by Winston Greeley, Montana FWP
MISSOULA – Wolves garner a lot of attention these days in Montana, and as Winston Greely with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks found out, biologists face many challenges monitoring these high-profile animals.
Montana’s wolf biologists face many challenges in managing the state’s wolves.
“Wolves is pretty challenging because the wolf population has grown really quickly too. So we as an agency are learning too because we are new to management we are only in our third harvest season we just finished our first trapping season,” FWP’s Liz Bradley explained.
Monitoring wolves is a crucial component in wolf management, but the primary method of trapping and radio collaring a wolf can be a challenge, according to Bradley.
“If we can get one collar out, one or two a month we are doing pretty good, but those collars are really valuable getting a collar in a pack now gives us the ability to monitor the movements of the entire pack.”
Biologists also use other monitoring methods, one of which involves remote cameras in well-known wolf locations. This allows biologists to learn more in their year-long process.
“The advantage is at the end of the year we are going to have more population data and for wolves it’s really a year-long survey effort, so we are collecting data the entire year,” FWP’s Kent Laudon explained.
But even with these management challenges, wolf biologists say they strive to find a balance for wolves on the landscape.
“I think one of the most important things Fish, Wildlife and Parks does for all wildlife is try and make a place for wildlife on the landscape. And we are trying to fit wolves into the model just like we do mountain lions and black bears and have a season on them and that allows people to be a part of the management as well,” Bradley concluded.
State numbers show that at the end of 2012, the minimum wolf count was 625, a 4%decrease from 2011.