But more than 700 letters regarding the plan were sent to Intermountain Regional Forester Jack Troyer in Ogden, Utah, who oversees management of the federal wilderness area. In a statement he released Tuesday, Troyer said the number of public comments and the complexity of issues raised prompted him to wait until a more detailed analysis can be done.
"It is important to ensure the protection of wilderness while balancing the need for Idaho Fish and Game to manage populations of gray wolves," Troyer said.
Scott Phillips, a retired Forest Service employee in the central Idaho town of Hailey who wrote a letter of protest to Troyer, said the federal agency simply cannot allow an unwarranted motor activity inside the federal wilderness without doing a detailed environmental impact examination with more public comment.
"This is not a case of environmentalists raising some obscure point," said Phillips. "It's a fundamental point of law that the 1964 Wilderness Act and the 1980 Central Idaho Wilderness Act prohibit motorized incursions into wilderness unless there is someone down there with two broken legs and they need their life saved by a helicopter ride."
Caswell said the state had argued that using helicopters for research in the wilderness would be a viable exception. But he believes the Forest Service was cowed by environmental groups that charged the helicopter collaring program would aid Idaho in eliminating - not managing - wolf packs.
"The Forest Service heard from folks who are skeptical of the motives of the state, who believe the only reason we want to do this is to find the wolves so we can shoot them," he said. "That's just baloney, it's not true."
