Otter 'grateful' for $400K to start wolf control fund

BOISE - Idaho Gov. Butch Otter described himself Friday as "grateful," for the $400,000 appropriated to launch a wolf-control board under his administration.

State lawmakers passed that $400,000 appropriations bill, along with the separate startup legislation for what is being titled the "Idaho Wolf Control Depredation Board," on Thursday, the final day of the Legislature's 74-day 2014 session.

Otter, during his Jan. 6 State of the State and Budget Address, had announced he was recommending lump sum funding of $2 million for the proposed new board, aimed at controlling wolves that prey on domestic livestock and wildlife such as elk.

The program sunsets in five years, meaning that if it's funded every year at the $400,000 level, it would total $2 million in state general funds. Legislators are expected now to re-evaluate the wolf control board every year to consider whether funding will continue.

At a Friday afternoon press conference in his ceremonial office, the governor elaborated on his views, with the inclusion of a momentary numbers faux pas.

"Well, I'm grateful for the $400,000," Otter said. "I would like to have had the $200 million, or $2 million, in my budget because I thought there was room in there for the $2 million, which would give us some predictability in our wolf management plan."

The Republican governor added: "But I listened to the debate, just like everybody else did, and the $400,000 made sense within the budget this year. I didn't hear a whole lot of angst about being able to go forward in the years to come."

Discussions in future years might lead to increasing or decreasing the appropriation from the $400,000 first-year, one-time budgeting, Otter said.

"I do know this; We are of one mind that Idaho wants to manage our wolves, and we want to manage them to a reasonable number so that the species does not get endangered again, and the feds don't come in and take it over again," Otter said.

Idaho Speaker of the House Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, also weighed in on the issue.

"There's a five-year program for $2 million, that's $400,000 a year," Bedke noted. "I think this gives us the ability to take a look, see if it's working, adjust along the way. And I think that's what you see as a result of that."