News & Features
“State gives thumbs-up to $180K plan to shoot wolves.”
An article in the Idaho Mountain Express on November 17, 2023 describes the Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board’s recent decision to approve the use of additional state funds to kill wolves. Lava Lake Institute’s own Brian Bean has spoken out against this decision and is quoted in the article.
“Killing Wolves to Own the Libs?”
Conversations around the intersection of apex predators and livestock have heated up in recent months. In a related article from The New Yorker on April 4, 2022, , a number of Idaho ranchers and conservationists are mentioned, including Lava Lake Institute’s Brian Bean.
Lava Lake Institute co-founder, Brian Bean, was on PBS News Hour putting in a word for wolves and non-lethal control.
Lava Lake Ranch’s amazing camp tender, Claudio Orihuela, is also seen in the footage. Claudio tended this sheep band all season while Hector Vilcapoma, the head herder, was sick with Covid in Peru. Hector returned to the US in early June and was ready to take the band, but Claudio asked to remain with the sheep, saying he had kept the lambs safe thus far and he would see them through to shipping. They have been surrounded by wolves all summer.
In early August, they shipped the lambs, 800+. Claudio had not lost a single one. He’s now back at the ranch and Hector is tending the ewes. The wolves are still on the scene.
Kurt Holtzen, also seen in the segment, is our amazing friend and volunteer who developed a more high tech collar to protect the guard dogs.
Brian Bean, along with the Dutchers (the nation’s leading experts on wolf behavior), recently spoke out against SB 1211. This bill allows up to 90% of Idaho’s grey wolf population to be killed. Read the article here.
We were recently featured in a Western Landowners Alliance article regarding livestock-predator coexistence. Read more about the nonlethal tactics we help local ranchers utilize here!
Our involvement with the Wood River Wolf Project began at the Project’s inception, but we took on the role of fiscal agent from 2015-2020. Read more about this transition in an Idaho Mountain Express article here.
Dr. Jesse Barber of BSU and his team of researchers have been conducting soundscape studies at Lava Lake for the past few years. Read about their ecology research here.