The Idaho wolf season has ended, but not really . . .
The day after Idaho’s 2011-12 wolf hunting season ended, some parts of the state started hunting for 2012-13.
Private lands in the state’s northern panhandle region are allowed to keep the pressure on wolves through the summer, according to Idaho Fish and Game Commissioner Tony McDermott. The new season started Sunday, just after the June 30 ending of last year’s Idaho wolf hunt.
A grizzly bear and her cub that have been involved in a string of sheep killings near Great Falls are being relocated to the Whitefish Range . . .
State and federal wildlife officials have decided to relocate a female grizzly bear that was responsible for the recent deaths of 70 sheep on three ranches north of Great Falls.
Mike Hoggan with USDA Wildlife Services says the bear and her cub will be moved to an area near Frozen Lake in the Whitefish Range near the border of British Columbia, which puts her and her young cub about 160 miles from the ranches.
The bears were tranquilized and captured Sunday near Collins.
Here’s the Flathead Beacon’s take on last Wednesday’s Montana FWP “listening session” on the upcoming wolf hunt. It’s a good summary of issues and attitudes . . .
For once the wolf debate played out respectfully. Somewhat.
More than 90 people came together last week to discuss proposed changes to the controversial wolf hunt at a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks public gathering at Flathead Valley Community College.
The June 13 meeting was the final one in the state before the FWP commission votes to adopt the latest wolf hunt adjustments on July 12. Public comment remains open until June 25.
The folks who filed suit opposing the wolf hunt in Montana and Idaho have given up on a Supreme Court appeal . . .
Wildlife advocates say they decided not to appeal to the Supreme Court to keep wolves on the endangered list in Idaho and Montana after their arguments were rejected in lower court rulings.
Congress ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to take gray wolves off the endangered species list last spring. That triggered lawsuits from wildlife groups and environmentalists who argued state-sponsored hunts could again drive wolves towards extinction.
But after two lower courts sided with the government, the plaintiffs let the 90-day deadline for appeal to the Supreme Court pass this week without action.
The reports are coming in on last Wednesday’s Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks “listening session” concerning plans for this year’s wolf hunt. There’s some interesting stuff here . . .
More than 90 people turned out for a meeting in Kalispell on Wednesday to chime in on proposed hunting and trapping regulations for wolves in Montana.
Those who attended the meeting at Flathead Valley Community College were broken up into 10 work groups to share their views.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials heard a full range of comments — from ending the regulated hunt to having a year-round, wide-open season on wolves.
Here’s some more information about that fungal infection on the North Fork that is turning a lot of young lodgepole pine red . . .
A sea of red trees in the North Fork Flathead River drainage is an alarming view if you’re thinking “beetle kill,” but it’s not.
The recent, widespread reddening is only the temporary work of a needle cast fungus called Lophodermella, according to Heidi Trechsel, silviculturist with the Hungry Horse-Glacier View Ranger District.
“It’s really common in lodgepole, which was what it’s hitting up there,” Trechsel said. “Because it’s a fungus, it likes high humidity and wet springs like we’ve been having the last couple years. It’s most frequently seen on the young trees, the seedlings and saplings.”
Some organizations are suing to prevent a forest thinning project . . .
Environmental groups have sued to stop pre-commercial thinning work on the Flathead National Forest, raising arguments that are similar to those applied in two previous lawsuits targeting timber sales.
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Wild Swan and the Native Ecosystems Council filed the lawsuit May 29 in U.S. District Court in Missoula.
It challenges a recently approved project that involves pre-commercial thinning on 3,650 acres spread across the Flathead Forest.
Here’s some more information on the upcoming Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks “listening session” to discuss changes in wolf hunt regulations . . .
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks will host an open house in Kalispell on Wednesday, June 13, to give information and answer questions on the proposed 2012-13 wolf hunting and trapping season.
The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at the Flathead Valley Community College Arts and Technology Building. At the open house, people will break out into small groups to discuss details and work on comments regarding the proposals.
Under the wolf season proposals, the general season would run from Sept. 1, 2012, to Feb. 28, 2013, with trapping allowed from Dec. 15 to the end of the general wolf season. There would be no statewide quota, but quotas would be established in two areas near Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks.
Land and wildlife managers are keeping an eye on the impact of oil and gas development on the Rock Mountain Front . . .
An interagency panel of land and wildlife managers has turned its attention to the impacts on grizzly bears from oil-and-gas exploration and extraction on the Rocky Mountain Front.
The Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem Subcommittee is geared toward delisting the grizzly bear population, with a draft Conservation Strategy for doing so expected to be released this summer.
But removing the threatened Northern Rockies grizzly bear population from protection under the Endangered Species Act is still “several years out,” said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Even more evidence that grizzlies are starting to disperse eastward from the Rocky Mountain Front . . .
Wildlife officials are warning residents that grizzly bears are on the prairie east of the Rocky Mountain Front and precautions should be taken.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks workers tell the Great Falls Tribune that the agency has received reports of grizzlies east of Valier, on the Sun River between Fort Shaw and the town of Sun River, and along the Marias River above Tiber Reservoir.