Heat turned up on wolf issue
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Calving and lambing season is beginning across western Montana, for cattle and sheep as well as deer, elk, buffalo and mountain sheep. Montana livestock producers and hunters are worried about wolf predation, and their concerns and frustrations have reached state and national government officials.
On a state level, Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer wrote a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on Feb 16.
“While almost everyone acknowledges that the Northern Rocky Mountain gray wolf population is fully recovered, as the governor of Montana I am profoundly frustrated by the lack of any actual results that recognize Montana’s rights and responsibilities to manage its wildlife,” Schweitzer said in his letter.
“Montana has for years done everything that has been asked: adopting a model wolf management plan, enacting enabling legislation and adopting the necessary implementing rules,” Schweitzer’s letter continued. “Our exemplary efforts have been ignored.”
Stating he cannot continue to ignore the “crying need for workable wolf management,” Schweitzer said he was going to take additional necessary steps “to protect the interest of Montana’s livestock producers and hunters …”
“First, for Montana’s northwest endangered wolves (north of Interstate 90,) any livestock producers who kill or harass a wolf attacking their livestock will not be prosecuted by Montana game wardens. … Further, I am directing FWP to respond to any livestock depredation by removing whole packs that kill livestock, wherever this may occur.”
Specifically addressing the Bitteroot Valley, Schweitzer continued, “to protect the elk herds … that have been most adversely affected by wolf predation, I am directing FWP, to the extent allowed by the Endangered Species Act, to cull these wolves by whole-pack removal to enable elk herds to recover …”
Jay Bodner, natural resource director of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, agrees with Schweitzer. He said from a Montana perspective there is a level of frustration on the wolf issue. “We’ve heard it from the stockgrowers, from the hunters — frustration boils out with just anybody we talk to,” Bodner said.
Bodner also said the MSA wouldn’t recommend producers take that action (killing wolves) since there are still federal restrictions on wolves. Gray wolves are still on the endangered species list, especially in the northern area.
Locally, Terry Murphy, president of the Western Montana Stockmen's Association said, “It’s about time. … It (Governor Schweitzer’s letter) really shows the level of frustration.”
“You know, the concept is good … but if I have a wolf in my calving pen, and I kill it, will the state protect me or give me legal protection?” Murphy asked.
While Schweitzer’s letter may place “hard-core pressure” politically, Murphy said the WMSA does not recommend killing wolves.
On the national level, Montana senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus introduced legislation on Feb. 10 to delist the Northern Rocky Mountain population of gray wolves in Montana and Idaho from the endangered species list and return those wolves to state management.
According to a press release, the senators also sent a letter to Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar urging quick action on Montana’s application to hunt wolves in the west fork of the Bitteroot in conjunction with the senators’ request to build a state-wide gray wolf hunt.
Representative Denny Rehberg also has legislation on the table that goes even further. HR 6028 is a proposal to amend the Endangered Species Act of 1973 to prohibit treatment of the gray wolf as an endangered species or threatened species.
Livestock producers, sportsmen and environmental activists will all be watching to see what happens.
