This brief news item has been in the Idaho media, only they give it the vague headline “F&G to investigate North Idaho wolf sightings,” which would not be news at all.
Craig Mountain is at the lower end of Hells Canyon and right on the Oregon border. A student showed me some data about a year ago indicating the area at or near Craig Mountain has the greatest biodiversity in Idaho (in part due to the large elevation differences).
And this would be an ungulate rich, wolf crossing area into Oregon! They could cross the Snake River (the state boundary) and move right on up the Grande Rhone River, an elk and deer, backcountry highway right into NE Oregon.
I created this from Google Earth to show the proximity. The view is to the south.
Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. He was a Western Watersheds Project Board Member off and on for many years, and was also its President for several years. For a long time he produced Ralph Maughan's Wolf Report. He was a founder of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition. He and Jackie Johnson Maughan wrote three editions of "Hiking Idaho." He also wrote "Beyond the Tetons" and "Backpacking Wyoming's Teton and Washakie Wilderness." He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News.
