Tag Archives: wolf management

Proposed rule would end federal wolf protections in Lower 48

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The U.S. Department of Interior has posted a draft rule proposing to remove federal wolf protections . . .

Federal wildlife officials have drafted plans to lift protections for gray wolves across the Lower 48 states, a move that could end a decades-long recovery effort that has restored the animals but only in parts of their historic range.

The draft U.S. Department of Interior rule obtained by The Associated Press contends the roughly 6,000 wolves now living in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes are enough to prevent the species’ extinction. The agency says having gray wolves elsewhere — such as the West Coast, parts of New England and elsewhere in the Rockies — is unnecessary for their long-term survival. A small population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest would continue to receive federal protections, as a distinct subspecies of the gray wolf.

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Coalition files suit against Wyoming wolf management plan

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More legal woes for Wyoming’s wolf management plan . . .

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service never should have accepted a wolf-management plan that allows the state of Wyoming to classify the animals as predators that may be shot on sight, environmental groups said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C.

A coalition of groups asked a federal judge to force the Fish and Wildlife Service to rescind its transfer of wolf management authority to Wyoming and protect them once again under the federal Endangered Species Act.

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Big moms, large packs help wolf pup survival

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This is worth a read. The Missoulian has a write-up on a recently completed study on wolf reproductive success in Yellowstone Park. The findings should be applicable to other wolf populations . . .

A wolf pup growing up in Yellowstone National Park has a better chance of surviving if it has a big mama that lives in a big pack.

Those were the findings of a recent study published in the Journal of Animal Ecology that utilized 14 years of data collected on Yellowstone wolves.

“This is one of the few studies of large carnivores in the world to tease out what drives reproduction,” said Dan Stahler, lead author of the study and a biologist for Yellowstone’s Wolf Project team. “What’s fascinating is that, despite decades of research, we really didn’t know much about reproductive success and what are the triggers for failure.”

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Feds ending wolf protections in Wyoming at end of month

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Federal wolf protections officially end at the end of September. Lawsuits are likely . . .

The federal government will end its protections for wolves in Wyoming, where the species was introduced two decades ago to revive it from near extinction in the United States.

The announcement Friday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will entrust the state with managing wolf numbers and endorses a plan that allows for them to be shot on sight in most of the state, while keeping them permanently protected in designated areas like Yellowstone National Park. Wyoming will take over management of the wolves at the end of September.

The decision of the announcement quickly sparked promises of legal challenges from environmental groups that argue wolves still need protection to maintain their successful recovery.

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Feds to announce end to wolf protections in Wyoming

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The final wolf “delisting rule” for Wyoming will be published the end of this month. Expect lawsuits . . .

The federal government plans to announce an end to protections for wolves in Wyoming later this month.

Spokesmen from some environmental groups say they plan to review the final wolf delisting rule carefully when it’s issued Aug. 31. They say legal challenges are likely over the state’s plan to classify wolves as predators that can be shot on sight in most areas.

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Wandering wolf settled in Northern California — for now

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“OR7,” the first wild wolf to enter California in almost 90 years (see earlier story), seems to have settled down in Northern California for now after a brief excursion back into Oregon . . .

A young male wolf from Oregon that has won worldwide fame while trekking across mountains, deserts and highways looking for a mate has had what appears to be his first close encounter with people, and got his picture taken, to boot.

A federal trapper, a state game warden and a state wildlife biologist were visiting ranchers in Northern California on Tuesday to notify them that GPS signals showed the gray wolf was in the area, when they stopped to look over a sagebrush hillside with binoculars, said Karen Kovacs, wildlife program manager for the California Department of Fish and Game in Redding, Calif.

“There, all of a sudden, out pops a head, and there he is,” she said. “He appeared very healthy.”

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US appeals court allows wolf hunts

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From today’s Missoulian . . .

A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit from conservation groups that want to block wolf hunting and trapping that have killed more than 500 of the predators across the Northern Rockies in recent months.

The ruling from a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress had the right to intervene when it stripped protections from wolves last spring.

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Wyoming passes wolf management bill; lawsuits likely

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Who says politics is a lost art? The Wyoming legislature just passed a rather schizoid wolf management bill — wolves are nuisance predators, except where they aren’t . . .

The Wyoming Legislature has sent Gov. Matt Mead a bill to change the state’s wolf-management law — a critical step toward ratifying the agreement the governor reached with the federal government last year over how to end Endangered Species Act protections for the animals.

However, uncertainty remains over possible legal challenges to Wyoming’s wolf management plan. Many hunters and ranchers in the state worry that a large wolf population poses an unacceptable threat to other wildlife and livestock.

Under the bill now awaiting Mead’s signature, the state would allow trophy hunting for wolves in a flexible zone around Yellowstone National Park beginning this fall, while classifying wolves as predators that could be shot on sight in the rest of the state.

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Montana wolf hunt will fall well short of quota

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It looks like Montana’s wolf hunt will finish up on February 15 at just over 70% of the original quota . . .

Unless the wolf hunt picks up substantially over the next few days, it appears Montana will fall well short of its statewide quota when the extended season closes Wednesday, Feb. 15.

So far, 156 wolves have been harvested, just over 70 percent of the 220-animal quota. In Northwest Montana’s Region One, 61 wolves have been harvested in six wolf hunting districts with a total quota of 73.

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