Wolves surround a bison
In what one official characterized as Montana's "first full-fledged wolf hunt," the state will allow hunters to kill 220 of the animals this fall, a figure that represents 40 percent of the total known wolf population in the state.
The quota is also nearly triple that of 2009, the last year Montana declared open season on the species that has prompted lawsuits and congressional budget riders as biologists, hunters, environmentalists and ranchers wrangled over whether the wolf in Montana should be protected by the Endangered Species Act.
In the latest chapter of the ongoing saga, wolves in Montana and Idaho were removed from the list with language inserted to the 2011 budget by western lawmakers this year.
While there is a lawsuit challenging the budget language, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission on Thursday unanimously approved the quota that state biologists expect to reduce the wolf population to at least 425. Currently, at least 556 wolves live in Montana, though the actual population could be as much as 30 percent higher than that.
Regardless, officials said the large quota is not meant to be set in stone and that the coming wolf hunts will weigh heavily in the contentious wolf debate.
"The test will be what happens at the end of four or five years of scientific-based (hunts)," commission chairman and retired biologist Bob Ream said. "If four years from now we have a good, solid, sustained, well-connected population of wolves, much of the argument will be settled."
The plan drew 736 comments since it was initially proposed in the spring. Comments ranged from people arguing for an even bigger quota to those who didn't want a hunt at all. Very few people commented during Thursday's meeting, held at Big Sky Resort.
Collared wolf with elk herd in background
In the end, commissioners largely adopted the plan as proposed. Commissioners did tweak the plan in hopes of reducing the toll the hunt would take on two packs in the Gardiner area. Those wolves split their time between Montana and Yellowstone National Park. With the amendment, commissioners essentially created a buffer along the park's northern border where hunters will only be allowed to take a total of three wolves.
Most of the hunting will occur in northwest Montana, where as many as 123 wolves will be allowed to be killed. In southwest Montana, 43 wolves will be allowed to be killed. The remainder will be allowed to be killed in the Dillon and Bitterroot areas.
After the wolf was taken off the endangered species list in 2009, the state had a hunt that allowed 75 wolves to be hunted. But a successful lawsuit opposing de-listing prevented a 2010 hunt. Rider language attached to the federal budget this year has taken Montana wolves back off the list, opening the door to the hunt.
A lawsuit challenging the rider language will be heard in Missoula later this month by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy, who has struck down previous efforts to de-list the wolf.
Conservationists say the federal government has given Montana and Idaho too much latitude in how they manage wolves - in Montana, the wolf population could be reduced to 150, with 15 breeding pairs -- putting the species in peril.
But FWP Commissioner Dan Vermillion of Livingston said before the vote that the court battles have had a negative effect on wolves, even if they kept them on the endangered species list longer than federal biologists wanted.
"This endless litigation has endangered tolerance and endangered acceptance of wolves on the landscape, which is unfortunate," he said. "Hopefully this time it will stick, and we can have this wolf hunt and learn something."
Story courtesy of The Bozeman Daily Chronicle
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