On Tuesday, November 28, the Center for Biological Diversity published a petition against the usage of aerial gunning in Idaho national forests. Aerial gunning is the usage of planes or helicopters to chase an animal until it is exhausted, before proceeding to shoot or tranquilize it. The petition explains that “The Idaho Wolf Control Board recently approved proposals that allocate more than $140,000 to hire private contractors to use aerial gunning and other methods to kill wolves on federal lands and private property in the state…The enumerated ‘game management units’ overlap several national forests in Idaho, including the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Boise National Forest, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Sawtooth National Forest, and Payette National Forest.”

 The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board approved five proposals, three of which used aerial gunning by the Predator Control Corporation on federal and private land. The Predator Control Corporation is owned and operated by Trevor Walch. The corporation’s aerial gunning permit expired on June 30th, 2022, and it is unknown if they have been issued a renewed permit. According to public records, Trevor Walch has personally violated multiple wildlife protection laws in Nevada. His corporation has also been federally investigated due to allegations of allowing family members to join the aerial gunning operations for personal enjoyment. 

Multiple studies have shown that aerial gunning has adverse effects on unintended targets. These include Grizzly bears, Canada Lynx, and Wolverines. Even more concerning, there is no evidence that the predator population is doing significant damage to the livestock operations in the areas that aerial gunning was approved. Furthermore, the wolf population in Idaho is down for the third year in a row, and aerial gunning has proved to be a less effective method of population control. Non-lethal methods of controlling the wolf population, such as the usage of tranquilizers,  have proven to be effective. In fact, killing predators has often proved to be costly, unsuccessful, and sometimes cause more conflict.