Montana works to strike a fair WEIGH ING and biologically sound balance between having enough of the IN ON large carnivores and having WOLVES too many. BY TOM DICKSON RIVING THROUGH THE FROZEN landscape of Yellowstone National Park’s (YNP) Lamar Valley one recent morning, wolf watching guide Nathan Varley slows down and points to several ravens about a Dmile off. “There it is,” he says, pulling over to set up his spotting scope and train it on a recent elk kill, which a few minutes earlier a colleague had told him was in the vicinity. For an hour we watch two wolves feeding on the carcass, a large gray male known to local watchers as “Crooked Ear” and a smaller black female called “Spitfire.” The naming fosters anthropomorphizing, admits Varley, but it helps with identification, as do numbers given to about 20 per - cent of the park’s wolves that wear radio collars for re - search purposes. Several other wolf watchers gather along the road in the bitter cold to view the large carnivores, clearly visible through high-powered optics. Crowded tour buses and minivans operated by wildlife-viewing compa - nies pass by every 15 minutes or so, returning to Gardiner from another elk kill farther up the valley. Varley, who lives in Gardiner, studied the park’s carni - vores for several years while earning a doctorate in ecology. But his primary concern with wolves these days is economic, not academic. “Every park wolf that steps over the border into Montana and Wyoming and gets shot is money out of our pocket,” says the wildlife guide, who is also vice presi - dent of a local group called Bear Creek Council that tries N N A M L E S E W

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SAME ANIMAL, DIFFERENT LENSES Many hunters see the wolf as O R

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competition for elk and deer. Ranchers consider the large carnivore a H G I R

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threat to livestock. Yet others, like wolf watchers who crowd Yellowstone L E D D

National Park in winter, when viewing conditions are best (right), consider E O G

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the large carnivore a natural wonder to be cherished and protected. D N I C

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20 MARCH –APRIL 2014 FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS MONTANA OUTDOORS 21 to increase tolerance for wolves and bison Public attitudes toward wolves began to leaving the park. Varley and his wife run Yel - “Every park wolf that steps change in the 1970s as part of the growing lowstone Wolf Tracker wildlife tours, one of over the border into Montana environmental movement. Canis lupus , a dozen or so guiding operations sanctioned and Wyoming and gets shot nearly extinct in the Lower 48, became a by park officials. These kinds of services are is money out of our pocket.” symbol of the nation’s vanishing wildness. In at the heart of a thriving wolf watching 1995-96, 66 wolves were live-trapped in tourism that a University of Montana study Canada and set free in Yellowstone National found pumps millions of dollars into counties “We’ve got hunting outfitters Park and the wilderness of central Idaho. surrounding the park each year. around Yellowstone going The goal: Restore wolves to a region where That economic argument is just one used out of business because they had almost been eliminated. Western by wolf advocates critical of growing hunter states objected but took some comfort know - and trapper wolf harvests in Montana, of wolves.” ing that management authority, which in - Idaho, and Wyoming. Some are like Varley, cludes regulated hunting and trapping, would THE FACTS regarding concerns over Montana’s wolf management who has no gripe with wolf hunting else - revert back to them once the wolf population where but wants a kill-free buffer around population in Montana, as mandated by its reached federal recovery goals. Yellowstone. Others, often from outside the mission and federal law. At the same time, it In the first decade after the Yellowstone Rocky Mountain West, want to halt all lethal works to limit livestock depredation, maintain introduction, the highly prolific carnivores action on an animal that was classified as abundant deer and elk, and foster public grew rapidly in number and range. By 2001 federally endangered just a few years ago. tolerance for wolves. the regionwide population count surpassed On the flip side are those who demand It’s a balancing act, and, with impassioned the federal goal of 300 in Idaho, Montana, that Montana kill more wolves, which they interests tugging every which way, not an and Wyoming combined (at least 100 in say harm ranchers’ bottom line and deplete easy one. each of the three states). By 2007 it reached elk and deer herds. “We’d like the state to at least 1,500—five times the initial target. take much more aggressive measures in cer -  Frustration fuels anger Yet as wolf advocates cheered the growth, tain areas to bring these predator numbers The wolf has long represented conflicting stockgrowers were reporting more and  PRO-WOLF BELIEF:  ANTI-WOLF BELIEF: down to a more tolerable ratio with prey views of untamed nature. Roman, Norse, more livestock losses. Hunters in some populations,” says Rob Arnaud, president of and Celtic mythology celebrated wolves, yet areas began seeing fewer deer and elk and “Regulated hunting and trapping is “Wolves are decimating Montana’s the Montana Outfitters and Guides Associ - the carnivores were feared and persecuted attributed the disappearance to growing ation. “We’ve got hunting outfitters around throughout Europe for centuries. Native wolf numbers. With the large carnivores decimating Montana’s wolf population.” elk population.” Yellowstone going out of business because American tribes revered wolves as guides to still under federal protection, wolf critics of wolves.” the spirit world. The United States nearly felt powerless to stem the rapid population FACT: Montana’s wolf population is still FACT: Elk numbers are still at or over popula - Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is listening eradicated the carnivore with bounties growth. They grew increasingly vocal, hold - six times greater than the initial federal tion objectives in 81% of hunting districts to all sides. The department’s job is to ensure and, later, wide-scale federal government ing rallies, proposing legislation to defy fed - 6X recovery goal of 100—a threshold reached 81 % statewide. Numbers remain strong across there are enough wolves to maintain a healthy extermination. In Montana alone, “wolfers” eral rule, and even threatening illegal in 2001. most of the state’s primary wolf range. killed 100,000 wolves between the 1860s actions. “Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up,” read Tom Dickson is editor of Montana Outdoors . and 1920s, primarily with poison. one popular bumper sticker. Anti-wolf furor lessened after 2011, when Montana Wolf Population 2013 Elk Population Objective Status the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) re - (Minimum counts) 2012 by Hunting District moved (“delisted”) the Northern Rockies ﬔe first year since 2004 that population from the federally threatened 700 Montana’s wolf 650 population and endangered species list. Wolves could declined. now be hunted under carefully regulated 600 conditions. Still, many wolf opponents com - 550 plained that too many wolves remained in 500 areas where hunters were unable to reduce 450 numbers. Demands grew for the state to kill 400 M

A 350 pups in dens or, as Alaska and Idaho do, H R O G

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employ aerial gunning from helicopters. L E K

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G Minimum population exceeds A P

E federal recovery goal of 100 in 2001.

T 200 I S O

FED UP Frustrated that wolf numbers P P 150 O

; continued to grow far beyond initial federal P Montana’s W F 100 Below objective Not a hunting district

A primary wolf N

recovery goals, anti-wolf protesters turned A T range At objective Not applicable (no stated N up the volume during the early 2000s. O 50 M

objective, no wintering : Above objective T F

E 0 elk, or no survey flown) Wolves were finally delisted in 2011. L 9 1 3 5 7 9 1 3 5 7 9 1 3 5 7 9 1 7 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 1 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 0 0 0 0 0 0

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 GRAPHICS: MONTANA OUTDOORS ; SOURCE: FWP 22 MARCH-APRIL 2014 FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS MONTANA OUTDOORS 23 Such radical proposals alarmed wolf ad - base for expansion far beyond the park’s removal, and other measures. in the wolf’s best long-term interests. vocates. With the species no longer under perimeter. Park visitors focus on individual Following reports of wolf predation on “As hard as it might be for “As hard as it might be for some people to federal protection but instead subject to animals, but here in Montana our responsibil - the southern Bitterroot Valley’s elk herd, the some people to believe, allowing believe, allowing Montanans to hunt wolves state control, they responded by ramping up ity is to manage wolves at a population level.” department launched a large-scale investi - Montanans to hunt wolves actually builds tolerance for wolves,” says their rhetoric and protests, just as wolf crit - Wolf numbers in Montana and elsewhere gation in 2011. Researchers recently found Hagener. He points out that overall anti-wolf ics had a few years before. Public comments in the Northern Rockies are robust, making that mountain lions are more responsible for actually builds tolerance anger in Montana, though still strong in some to FWP skyrocketed, from 500 on the first the park’s packs less significant to the regional elk population declines there than wolves for wolves ” circles, has eased considerably since hunting proposed wolf hunting season to more than population than their popularity would indi - are. What’s more, the southern Bitterroot elk and trapping seasons began in 2011. “As long 25,000 on the most recent. Most were coor - cate, says McDonald. T oday just over 5 per - herd is rebounding, likely thanks to favor - as we can manage wolf numbers at what most dinated e-mail “blasts” coming from outside cent of the 1,600-plus wolves in the Northern able weather and habitat conditions. Montanans consider an acceptable level, peo - Montana that denounced all wolf hunting. Rockies reside in Yellowstone. The species is As for criticism that Montana hasn’t done guides its wolf management—recognizes ple here will accept having a certain amount thriving across the West and Midwest, despite enough to control wolf numbers, “FWP that many people value wolves, the large of wolves on the landscape along with some  Outrage over killings recent claims by the Sierra Club that hunting fought for years to restore state management carnivores play an important ecological role, loss of livestock and prey animals.” Much of the outcry from wolf advocates “has driven the gray wolf nearly to extinction.” authority that includes public hunting and and the population must remain gen etically But without regulated harvest, Hagener concerns the Yellowstone park wolves. According to the U.S. Fish & Wild life Service, trapping,” says Hagener. Because wolves are connected to those in other states and says, “there’d be much more pressure to treat Extensive coverage by the BBC, National the Lower 48’s wolf population has grown by wary and difficult to hunt or trap, FWP has Canada if it is to survive over time. FWP op - wolves like varmints that could be shot any - Geographic , The New York Times , and other 50 percent over the past decade to 5,360. supported liberalized regulations that now poses poison, aerial gunning, and proposed time, year round.” Such relentless mortality global media have detailed the carnivores’ Outlandish claims show up on both sides include a six-month season, electronic calls, legislation classifying wolves as predators would drive down Montana’s overall wolf complex social interactions since reintro - Today just over of the issue. Some wolf critics still insist the and a wolf limit of five (a number that very that can be shot on sight. The department population. And it would prevent Yellowstone duction. Fans throughout the world track five percent of the carnivores are “wiping out” most of western few hunters or trappers actually take). has created special hunting zones around wolves from moving freely across the region the Junction Butte, Blacktail, and other Montana’s elk populations. True, numbers Montana is working to pare down the pop - YNP and Glacier National Park that reduce to breed with counterparts in Idaho and N

5% I 1,600 or more A

packs on blog posts and Facebook pages are considerably down in some areas that M ulation of 600-plus wolves living here. But the chances that a park research wolf will be northern Montana, threatening that popula - O D

C wolves in the Northern Rockies I L

maintained by watchers who cruise the have especially high wolf densities, notably B the state will not drive numbers low enough killed, and it urges hunters not to shoot tion’s genetic health and future survival. U P

; N park’s roads year round. Devotees can see reside in Yellowstone. the upper Gallatin, Blackfoot Valley, and Gar - I to trigger federal re-listing under the Endan - radio-collared wolves. Most people, including Montanans, want A M O D where Tall Gray was spotted last week or diner areas. But elk numbers remain at or gered Species Act (ESA). “We can keep the FWP has also committed to keeping the wolves to exist in the Northern Rockies. But C I L B U P learn how 686F is faring in Mollie’s Pack, as above “population objectives” (what the ESA at bay only if we continue to show we population well above what the USFWS how many, and where? It should come as no ; Y Montana’s wolf hunting T E I though the wolves were characters in a re - habitat base and landowners will tolerate) in C have adequate regulatory mechanisms in originally deemed sufficient for recovery. surprise that what is considered “enough” O S

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season now lasts six A C ality TV show. Little wonder the Internet lit 81 percent of the state’s hunting districts. I place and are not advocating wholesale wolf Despite protests from wolf advocates, differs widely between those trying to live R O T S 6 months. Hunters and I

up this past August after a collared YNP H slaughter,” says McDonald. Montana will continue to allow hunters and their lives on a landscape where wolves live,

A N O Z wolf (820F) that had become habituated to trappers may (though rarely Addressing reasonable concerns I In support of wolves, Montana’s wolf trappers to kill wolves. That was part of the too, and those watching the drama play out  R A

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humans was killed in Gardiner. “People be - Exaggerations aside, most apprehension D conservation plan—the document that recovery agreement. Paradoxically, it’s also from hundreds of miles away. do) take up to five wolves each. E P I K I W

come attached to these wolves that then over wolves is well within reason: A Dillon ; M O C leave the park and are shot. They get out - rancher needs to protect his sheep; a Mis - . N I H

P EATING OR STEALING? ﬔere’s no argument L

raged,” says Varley. lib eral elk hunting seasons outside the park) soula hunter wants to see elk next Novem - O D

E that wolves kill prey animals and livestock to U L

so did the wolf population, which now num - B Yellowstone’s wolf population has de - ber; a Bozeman naturalist desires to live in a ; survive. Where tempers flare is over how N O S

clined in recent years, not due to outside- bers 86. Hunters have legally killed wolves state with a healthy wolf population; a N much, if any, of that predation is reasonable. H O J

A

that wander out of Yellowstone, but far S

the-park hunting, as some suggest, but Florida tourist hopes her favorite Yellow - I L

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mainly from a shrinking elk population. (All more of the animals have died from wolf- stone wolf stays free from harm. “We take M I A J

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hunting is banned within the borders of on-wolf attacks, starvation, and disease. all reasonable concerns about wolves seri - O S N H O

Mange alone has killed dozens. J national parks.) In the late 1980s and early ously,” says Jeff Hagener, FWP director . A S I L

&

’90s, the northern Yellowstone elk herd was Though the park’s wolf decline under - The department notes that livestock E M I A J

one of the nation’s largest. Reintroduced to standably concerns watchers and guides, “the losses declined last year thanks to higher : T F E L

this prey-rich environment, wolves grew Yellowstone introduction was not designed to hunting and trapping harvest. Also credited P O T

M

create wolf viewing opportunities or busi - O from 41 in 1997 to a peak of 174 in 2003. As are ranchers working with the department’s R F

E S I

park biologists predicted, once elk numbers nesses,” says Ken McDonald, head of the six wolf specialists to protect sheep and W K C O L

dropped (due to predation, weather, and FWP Wildlife Division. “It was meant as the cattle using fence flagging (fladry), carcass C

HISTORICAL PERCEPTIONS In fables and cartoons, the Big, Bad OF WOLVES In Roman mythology, the twins For centuries Europeans feared President T.R. Roosevelt declared the wolf Wolf uses cunning and deceit to trick Modern fans embrace the wolf Romulus and Remus, raised by a wolves. “Wolves Chasing Sleigh” a “beast of waste and destruction” as the Little Red Riding Hood, the ﬔree as intelligent, sensitive beings she-wolf, found the city of Rome. was a popular subject for painters. U.S. embarked on systematic eradication. Little Pigs, and other innocents. restored to their rightful place. 24 MARCH-APRIL 2014 FWP.MT.GOV/MTOUTDOORS MONTANA OUTDOORS 25