STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

The Wood River Wolf Project just completed 12 years of attempting to protect both sheep and wolves in the Wood River Valley.

Learn about its successes and challenges as former Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen and Project Co-Founder Suzanne Stone discuss the project at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30, at Ketchum’s Community Library.

Sheep losses to wolves in the Sun Valley area are among the lowest in the state—90 percent lower than the rest of Idaho, according to the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Service.

Consequently, the project has come to serve as a model for livestock and wildlife conflict management not only across the west but also around the world.

The Wood River Wolf Project is a collaborative of conservation organizations, ranching operations and county, state and federal agencies working together to use proactive, nonlethal deterrents to minimize livestock and wolf conflicts.

It was formed after a newly formed wolf pack known as the Phantom Hill Pack began killing sheep along central Idaho’s sheep superhighway in the Wood River watershed in 2007.

It covers 282,600 acres of timberland and sagebrush habitat across the Sawtooth National Forest.