Wolf management plan released
HELENA (AP) — Montana’s plan for managing gray wolves would maintain at least 15 breeding pairs in the state, but would allow ranchers to kill animals that threaten their livestock.
That proposal, released Wednesday as part of a draft environmental impact statement, is the state’s preferred alternative for managing wolves once they are removed from federal protection.
But Jeff Hagener, director of the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the plan’s success rests on whether the federal government is willing to provide funding to support the $800,000 annual price tag.
“The cost is substantial,” Hagener said in a written statement Wednesday. “We will need Congress to address this national priority and offer the states some help.”
Montana, Idaho and Wyoming all need to have wolf management plans drafted before the federal government will remove wolves from the endangered species list, a change that federal wildlife authorities hope to complete sometime in 2004.
Once the species is delisted, the states will be responsible for managing wolf populations within their borders, but under close monitoring by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for at least five years to ensure those populations don’t fall below sustainable levels.
The federal wildlife agency has warned that delisting could be delayed if the states do not develop acceptable plans.
But Joe Fontaine, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s assistant wolf coordinator in Helena, said he had reviewed Montana’s plan Wednesday and was optimistic.
“I think they’ve developed a very good, workable plan,” he said.
However, he expressed the same concern Hagener has about funding.
“Whether there’s (federal) money available is a good question,” he said “We just don’t know. If members of Congress decide to provide states some funding, that’s up to them. We don’t have much say on that.”
Carolyn Sime, Montana’s wolf plan coordinator, stopped short of saying the management plan would be shelved if federal funding is not forthcoming.
“The state certainly has some very significant concerns about funding,” she said. “But I’m not going to say that it’s dead in the water without funding. … We would need to keep talking.”
Montana’s preferred plan was one of five alternatives state officials considered for managing wolves. It closely models recommendations developed by an advisory committee established by former Gov. Marc Racicot.
Montana is believed to have 16 breeding pairs and a total of about 180 wolves in 33 packs. In the three-state region, the wolf population is estimated at more than 660 wolves, most of them the result of the federal government’s wolf recovery program that began in 1995.
The state’s plan calls for maintaining at least 15 breeding pairs of wolves, and would allow for the “regulated harvest” of the animals if the population is “biologically sustainable.” The plan is not more specific, but Tom Palmer, a spokesman for FWP, said it would allow the state to designate hunting or trapping seasons if officials deemed that appropriate.
Ranchers would be allowed to kill wolves that attack or threaten livestock, and could kill wolves that harm or threaten “herding or guarding” animals, including dogs.
The plan also would require the state to work with livestock producers and private groups to establish a fund to pay ranchers for lost stock.
Steve Pilcher, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, said he had not seen the plan Wednesday, but added that his group’s goal long has been to give ranchers more latitude to protect their livestock, pets and families.
Compensation for losses to wolves remains a key concern, he said.
The state plans 13 public meetings on the draft environmental impact statement beginning March 27 and running through April 24. A final decision is expected later.