Service was allowing the hunter hired by Idaho Fish and Game to use an airstrip and cabin that belongs to the Forest Service and that no environmental impact study had been done prior to the wolf hunting expedition.    

    Judge Lodge ruled that the state’s fish and game department had a memorandum of understanding with Forest Service that allowed the use of facilities that were available. He also said the actions being taken by Idaho Fish and Game were not under the control of the Forest Service and environmental impact studies were only necessary when “major Federal actions significantly affecting the quality of the human environment.”

    “Again, no final agency action has been taken in regards to the Wilderness Act,” Lodge wrote in his decision. “From the current record, it appears the USFS has not yet determined whether or not IDFG’s activities at issue here are in conflict with other resource use or wilderness values.”

    In his conclusion, Judge Lodge wrote: “The court finds that the plaintiffs here have failed to show a likelihood of success or any serious questions going to the merits of their claims.”

    The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation issued a press release on Wednesday that said it supported the efforts of Idaho Fish and Game Department and opposed the lawsuit.

    “There is nothing illegal about this management activity,” said David Allen, Elk Foundation president and CEO. “It clearly falls within the guidelines of Idaho’s federally approved wolf management plan.”

    Idaho Fish and Game director Virgil Moore also defended his agency’s actions.

    “The wilderness is a special place, but it is different from a national park,” Moore said. “Backcountry hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing are treasured opportunities, and Fish and Game has actively managed wildlife in central Idaho since before the area was designated wilderness.”

    Despite Judge Lodge’s ruling, Maughan is undeterred.

    “Sending someone into a wilderness area to exterminate wildlife is asinine,” Maughan said.