Conservation Groups Set for Showdown Over West Fork Wolves

Small Group of Wolves Living in Remote Area Is in the Crosshairs

Denver, CO—April 19.  On the heels of last week’s budget rider to remove gray wolves in Montana, Idaho, and elsewhere in the Northern Rockies from the endangered list, conservation groups are vowing to use other legal means to defend Northern Rockies wolves.  WildEarth Guardians, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, GravelBar, Western Watersheds Project, and Wilderness Watch are set to challenge a Montana plan to destroy a population of wolves living in the Bitterroot National Forest.  Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP) has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for a permit to kill 60 percent of the wolf population in the West Fork of the Bitterroot River to benefit human hunters.  Montana’s senators have lobbied the Service to approve the wolf-killing plan.

The conservation groups filed comments with the Service last week, arguing that the wolf-killing project would violate numerous federal laws.  While the agency told the groups their claims might be moot due to Congressional delisting of wolves, this wolf-killing project would be on national forest land, including wilderness, and is subject to federal laws in addition to the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  It would also harm other species listed under the ESA.

“This project is illegal and just plain wrong,  We are not going to let the federal government look the other way as wolves are gunned down or trapped on public lands,” stated Nicole Rosmarino, of WildEarth Guardians.  “These wolves are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do: living in a wild area and eating native prey.  Let the wolves be.”

The wolf population in the West Fork numbered 30 wolves in 5 packs at the end of 2010.  These wolves established themselves in a remote, rugged area, where they feed on native prey. They have generally not tangled with livestock, taking only two calves in the past decade.  MFWP’s plan would reduce them down to 12 wolves or even fewer, a rate of killing that studies indicate to be too high for wolves to withstand.

“The West Fork wolves show that it is impossible to appease wolf opponents such as Senator Jon Tester,” said Michael Garrity, Executive Director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies.  “They’re not eating livestock and the state wildlife agency has not documented the number of elk killed by wolves and does not even know if elk are the wolves’ primary prey in the area.  If wolves cannot be tolerated in this situation, when and where will they be tolerated?” 

Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) wrote to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar in February, asking that the West Fork wolves be killed.  Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) also signed the letter.  The senators wrote, “We urge you to expedite the State of Montana’s request to lethally take wolves in the West Fork of the Bitterroot to control unacceptable impacts to wild ungulate populations.”

While politicians and MFWP claim wolves are the cause of elk declines in the West Fork, that charge is not backed by solid evidence. The Bitterroot Elk Study, specifically designed to determine factors causing elk declines in the project area, was not slated to begin until February 2011 and won’t be concluded until the end of 2013.  Right now, there is substantially more evidence that human hunting is responsible for the decline in the West Fork elk population.  In fact, MFWP allowed more elk hunting starting in 2004 to control the elk population. MFWP has also continually raised the elk population goal, perhaps to set the stage for arguing that wolves need to be controlled. 

“The West Fork wolf-killing project violates a number of federal laws, including the National Forest Management Act, the Wilderness Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act,” Rosmarino stated.  “Not only is 95 percent of the project area on federal public lands, including a portion the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area, but most of the land within a 25 mile radius is federal public land, including more wilderness.”

The effects of MFWP’s wolf-killing project would go beyond wolves, including a number of species listed under the ESA or candidates for listing.  Traps and snares intended for wolves could capture Canada lynx, grizzly bears, and wolverines.  They could also be harmed by lead poisoning from bullet-laced carcasses and gutpiles left by hunters.  Riparian-dependent species, including the bull trout and the yellow-billed cuckoo, could be negatively impacted by the loss of wolves.  Through years of scientific research in Yellowstone National Park, wolves have been documented to improve riparian habitat and substantially increase biodiversity.

“Wolves are actively restoring West Fork’s ecosystems to be healthier and balanced. It’s a shame our state wildlife agency can’t see the importance of wolves in boosting biodiversity,” Garrity stated.

For more information, including the extensive comments submitted to the federal government on this project, contact Nicole Rosmarino at nrosmarino@wildearthguardians.org or 505-699-7404.


 

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