Montana Wildlife on the Web - MWF Press Release
Reactions to wolf relisting diverse
By EVE BYRON Independent Record | Posted: Sunday, August 8, 2010 12:00 am
Reactions varied widely this week on the decision to put wolves back on the list of animals protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Montana Sen. Max Baucus said he is “extremely disappointed” with the relisting of the wolves, and will ask Congress next month to intervene.
“Montana has long had an excellent wolf management plan in place and it shouldn’t be set aside because Wyoming’s plan continues to come up short,” Baucus said. “This dispute has gone on long enough and I’m looking at all options to deal with it. When Congress returns next month, I plan to introduce legislation that puts wolves under Montana’s management.”
Others want pressure applied to Wyoming to come up with a wolf management plan that is acceptable to federal officials, so that wolves in that state, along with those in Montana and Idaho, can be delisted once again. On Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy ruled that the wolf population can’t be considered “recovered” and delisted in Montana and Idaho, but not in Wyoming.
Some wildlife advocacy groups urged Wyoming to modify its proposed management plan, saying that without one that’s approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wolves never can be delisted in other Rocky Mountain states.
“Montana and Idaho have done their part,” said Tim Aldrich, president of the Montana Wildlife Federation. “Hunters, landowners and wildlife professionals worked together to find a middle ground and develop a management plan that will result in the continued sustainable populations of wolves, and now we’re being punished by the unwillingness on behalf of Wyoming leaders to adopt an appropriate, scientific-based wolf management plan. Under normal circumstances, we would not take another state to task over the way they manage their wildlife, but as the old saying goes, ‘Your rights stop where my nose begins.’
“In light of Judge Molloy’s decision, that means that Wyoming’s temper tantrum over wolves is directly impacting the way that we in Montana are able to manage our wildlife. We don’t believe this is acceptable behavior coming from a neighbor, especially a neighboring state with an immensely appreciated wildlife resource of its own.”
Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which handled the reintroduction of gray wolves into the Northern Rockies ecosystem beginning in 1994, declared in May 2009 that wolves in Montana and Idaho no longer needed federal protection status, and took them off the list of endangered species. As part of the two states’ management effort, they held their first-ever hunting season last year and allowed people to shoot wolves that were harassing livestock.
However, Wyoming’s wolf management plan declared them to be predators in most of the state outside of Yellowstone National Park and allowed them to be shot on sight as long the state retained a minimum population of about 75 animals, or 15 packs of at least five animals each. That wasn’t acceptable to the USFWS, and they remained protected under federal law.
Currently, about 1,700 wolves roam throughout Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and eastern Oregon and Washington. Montana is home to about 525 wolves and plans to manage for 400 or more; Idaho has about 835 wolves, with a management goal of 520; and Wyoming has about 320.
The Greater Yellowstone Coalition, one of 13 groups that sued the federal government over the delisting in Montana and Idaho, supported Molloy’s ruling but also urged Wyoming to come up with a better plan.
“We need a coordinated strategy that enables state wildlife agencies to assume the lead role in day-to-day wolf management while operating within uniform sideboards from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, much the way migratory waterfowl and salmon are managed across state lines,” said Mike Clark, executive director of the group. “And we need to ensure this new plan aids ranchers and residents who are negatively impacted by wolves as they expand their range across the northern Rockies.”
In Montana, wolf management differs in the north from the south on a border that runs westward from Highway 12 near Missoula to Interstate 90, from I-90 to Interstate 15; and I-15 to the Missouri River at Great Falls to the North Dakota border. Above that line they’re considered endangered, and below the line the population is designated as experimental.
Private citizens cannot harass or kill the endangered wolves north of the line, unless it’s in self-defense or the wolf is attacking another person. Instead, if wolves harass or kill livestock, the owners have to notify U.S. Wildlife Services, which investigates the incident and may remove wolves from the area.
South of the line, landowners, their family members and their employees can kill a wolf that is actively harassing or killing livestock, guard dogs or domestic dogs. Montana’s experimental area also falls under the 10 (j) Rule of the Endangered Species Act, where FWP can issue kill permits to private citizens after confirmed wildlife losses.
In the meantime, as wolf populations continue to grow, ranchers are concerned that they’ll outpace the ability of the federal Wildlife Services to deal with depredations, noted Errol Rice, executive director of the Montana Stockgrower’s Association.
“Wolf management has required their full attention, and as a result we have seen an inability for them to respond to other predators on the landscape, like coyotes,” Rice said. “So now we’re seeing an increase in other predators.”
Wildlife Services, which operates under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is tasked with hunting down and shooting wolves and other animals that prey on livestock. John Steuber, Wildlife Services’ director in Montana, said they have about 20 people who deal with problem wildlife in the state. They won’t add any additional funding or personnel due to Molloy’s ruling, but he expects his employees will be kept busy.
“I think that without some type of removal, like the 72 wolves that were hunted last year, that livestock depredations will be up this year,” Steuber said, noting that this year’s wolf hunting season would have allowed taking 186 wolves. “I haven’t analyzed the affects of the hunting season and the removal of wolves, but I would say that we’re every bit as busy, or busier, than last year.”
Reporter Eve Byron:447-4076 or eve.byron@helenair.com
