CARIBOU: It's all about land

The latest caribou habitat story is nothing more than a massive land grab by environmental groups on the backs of the caribou. What Mr. Layser doesn't tell us is the fact that only three caribou of the 45-member herd have been counted in the U.S., and that in the last 10 years the U.S. population has only had from one to three caribou. If we do the math of the 375,562 acres that the report states, that comes out to 125,187 acres per caribou that are there a few months out of the year.

Layser also does not mention that the herd has grown by 10 since the last failed population augmentation in 1998, but still only three in the U.S. Mike Petersen talks of additional population augmentation but fails to mention that roughly 120 caribou were transplanted into this herd but the animals either died, were victims of predators or simply walked back to Canada. During one of these augmentations the "experts" brought caribou in during a peak in the mountain lion population. The 2009 study mentions snowmobiling has a negative impact on the caribou but skips over the fact that the population grew the last 10 years. The state of Idaho and its citizens are in line to lose access to this beautiful area unless we get involved. There are more closures on the way, this is what these environmental groups do, they sue the government and force their agenda and we all pay!

GEORGE BOIFEUILLET

Hayden