Montana to offer weekly report on wolf management
With the recent federal delisting of the Rocky Mountain gray wolf in Montana, state wildlife officials affirmed that a weekly online report will continue to chronicle Montana’s wolf management efforts. The report is available at http://fwp.mt.gov/wildthings/wolf/wol…y2009.html .
FWP’s Montana Wolf Weekly highlights the previous week’s activities related to monitoring, wolf and livestock interaction, outreach, education, research, law enforcement, and other topics. The comprehensive report is available online at http://fwp.mt.gov each Monday.
“Montana’s Wolf Weekly is designed to keep everyone up-to-date on Montana wolves and their management,” said Joe Maurier, director of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. “It’s intended to provide a record of Montana wolf management for journalists, landowners, legislators, teachers, hunters, and others interested in following wolf-conservation progress in Montana.”
Wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains were removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species on May 4 and full management authority for wolves in Montana was transferred to the state. Similar state-management transfers occurred in Idaho and in the western Great Lakes region. Wolves, however, are still federally protected in Wyoming where federal officials say current state law and wolf management plans are not sufficient to conserve Wyoming’s portion of northern Rocky Mountain wolf population.
Federal and state officials expect that some groups may sue the federal government over its wolf-delisting decision. While Montana will continue to defend the decision, it’s possible a court challenge could once again change wolf-management authority.
Contributors to the Montana Wolf Weekly include FWP, USDA Wildlife Services, the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Blackfeet Nation and others.
For more information on wolf conservation and management in Montana, visit FWP’s Web site at fwp.mt.gov. Click “Montana Wolves.” For weekly-report updates, scroll down to click “Montana Wolf Weekly Report.”