The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is looking at a number of adjustments to trapping regulations, including some that would affect wolves . . .
The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission on Nov. 12 is set to consider a crowded agenda of proposed fishing and hunting regulations for the upcoming year, including approving a shortened wolf-trapping season and enacting rules surrounding the trapping of predators like coyotes, which are designed to avoid incidental captures of grizzly bears.
New trapping rules designed to better protect lynx and wolverine will take effect as scheduled . . .
Trapping advocates’ objections to new state rules on lynx and wolverine trapping aren’t enough to block a settlement requiring tougher protections for those animals, according to a federal judge in Missoula.
“The fact that, as a result of the regulatory changes … trappers may be left with obsolete traps, will have to check their traps more frequently, and may ultimately trap fewer animals does not constitute formal legal prejudice sufficient to torpedo the parties’ compromise,” U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen wrote in his order to dismiss Tuesday. “Their apparent displeasure with the final product is insufficient to reject the parties’ settlement.”
The original case pitted the Friends of the Wild Swan, WildEarth Guardians and Alliance for the Wild Rockies against the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and its board of commissioners.
Trapping regulations have been tightened up around Glacier and Yellowstone national parks to avoid accidental lynx capture . . .
Montana wildlife officials have tightened trapping regulations outside Yellowstone and Glacier national parks to reduce the chances that threatened Canada lynx accidentally will be caught.
The changes include restrictions on the types of traps, snares and bait that can be used in special protection zones outside the parks
State wildlife commissioners approved the changes on a 3-1 vote Thursday. Commissioner Gary Wolfe of Missoula cast the dissenting vote, Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said.
Montana FWP wants to tighten trapping rules near national parks to protect Canada Lynx . . .
Montana wildlife officials are considering stricter regulations in an effort to reduce the chances of Canada lynx being caught in traps set for other animals outside Glacier and Yellowstone national parks.
The plan presented to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission on Thursday is part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit filed in 2013 by three environmental groups over trapping in the threatened species’ habitat.
Several of the settlement’s statewide restrictions are already in place, but additional changes are needed in special zones near Yellowstone National Park and a wider area outside Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks attorney Aimee Fausser said.
Your friendly web-slinger was away on an extended road trip, so we’re playing catch-up. Here’s a spring crop of environmental lawsuits, all filed within days of each other. . .
Environmentalists file federal suit over logging on Montana state forests – A 50-year permit for logging and development on Montana state forests faces a federal lawsuit from environmentalists who say the state won’t do enough to protect threatened grizzly bears or bull trout. The Friends of the Wild Swan, Montana Environmental Information Center and Natural Resources Defense Council sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Missoula’s U.S. District Court on Monday. Continue reading . . .
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks sued over trapping in lynx habitat – Three conservation groups filed a federal court lawsuit Thursday against Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioners and Director Jeff Hagener for allowing trapping and snaring in Canada lynx habitat. The Friends of the Wild Swan, the WildEarth Guardians and the Alliance for the Wild Rockies say FWP reported at least nine incidents since 2000 of lynx being caught in traps set for other species; and say four of those animals died. They alleged that this violates the federal Endangered Species Act, which lists lynx as a threatened species and warranted for protection, and want the trapping prohibited in lynx habitat. Continue reading . . .
Group keeps up challenge to logging roads – A conservation group said Wednesday it will keep pushing federal authorities to more closely regulate muddy logging roads, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday that sided with the timber industry on the issue. Continue reading . . .