Social Network

Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com
Email: timberwolfinfonetwork@gmail.com

MT: Bitterroot sportsmen: Ravalli County should work within state predator laws

By PERRY BACKUS Ravalli Republic

HAMILTON – Members of the Bitterroot Valley’s oldest sportsmen’s group told a pair of county commissioners Wednesday that the county can play an important role in wildlife management.

To make that happen, Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association members said the county needed to work within the policies and laws already established by the state.

If the county chooses to go its way, “you will just wind up spinning your wheels and get nowhere fast,” said the association’s president, Tony Jones.

Last week, the group expressed concerns about the county’s draft predator policy that proposed to do away with wolf quotas, allow baiting for bear and extending seasons for predators. Some of the proposals in the policy were against current state law.

About 10 association members met with commissioners Greg Chilcott and Suzie Foss to offer their suggestions on both the policy and the county’s future interaction with the state on wildlife management issues.

“What I see through the first part of the policy is that you have some good points,” Jones told the commissioners. “The problems arise around your recommended season types and regulation changes.”

At this point, Jones said the commission’s largest problem is the commission is not working in conjunction with the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department.

Jones said he knows that some individuals and groups criticize the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association because of its willingness to work within the existing structure and with local FWP officials, but those groups don’t have much to show for their efforts up to this point.

“You have to trust somebody for your information,” Jones said. “Who is better to trust than the professionals?”

The sportsmen urged the commission to use its influence to help push through changes in regulations this year that could make a difference for county elk herds in the immediate future.

Comments are currently being accepted by the FWP Commission to establish a hybrid mountain lion season and extend the spring black bear hunt. The commission is also considering a proposal that would require hunters to obtain a permit to hunt in the East Fork.

FWP Bitterroot-biologist Craig Jourdonnais said the changes are an effort to stop the decline in local elk herds.

“Right now, we’re entering ground that the department has not entered before,” Jourdonnais said. “These are huge moves. We are trying to right the ship and protect these elk herds.”

The FWP Commission will vote on the tentative seasons at its regular meeting on Feb. 16.

“Being involved in this process as a representative of the citizens of Ravalli County really packs some weight,” said association member Steve Wilson. “That’s where I really think you can make a difference.”

***

The sportsmen also asked the commissioners to consider asking the state to reinstate the reduction of wolves in the West Fork addressed in a 10(j) permit that was approved by the federal government just before wolves were delisted.

The permit called for culling wolf numbers back to 12 in the West Fork. The Ravalli County Commission wrote a letter to the federal government asking for the original permit.

“The way we see it, the need to reduce the number of wolves in the West Fork is still there,” Jones said. “The only thing that has changed is who is in control of management. Now that the state is in control, they don’t want to do it. All they do is extend the season and that’s not working.”

So far, hunters have killed four wolves in the hunting district. The quota is 18.

Jones said the sportsmen’s group thinks the reduction needs to happen by any means, including bringing in government trappers.

The commissioners asked for more information on all the matters the sportsmen brought forward.

They told the association members that the predator policy was still a work in progress and the county’s focus is moving away from strictly predator control and more toward protection of the county’s ungulate populations.

“I think what we’re really looking for from you folks is accuracy,” Chilcott said. “We want whatever we produce to be credible.”

The commission’s position has been shifting as it learns more about the challenges facing the county’s ungulate herds, he said. It is taking into account information coming for the state’s large elk/predator study that suggests so far that mountain lions are more of a threat to elk calves than any other predator.

“A lot of us thought initially that it was the wolves that were wiping out our elk,” Chilcott said. “It may turn out that they were just the straw that broke the camel’s back. The last one into the game gets the blame.”

The commissioner said their policy is an effort to create a living document that outlines the specific challenges the county faces in maintaining a part of its heritage. To do that, they have asked community members to step forward and share their experiences and values.

“What is often lost is the impact on local communities,” Foss said.

Hunting has been an economic driver for the county and the decline in elk numbers is impacting that and putting people out of work, she said.

“We’ve had a $6 million hit in the south valley,” she said. “That’s a huge, huge hit for those small communities.”

Ravalli County Undersheriff Perry Johnson urged the commission to take note of what members of the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association had to offer.

The Bitterroot can trace back its first elk herds to the members of this organization. Johnson said they hauled elk in from Yellowstone National Park in cattle cars and released them in downtown Hamilton.

“These guys invest the time and the money into keeping those herds healthy,” Johnson said. “I benefit from what they do. … This group gives you legitimacy.”

The county has to be careful that it doesn’t send mixed messages about wolves or other predators. Johnson said it’s important that people don’t get the idea that they can go out and shoot a wolf in Ravalli County and nothing will happen.

“From a county level, it’s important that people know that we don’t endorse that,” he said.

Source