Sun Valley mayor wants wolves kept out of town

SUN VALLEY (AP) - A plan is needed to feed elk outside the central Idaho resort town of Sun Valley so the large herd animals don't enter residential areas searching for food and attract wolves, the mayor said.

"I'm finished with these town hall meetings, we're moving to a solution," Wayne Willich said at a meeting on Wednesday. "The time for discussion is over."

Willich said the mountain town must be a "no-predator zone" and called on the Wood River Elk Trust II to make a plan to feed elk on a ridge above the Elkhorn neighborhood next winter.

Willich wants the group to present a plan to the Sun Valley City Council in two weeks. He said the city council would likely offer moral support, but no money.

He also said that if the group can't feed elk, or if the Sun Valley City Council doesn't approve a resolution supporting the feeding, he will demand the Idaho Department of Fish and Game be more proactive.

"We'll put you on notice that whenever there's a predator around, you need to use whatever techniques to get the predators out of town," Willich said, calling Sun Valley a "no-predator zone."

Fish and Game Regional Supervisor Jerome Hansen, who was in the audience, said the agency already has a policy for such situations.

"We've got a document specifically developed to deal with urban large-animal conflicts," he told The Times-News. "This is all about public safety. Our guys are Johnny-on-the-spot."

Hansen said the department's policy is to avoid feeding programs that concentrate animals, and would prefer the size of the elk herd be reduced and that other habitat areas away from homes be enhanced to attract elk.

"Their plan to start up a feeding program (in Elkhorn) is an easy short-term solution, maybe, but I don't think it's the long-term solution," Hansen said.

"It takes a while (for the elk) to develop new patterns. It takes longer than we've had."