Tag Archives: wolf management

Survey reports growing tolerance for wolves in Montana

Environmental Issues, News
Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWP
Gray Wolf – Adam Messer-Montana FWP

Folks in Montana seem to be growing more tolerant of wolves . . .

\As wolves gain prominence in the northern Rockies and management policies evolve to keep the populations in check, researchers are tracking the shifting social dynamics surrounding Montanans’ complex attitudes toward a species that is both reviled and revered.

According to a new survey conducted cooperatively by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the University of Montana, attitudes and beliefs about wolves and wolf management have generally grown more tolerant. Distributed three times – in 2012, 2017 and 2023 – the survey is aimed at providing insights to wildlife managers and officials tasked with making decisions on wolf management.

“We know people have complicated views and values on wolves, which is reflected in the results of the survey and the trends we see,” Quentin Kujala, FWP chief of conservation policy, stated in a press release announcing the latest survey’s findings. “It’s important for us and our partners at the University to continue research like this because how stakeholders feel about wildlife and its management is a critical awareness for FWP to have.”

Continue reading . . .

Montana proposes reduction in wolf hunt quota from 450 to 289

Environmental Issues, News,
Wolf near Winona Lake, May 2013 - Steve Gniadek
Wolf near Winona Lake, May 2013 – Steve Gniadek

This is interesting — and encouraging — news . . .

Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks are proposing to reduce the hunting quota for wolves statewide from 450 to 289, according to the department and an interview with a spokesperson.

FWP said the wolf population has dropped in the last two years, and it believes the new quota will keep wolves at a healthy and sustainable population per state law.

“State law, set by the 2021 Montana Legislature, requires FWP to reduce wolf populations in Montana to a sustainable level,” said Greg Lemon, FWP public information officer. “We believe the quota of 289 wolves will meet that statutory requirement while ensuring a healthy wolf population in the state.”

This announcement comes a year after the wolf numbers fell in 2022, according to the 2022 FWP Wolf Report.

Continue reading . . .

Wolf management plan should be informed by science

Commentary, Environmental Issues
Gray wolf - John and Karen Hollingsworth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Gray wolf – John and Karen Hollingsworth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Last Saturday’s (June 17) Bozeman Daily Chronicle carried a guest column by Douglas W. Smith and our own Diane Boyd on the importance of using  accurate, science-based methods  in wolf management . . .

This summer offers a timely opportunity to help craft a new wolf management plan being written by Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks (MTFWP). Wolves are always controversial, and this new plan is an opportunity to reinstate scientifically-based wildlife management. We are concerned that, of late, Montana has managed wolves in a fashion that emphasizes population reductions without clear evidence or adequate justification. Montana has provided for hunter and trapper opportunity and, despite misconceptions about wolf-elk interactions, elk have maintained healthy populations across the state and are even overabundant in some game management units. Livestock depredations are very low, less than 1/10 of 1 percent of all cattle losses in 2021.

The fundamental issue is an accurate population estimate — all wildlife management decisions depend on this. Wolves are hard to count. Initially Montana estimated numbers by MTFWP staff conducting field work along with radio collaring to come up with a minimum count of wolves across the western third of the state where most wolves live. As wolf numbers grew this method became impractical, so the state switched to a method that estimates numbers based on wolf sightings by hunters with resulting data plugged into a model. This model, called an integrated Patch Occupancy Model or iPOM, uses some other information about wolves like territory size and pack size, and calculates a population estimate.

This method is well-known and respected scientifically for estimating distribution (the area occupied). It is not known to be a good abundance estimator. The rationale is that Montana wolves are thought to be well above the required minimum set by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, hence a precise estimate is not necessary. For scientifically based management of a high-profile predator, we need a better population estimate.

Continue reading at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle . . .

Montana FWP soliciting public comments on wolf management plan EIS

Environmental Issues, News, ,
Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWP
Gray Wolf – Adam Messer-Montana FWP

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks is soliciting public comment on revisions to their wolf plan environmental impact statement (EIS) . . .

FWP is preparing an environmental impact statement (EIS) and conducting public scoping on a proposed action to revise the existing Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, which was developed in 2003.

The 2003 Wolf Plan and associated EIS were developed 20 years ago. Since then, new and improved research, management tools and methods have been developed and incorporated into Montana’s gray wolf management strategy; however, they are not described in the 2003 Wolf Plan. Gov. Greg Gianforte asked FWP to update the 2003 Wolf Plan with broad public engagement due to the interest in wolf management across the state . . .

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Montana FWP opens public scoping on proposed new wolf management plan

Environmental Issues, News,
Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWP
Gray Wolf – Adam Messer, Montana FWP

From the official press release . . .

HELENA – Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) and conduct public scoping on a proposed action to develop a new wolf management plan.

The 2003 Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan and associated EIS were developed 20 years ago. Since then, new, and improved research, management tools and methods have been developed and incorporated into Montana’s gray wolf management strategy; however, they are not described in the 2003 Wolf Plan. Gov. Greg Gianforte asked FWP to create a new wolf management plan with broad public engagement due to the interest in wolf management across the state.

The new wolf management plan will include the latest science surrounding wolf management, better transparency on wolf management, and be easier to update in the future. More specifically, the new wolf plan will accomplish the following:

  • Articulate contemporary updates in wolf-related research;
  • Describe new and available wolf management tools and methods employed by FWP;
  • Provide FWP with the flexibility needed to incorporate new wolf management science and tools, as they become available;
  • Describe the public engagement process as new information related to evolving wolf management strategies in Montana becomes available.

FWP invites comment identifying potential significant environmental issues associated with the proposed action of creating a new wolf plan and in determining the appropriate scope of the EIS. Public input received during the scoping period will help FWP staff determine public interest, identify potential issues that would require further analysis, and may provide further insights for creating the new wolf plan.

FWP will conduct two virtual public scoping meetings for this EIS; public input will also be taken during these meetings. The meetings will be held:

  • April 4 from 6-8 p.m.
  • April 11 from 6-8 p.m.

Login information will be posted on the FWP website before the meetings.

The deadline for scoping comments is April 22. These comments will be used to help shape the new plan and analysis. FWP will open public comment for the draft EIS and draft plan once they are completed.

Scoping comments can be emailed to fwpwolfplaneis@mt.gov or mailed to:

Attention: 2023 Montana Wolf Management Plan EIS
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Wildlife Division
1420 East Sixth Avenue
Helena, MT 59620

For more information, visit https://fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/public-comment-opportunities/wolf-eis-scoping

Court order changes wolf hunting season, effective immediately

Environmental Issues, News,

Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWPOn Tuesday, a District Court in Lewis and Clark County issued a temporary restraining order impacting some of Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping regulations. The changes go into effect immediately. The order restores the 2020 wolf quotas for several units, including the old two-wolf limit for WMU 110, which covers the North Fork. It also restricts “hunters and trappers to harvesting five wolves total per person, per season” and prohibits the use of snares. There’s a hearing scheduled for November 28 on this order.

Read more in the official press release . . .

Background information: Lawsuit asks for halt to Montana wolf hunt (Helena IR)

Feds to explore relisting the gray wolf

Environmental Issues, News, ,
Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWP
Gray Wolf – Adam Messer-Montana FWP

Aggressive wolf management plans in Montana and Idaho are drawing the attention of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service . . .

On opening day of Montana’s expanded wolf-hunting season, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said it has decided to conduct an in-depth status review to determine whether state management plans aiming to aggressively reduce wolf populations threaten the recovery of gray wolves.

The agency now has a year to conduct a further review of the species using the best available science to determine whether listing under the Endangered Species Act is warranted.

The process was initiated this summer when environmental groups asked the agency to relist the animals through two separate petitions. The groups filed the petitions after lawmakers in Montana and Idaho passed laws that encouraged aggressive population reduction by broadening the methods hunters could use to harvest wolves and expanding the trapping season.

In a release about the decision, the agency wrote that the two petitions presented “substantial information that potential increases in human-caused mortality may pose a threat to the gray wolf in the western U.S.” and that the “new regulatory mechanisms in Idaho and Montana may be inadequate to address this threat.”…

Read more . . .

Biologist Diane Boyd does some wolf mythbusting

Environmental Issues, News,
Biologist Diane Boyd with a tranquilized wolf in the field
Biologist Diane Boyd with a tranquilized wolf in the field

Diane Boyd, large carnivore specialist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (and NFPA member), gave a well-received talk last week . . .

Wolves live in family groups. They don’t think twice about traveling long distances. They’re territorial. They make a lot of noise. And some have no qualms about capturing and killing their foes.

In other words, they’re a lot like humans.

Contrary to the host of conspiracy theories out there, wolves in Northwest Montana aren’t hybrids and they weren’t shipped in from points north. They came here on their own volition back in the late 1970s, stragglers from Canada that eventually made the North Fork of the Flathead in Glacier National Park home, biologist Diane Boyd said during a talk last week.

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Managing wolves across a divided landscape

Environmental Issues, News,
Gray Wolf
Gray Wolf

Here’s a good article on the wolf management difficulties faced by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks . . .

Wolves are complex critters that for centuries have inspired myths and legends while generating fierce controversies, an animal whose presence on the landscape is at once magical and maddening, captivating wildlife lovers while commanding condemnation from hunters who say the population of predators is decimating the bounty of big game in Montana.

Livestock producers living on the wild edges of wolf country have their own set of challenges, forced to keep constant vigil over calving pastures that serve as a veritable beef buffet for a pack of predators.

And wildlife managers with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP), the agency tasked with implementing regulatory mechanisms to manage wolves following delisting of the species from the Endangered Species Act in 2011, which granted the state full management authority of its wolf population, are caught in the middle, seeking to strike a delicate balance amid competing interests that remain bitterly divided.

Read more . . .

Diane Boyd talks about wolf recovery and protection

Environmental Issues, News, , ,
Collared Wolf - courtesy USFWS
Collared Wolf – courtesy USFWS

Diane Boyd gave a well-received presentation last Wednesday during a seminar hosted at the University of Montana W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation . . .

A lot of people talk about the important role federal and state lands play in protecting wolves, but Diane Boyd, a wolf and carnivore specialist, said those public landscapes often are at high elevation and don’t harbor wintering populations of deer and elk.

In fact, the scientist said Wednesday that wolves need both private and public lands protected, and the private swaths are critically important.

“They hold the key, in addition to the federal lands, to maintaining grizzly bears, wolves, elk, deer, everything,” Boyd said.

Read more . . .