Tag Archives: wolf management

Montana FWP opens public scoping on proposed new wolf management plan

March 23, 2023Environmental Issues, NewsMontana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf managementnfpa

Gray Wolf - Adam Messer-Montana FWP — Gray Wolf – Adam Messer, Montana FWP

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.

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

November 15, 2022Environmental Issues, NewsMontana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf managementnfpa

On 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.

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

Feds to explore relisting the gray wolf

September 17, 2021Environmental Issues, Newsgray wolves, wolf hunt, wolf managementnfpa

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

March 15, 2019Environmental Issues, NewsDiane Boyd, wolf managementnfpa

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.

Read more . . .

Managing wolves across a divided landscape

January 24, 2019Environmental Issues, NewsMontana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf managementnfpa

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

November 9, 2017Environmental Issues, NewsBob Ream, Diane Boyd, wolf management, wolf studynfpa

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 . . .

Montana to change how it counts wolves

June 9, 2017Environmental Issues, Newsgray wolves, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf management, wolf populationnfpa

Wolf photo from 2016 of the then 11-year-old alpha male of the Yellowstone NP Canyon pack - Neal Herbert-NPS — Wolf photo from 2016 of the then 11-year-old alpha male of the Yellowstone NP Canyon pack – Neal Herbert-NPS

Montana plans to change the way they count wolves. The Missoulian has the story. We’ve also included a link to the official Montana FWP press release discussing the subject . . .

Montana wildlife officials say the way they count wolves is too expensive and falls far short of an actual population estimate, so they plan to switch to a model that uses information gathered from hunters.

However, wildlife advocates say wolf numbers are declining and the switch could threaten the species’ survival. They worry the data is too unreliable to be used to manage the population.

The change, expected within the next three years after improvements to the model, will be cheaper than the annual wolf counts conducted now and provide a more accurate estimate of the total population, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials said.

Read more . . .

Also read: Montana’s wolf population still strong, report shows (official Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks press release)

Montana wolf numbers stable, exceed federal requirements

April 3, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsMontana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf managementnfpa

Here’s a write-up from the Flathead Beacon on the state of the wolf population in Montana. Also see the previous post containing the full press release from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks . . .

Five years after the contentious decision to remove federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, Montana’s gray wolf population remains healthy and among the largest in the Northern Rockies, according to state wildlife officials.

The state’s Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department reported a minimum count of 536 wolves across Montana in 2015, 18 fewer than the previous year but well above the federally-mandated minimum of 150.

Biologists confirmed a minimum of 32 breeding pairs, down from 34 in 2014. The federal and state standard requires a minimum of 15 breeding pairs.

Read more . . .

Montana wolf numbers remain stable in 2015

April 3, 2016Environmental Issues, NewsMontana Fish Wildlife and Parks, wolf managementnfpa

From an April 1, 2016 press release by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Note the informational links at the end of the article . . .

Wolf numbers in Montana remain healthy and well above federally-mandated minimums as the fifth and final year of federal oversight of state wolf management comes to an end in May.

Montana’s annual wolf report shows a minimum wolf count of 536 wolves in 2015, which is down from 554 in 2014. Included in this number is a minimum number of breeding pairs of 32, which is down from 34 in 2014.

The difference between the overall minimum wolf counts in 2014 and 2015 is 18, well within the variability expected when counting a wide-ranging species that often occupies rough timbered country.

“It is important to remember that these are minimum counts, meaning that only wolves FWP could actually document as being on the landscape were included,” said John Vore, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Game Management Bureau Chief. “As wolf numbers have increased there is just no way we can physically count them all. We know there are more wolves out there. According to our best estimates the actual number of wolves is at least 30 percent more than the minimum count.”

Continue reading Montana wolf numbers remain stable in 2015 →

Conservation groups want USFWS to continue wolf monitoring

January 7, 2016Environmental Issues, Newsgray wolves, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wolf managementnfpa

Several conservation groups want the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to continue keeping an eye on things in areas where the gray wolf has been delisted . . .

Five conservation groups on Tuesday asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to extend its oversight of wolves in Montana and Idaho that is set to expire in May.

The agency removed the two states’ gray wolf populations from the Endangered Species List in 2011 after finding they were sufficiently recovered. The delisting order required the Fish and Wildlife Service to continue monitoring the population for five years as the states’ wildlife agencies assume management of the species.

Read more . . .