Good time to see a man about a horse • Reverse migration: Wolverine goes from Idaho to California • Solutions instead of bickering in wolf debate • State of emergency in N. Idaho • Meth a popular topic in Idaho Falls • Menan mayor quits, hands it to city council on the way out

Good time to see a man about a horse

A Reuters story with a Salmon, Idaho, dateline says a year ago, the sale of an average horse suitable for recreation could have been several thousand dollars

Today, however, prices in some cases could be in the hundreds of dollars, largely because of higher costs for their maintenance and transport.

The story says in east central Idaho, hay prices have risen to $145 from $120 per ton a year ago, a jump of 21%, and that feeding a horse can cost $2,000 a year or more.

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Reverse migration: Wolverine goes from Idaho to California

There's an effort underway to track what is believed to be the first wolverine officially sighted in California since 1922.

A motion-triggered camera set up by a researcher captured the image of an animal thought to be a wolverine in February, "surprising scientists who thought humans had driven the predator and scavenger from the state."

Those scientists think the wolverine might have wandered from Idaho's Sawtooth Range, 600 miles away.

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Solutions instead of bickering in wolf debate

The Mountain Express reports that a non-lethal predator management program aimed at separating wolves and sheep in the Sawtooth National Forest northwest of Ketchum could become a model for other wolf-occupied ranching areas throughout the West.

The program, proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Idaho branch, includes "herding sheep into electrified night pens at dusk, hazing wolves that venture too close to sheep bands and using radio-activated guard boxes, which blare loud sounds to deter wolves from preying on livestock."

Blaine County commissioners voted Tuesday to authorize $1,500 in county funds for the project, which could begin as early as this summer.

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State of emergency in N. Idaho

Way up in Silver Valley, the Shoshone County Board of Commissioners declared a state of emergency Tuesday in anticipation of potential flooding this week.

They are expecting water in "unprecedented amounts," according to the Coeur d'Alene Press. Excessive snowpack combined with warmer temperatures could impact several spots along the banks of the North Fork of the Coeur d'Alene River.

Lake Coeur d'Alene is now 2,122 feet, and expected to rise 10 feet by next Wednesday, Sandy Von Behren, director of the Kootenai County Office of Emergency Management, said. Flood stage is 2,133 feet.

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Meth a popular topic in Idaho Falls

An Idaho Falls meth forum was such a huge success that people had to be turned away Tuesday night.

An Idaho State Police Lieutenant and a former meth addict were on hand to speak at the family forum, according to TV station KPVI.

The TV station says that Idaho is ranked 5th for states with the highest per capita use of methamphetamine.

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Menan mayor quits, hands it to city council on the way out

Rand Watson, the mayor of Menan, Idaho, resigned earlier this week, citing irreconcilable differences with the city council.

Among his many complaints, the former mayor said he believed the council was not educated on city ordinances.

Watson, a Menan lifer, also claimed the city clerk approved a subdivision without a planning and zoning or public hearing, and that her salary was too high.