Could Idaho's Wolves Be a Tourist Attraction?
Learn more about wolf viewing opportunities with Sun Valley Trekking.
Sun Valley resident Todd Stewart and his wife, Georgia, peer up at the mountains outside town at a herd of elk, hoping to catch a glimpse of wolves.
KETCHUM - Last year, you could sit in downtown Ketchum with a spotting scope and watch the Phantom Hill wolf pack "lounging around" on the mountains outside of town, Francie St. Onge recalls.
But with two members of the pack harvested in Idaho's first wolf hunting season in decades, another killed by a car, and a fourth taken by wildlife services for harassing livestock, this season is a little different.
"The wolves have scattered quite a bit. They're becoming more remote and more wary," said St. Onge.
St. Onge knows that as well as anybody - for the second year in a row, she has led Sun Valley Trekking's daylong wolf ecology programs.
It's one of the ways wolf advocates hope the animals can bring value to a state that has long seen little benefit to having wolves in its backcountry.
For $50, lunch included, the program is an opportunity for people to learn about the polarizing predator. A recent trek attracted a diverse crowd.
Ryan Morgan, a guitarist for a touring metal band out of Milwaukee, was visiting his girlfriend in Boise when he saw the program on the Internet and was intrigued enough to sign up.
"I think (wolves) are really cool, inspiring animals," he said.
