BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Federal authorities are taking public comments on a plan to conduct an extensive environmental study involving killing wolves and other predators in Idaho that attack livestock, deer and elk.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday says it will take comments through July 10 on a planned environmental impact statement.
A federal judge ordered the study last year after ruling the Agriculture Department's Wildlife Services violated environmental laws by not providing the justification to support its decision to expand killing mountain lions, coyotes, bears and other predators in Idaho.
The new environmental impact statement will replace the agency's 2016 Idaho environmental assessment involving those predators, as well as its 2011 wolf environmental assessment that guides its wolf-killing decisions in the state.
