Wolf howls prompt wilderness evacuation: Frightened Forest Service employees extracted

Two U.S. Forest Service employees from Utah were evacuated by helicopter from the Sawtooth Wilderness in late September after encountering a pack of howling wolves about five miles east of Graham in the Johnson Creek drainage. Johnson Creek is the southwestern portion of the Sawtooths and in the North Fork of the Boise River drainage. According to Ed Waldapfel, spokesman for the Sawtooth National Forest, the incident occurred Sept. 23 at about 10 a.m. when the employees observed wolves chasing a bull elk across a meadow. "A little while later they started hearing wolves howling all around them," Waldapfel said. "They called on their radio or satellite phone and asked their supervisor if they could leave the area." Waldapfel said the employees, whose names he did not know, were from the Rocky Mountain Research Station in Ogden and were conducting forest inventory work in the Sawtooths, began hiking back to their camp a couple miles away. But they claimed the howls persisted, Waldapfel said. "No matter which way they went they said they could hear the wolves," he added. "They climbed onto a rock outcropping and continued to communicate with their supervisor. "They admitted they were very scared and wanted to get out of the area." Shortly thereafter, Waldapfel said the employees' supervisor contacted the Sawtooth National Forest and "asked for a helicopter to come in and retrieve them."....Just wait till Laura Schneberger sees this. They expect ranchers and their children to adapt to having wolves in their environment. But Forest Service employees? Heavens no. And aren't they priviliged characters too. I mean, a helicopter in a Wilderness Area?