LAURA LUNDQUIST, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bison and wolves spur controversy, and the management of both is about to change slightly as Fish, Wildlife & Parks managers try to get closer to acceptable compromise.
At Thursday’s Citizens’ Advisory Committee meeting in Bozeman, FWP director Jeff Hagener and Region 3 supervisor Pat Flowers discussed the status of bison and wolves and the proposals that could change their management.
The rifle season would be extended to more than six months, running from Sept. 15 to March 31, while the trapping season remains the same.
The 2013 Legislature eliminated the possibility of a no-hunt buffer zone around national parks, so the wolf management area around the park, WMU 316, has been enlarged to encompass areas west of Gardiner and the quota in that area is proposed at seven wolves.
FWP spokesman Howard Burt said the smaller version of that area had a quota of three last year but only two wolves were shot.
The commission is entertaining two additional proposals.
In WMU 316, the commission is considering limiting each person to one wolf so that just one or two people couldn’t shut down the hunt by taking up to five wolves. It also is considering allowing private trappers to assist with the elimination of wolves that prey on livestock.
“Our objective is to reduce the population,” Burt said. “Last year, 225 were harvested and that produced a 4 percent decrease in the population.”
Comments are being accepted on the wolf season until June 24, and Hagener said FWP has already received about 15,000 comments.
“There’s no shortage of passion about the wolf,” Hagener said. “I got a comment yesterday from Tasmania.”
Hagener said the state is still required to monitor the wolf population.
“We’re still under scrutiny; we don’t have full management for another two years,” Hagener said. “We’re hoping the Wyoming lawsuit won’t affect us.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved Wyoming’s wolf plan so it could delist the wolf in Wyoming, but environmental groups sued based upon the harsher management of the Wyoming plan.
Bozeman resident Norm Bishop said FWP should start educating the public on wolf ecology and the ways it has contributed to healthy ecosystems.
“Barstool biology is rife throughout the West, and the only education you provide is on how to kill wolves,” Bishop said.
Hagener agreed. He said people see ungulate populations drop and the first thing they blame is the wolf.
“The strongest sentiment in the Legislature was control, control, control,” Hagener said. “But as we’re finding in the Bitterroot study, other things like mountain lions may have more of an effect.”
While Montana is looking at clamping down more on the wolf, it may be easing up a bit on bison.
Flowers said the environmental assessment on larger year-round areas outside Yellowstone National Park would be out by the end of June.
The range of alternatives range from year-round tolerance as far north as the Taylor Fork in the Gallatin Canyon to no change in the current plan.
When asked whether the Montana Department of Livestock would cooperate, Flowers said the DOL would be one of the signing parties of the final decision. The final decision should go into effect by the end of this year, Flowers said.
When asked about tolerance outside the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, Hagener said the department was fully committed to a statewide plan. The process to develop that plan has been in limbo over the first part of the year while the department has gone through some changes.
Hagener said he intended to find out the status of the process and move it ahead.