Alan Gregory’s Conservation NewsCarter Niemeyer’s memoir, Wolfer, has won the 2011 IPPY (Independent Publishers Book Awards) gold medal for regional nonfiction.
Since its release, I have run into quite a few folks who have read it. All of those I met commented on its evenhandedness. Many said their eyes were opened about the pressure that is applied to pin a “killed by a predator” report, especially by a wolf, on a rancher’s dead livestock.
Story debates “magic number of wolves needed. By Rob Cheney. Missoulian.
Ok, so some scientists say 5000 wolves are needed to ensure the species’ survival in the Northern Rockies with good genetic diversity. Other say the delisting population of about 1700 was enough.
This article and far too many discussions ignore the plain fact that there are no longer 1700 wolves in the area and it is very unlikely the states will ever allow that number again. 1000 might be tops. It could be as low as 450. To me, the debate has become academic; and writers and decision makers should acknowledge the fact.
IDFG News Release
May 19, 2011
The Idaho Fish and Game Commission Thursday, May 19, directed the Fish and Game Department to:
1. Manage wolves in a manner that will ensure wolves remain under responsible state management in conjunction with the rest of Idaho’s wildlife.
2. Manage wolves as big game animals consistent with the goals and objectives of the 2002 Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management plan approved by the Idaho Legislature and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to keep wolves off the Endangered Species List.
3. Control wolves where they depredate on livestock and other domestic animals or threaten human safety.
4. Control the population of wolves and other predators as needed to address areas where elk or other prey populations are below management objectives.
5. Develop wolf hunting season recommendations for consideration at the Commission’s July 2011 meeting and develop trapping recommendations.
6. Conduct additional species management planning as appropriate.
Commissioners also agreed to support the state the of Idaho’s legal defense of challenges to state management, such as those lawsuits challenging the 2011 congressional action for wolf delisting, and urge Congress to continue to provide funding for monitoring, control and depredation compensation related to the wolf population introduced by the federal government into Idaho.
Huffing and Puffing. By Kevin Taylor. The Pacific Northwest Inlander.
Among other things, I like the discussion of the snail darter from back in the 1970s when Congress decided to build a real white elephant of a dam and doom this tiny fish.* Congress has interfered with the ESA before. People should remember that.
_______________________
* The snail darter inhabited only the area to be flooded by the Tellico Dam. If it was built, the darter was extinct (or so it was thought . . . more were found later elsewhere). This was the first time the cabinet level Endangered Species Committee or “God squad” was used. The God Squad, however, looked at the matter and decided the Tellico Dam was such a piece of rancid congressional pork that the country would be better off economically, not even to mention the snail darter, if the dam was never completed. This after the dam was 90% done!! Congress loved its pork though, and over-road the Committee and the ESA, and finished the damn dam, violating residents property rights in the process, in the opinion of many whose land was put permanently underwater.
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has delegated authority to kill wolves to county sheriff deputies in Idaho County. It is unclear what training or methods deputies will have at their disposal when killing wolves.
Fish and Game authorizes deputies to kill wolves – AP
Cadwallader believes this is the first time his agency has delegated authority to local law enforcement agents to kill wolves.
Idaho F&G kills Lolo wolves from helicopter. Lewiston Tribune.
“. . . the hunting has been halted because it hasn’t been as successful as expected, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game official says.”
After about decade, Idaho Fish and Game began their reduction of the number of wolves in the Lolo area in north central Idaho along the Montana border. They got five wolves. Their operation is already over for now. Too expensive!!! They say they will rely on outfitters to kill wolves and a long and generous quota of wolves in the Lolo for the hunting season.
I have been writing about this plan, and it has been discussed on the blog for a long time. My position for a number of years has been that there are not as many wolves in the Lolo as commonly thought, and they are a minor reason at best why the elk herds in the area remain far below their previous numbers (prior to the 1990s).
Biologists, except one, who were part of the no longer required “peer review” by the ESA were very skeptical whether this action would increase elk numbers. This included a biologist who clearly did not like wolves. I suspect this will have little long term effect on wolves in the larger area because there are not many wolves, just like there are not many elk. Of course, the two logically go together, don’t they?
I see the wolf reduction as a blood ritual with the intent to satisfy politicians in the local area and in Boise. Performance of ritual is vital to perpetuation of a myth — the myth being that wolves are holding back a return to halcyon elk hunting days of the 1950s.
Montana’s wildlife commissioners have tentatively approved a wolf hunt this fall of 220 wolves, compared to their 2009 hunt of 79. There was no hunt in 210. At the end of 2010, the official wolf population estimate for Montana was 566 wolves. This quota, if filled, is predicted to drop the state’s wolf population by 25% at the end of 2011, although there are competing computer models.
Idaho has an estimated 705 wolves, well down from its peak in 2009. Idaho’s Fish and Game Commission is expected to approve a big hunt quota, although their quota in 2009 was not reached.
Montana FWP tentatively approves 220-wolf quota for fall hunt. By Matt Volz. AP
Kathie Lynch has written her latest Yellowstone wolf report. It is always a cheer when Kathie writes about this place where wolves can live, wild and free. Wolf watching in April this year sounds very cold, but the wolves love it!
Ralph Maughan
– – – – – – – – –
April 2011 wolf notes by © Kathie Lynch-
In Yellowstone, “spring” break in April is not necessarily synonymous with springtime! Days of granular corn snow flurries (or worse), biting wind and morning temperatures in the teens often ended with the drip, drip, drip of water melting off the edge of receding snow banks. Even though it seemed like winter would never end, the Wicked Witch of the West was doomed.
Of course, as soil and sage replaced the diminishing blanket of snow, the wolves became even harder to spot. Considering that only three packs (Blacktail Plateau, Lamar Canyon, and Agate Creek) are likely possibilities for watching in the Northern Range these days, I felt lucky to see a wolf most days–although my first day was a “one dog day,” and that “dog” was a coyote!
The Blacktail pack provided some excellent viewing for a couple of days as they fed on a bison carcass at Blacktail Lakes. The wolves had to share the treasure with a big, dark grizzly boar who had awakened to a mother lode of winter-killed carcasses. Thanks to the extremely severe winter, the bears will have plenty to eat for a while and won’t have to usurp the wolves’ kills, as they often do.
Washington Fish and Wildlife Department is firm that wolves remain protected under state law in all of the state-
Wolves are federally delisted in much of Eastern Washington now, but the state’s own endangered species act protects them all throughout the state. Officials recently reminded folks.
The state only has a half dozen to a dozen or so wolves. The original pack discovered now seems heavily chopped apart from illegal killing, but other wolves roam parts of the state, probably in at least one pack. The Lookout Pack, the original pack, was not a reintroduction or part of the Idaho wolves drifting westward. It came out of coastal Canada on its own.
Wolves remain on Washington state’s endangered list. AP in the Seattle Times.
Bob Landis in the Lamar Valley © Ken Cole
Rebel, rebel. Black Wolf yields a wild hero. By Erika Frederickson. Missoula Independent.
This is a space where we’ll post the various documents that wolf advocates will be filing in federal district court of their challenge of the recent wolf delisting rider that was attached to the 2011 budget bill.
Different parties raced to file, with Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, and WildEarth Guardians in one camp, the Center for Biological Diversity in another having already filed. Western Watersheds Project has opted to file its own separate case as well.
It is likely that the cases will be consolidated in the Montana District Court.
We’ll post the filings as they become available.
Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Friends of the Clearwater, WildEarth Guardians
Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief
Center for Biological Diversity
Salazar announces wolves delisted in Rockies and hunting can begin – Idaho Statesman
Wolves will be delisted in the Northern Rockies except Wyoming on Thursday, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.
The rule would reinstate the 2009 decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon and northern Utah.
Download NR Wolf Delisting Reissuance
Western Watersheds Project expects to file litigation in U.S. District court challenging the delisting rider.
Montana’s wolf hunt is expected to be easier on the state’s wolf population than Idaho’s. With the congressional delisting of the wolf in the Northern Rockies, Montana and Idaho can pretty do what they want in terms of wolf quotas.
State wildlife officials propose 220-wolf quota for 2011 season. By Eve Byron Helena Independent Record.
Also, Obama administration takes wolves off endangered species list. AP. They are also delisting the Great Lakes population, which is certainly ready. Unfortunately, all three states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan have fallen to tea party governors. Michigan’s seems as bad as Wisconsin’s notorious Scott Walker.
Because there are not many wolves in Oregon, this is a big deal. The pack has 10-14 members. There was one other wolf pack known on the Oregon/Washington state border in 2010 — the Wenaha Pack. It might have 6 members. USFWS has ordered capturing and “euthanizing two un-collared sub-adults from the Imnaha pack.” That wolf pack has killed some cow calves every once and a while over the last year.
Rob Klavins of Oregon Wild said in a statement, “This kill order randomly targets any two wolves of Oregon’s Imnaha Pack. That is not wildlife management, it is retribution.”
My view is that, of course, it is retribution. After watching and writing about wolf depredations of cattle for over 15 years now, I’d say “wolf control” is almost always retribution of a kind. Wolves rarely kill enough livestock in any place to make the dead calf or sheep an economic issue, but it is always a political issue. Wolves killing livestock are treated with the same gravity as human homicides and political assassinations, reflecting the values of those who rule in western rural areas.
Here is the story in Sneak Cat. USFWS issues kill order for 2 Imnaha Pack wolves. May 3, 2011.
Update on Oregon wolf packs (taken from a news story). “Oregon currently has three wolf packs: the Imnaha (10 wolves at latest count), Wenaha (six wolves) and Walla Walla (three wolves). The Walla Walla pack is new and wildlife managers are still trying to determine their range, which could primarily be in Washington State.”
That’s the conclusion of Dr. Doug Smith who heads the Park’s wolf program.
I think that might well be true overall, but Yellowstone Park is a small place when it comes to major predators. With the wolf population in the Park as small as it now is, random fluctuations of predatory effects might, in my opinion, have an important effect on the wolves as far as the Park alone is concerned. . . RM
Bears butting in on Yellowstone wolf kills. Battle of carnivores ultimately has little effect on population. By Cory Hatch. Jackson Hole News and Guide.
I guess dogs actually killing a person are just not interesting enough. How about this article from Treehugger (A Discovery Company)? The headline is “Wolf Attacks Mother Walking with Child in Sweden.” Notice how cleverly written it is to try to make it appear mother and child were almost eaten. “The clash between man and nature has claimed another victim, as two wolves converged on the path of a mother out walking with her child in Norrtälje, north of Stockholm.” [boldface mine]. The wolves converged on a “path.” They attacked the woman’s dog, not her or the baby. If there is a dog present, it always turns out wolves are interested in the dog, and yes, poor fluffy ” bought the farm.”
Most people don’t go beyond the headline and the lead. In the middle of the third paragraph, we finally learn that neither the women or the baby were threatened.
Near the end, the article becomes accurate.
What the federal delisting for wolves means for Oregon’s packs, ranchers. By Richard Cockle, The Oregonian.
Montana’s ‘wolf man’. By Eve Bryon. Helena Independent Record.
23 years dealing with conservationists, ranchers, scientists, nuts, cranks, and lying politicians. Overall, I think he did a good job, especially considering the context. He kept a cool head, which was simply amazing given the policy he administered. RM
A Hole in the Endangered Species Act. New York Times.
George Wuerthner wrote this now apt essay over a year ago, published in New West last September, suggesting that should anti-wolf interests succeed in delisting wolves and fail to exercise restraint in killing wolves that it would ultimately backfire.
Wolf Restoration is a Challenge to West’s Old Guard – George Wuerthner – NewWest.net
Demographically the country is changing to a more diverse racial, religious and age structure. The majority of Americans who do not hunt only accept hunting if they believe the hunter is killing an animal to eat it. Public support for hunting declines rapidly if hunters kill animals for trophy mounts. When it comes to shooting an animal just to kill it as would be the case for hunters shooting wolves—and/or worse as a matter of vindication as in predator control, public support turns to public opposition.
Similarly, without the ESA ‘hook’ extending legal protection for wolves, some of the last, best remaining legal angles to protect wolves will be in preventing conflict with livestock on public lands that is ultimately responsible for government trapping and slaughter of entire packs of wolves.
Increased public scrutiny over public lands ranching at the land-use level – demanding that ranchers implement preventative measures as a condition of permit to use public lands to graze cattle and sheep is one tangible avenue wolf-advocates might pursue to accomplish wolf protections.
One thing is for sure – if wolves are to persist on the landscape in the ecologically relevant numbers that advocates have been promoting for years, outrage over the wanton slaughter of wolves must be felt by those responsible.
Wolves to come off endangered list within 60 days
Associated Press
The House and Senate passed a budget bill which included the rider to delist wolves in Idaho, Montana and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Utah but leaves the status of wolves in Wyoming unchanged. The rider, attached by Senator Jon Tester (D-Montana) and Representative Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), mandates that the Secretary of Interior republish the 2009 delisting rule in the Federal Register within 60 days of passage of the bill and restricts the rule from being challenged in court.
President Obama is expected to sign the bill.
The removal of a species from the Endangered Species Act by Congress is an unprecedented move and is likely to be followed by more such moves in the future. Congress has basically said that if a species becomes too inconvenient to industry then it shouldn’t be allowed protection and management of the species doesn’t have to subject to the best available science.
What comes next is anyone’s guess but surely there will be a great number of wolves killed in Idaho and Montana in areas where their respective game agencies have blamed wolves for declined elk populations. Those killings could begin immediately after the rule is published in the Federal Register and if they occur soon then they will undoubtably end up killing packs of wolves who are near their den sites. Idaho has committed to maintain only 10-15 breeding pairs or 100-150 wolves in total and they recently passed a wolf disaster declaration which defines a wolf disaster as having any more than 100. Even though that legislation is now moot because it only applied while wolves were not protected under the ESA, it is a signal of things to come from the legislature next year.
One thing should become abundantly clear. The livestock industry, with the help of Democrats, did this. If anyone thinks that Democrats represent the interests of wildlife advocates or that the livestock industry presents anything other than a threat to wildlife then they are fooling themselves. Now that you recognize this what do you do? Do you hold them accountable? Do you escape from your codependent behavior that so many of us used to avoid conflict with our families and understand that it is effective politically? Really, this happened because the anti-wolf crowd was able to rile up people into a fervor using hyperbole and fear that was noticed by politicians who are only worried about their reelection. That’s how politics works. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
At least one group is already blaming the non-settling groups for taking away “leverage to rally senators against Tester and Reid” even though the judge specifically pointed out that he did not have the discretion to “allow what Congress forbids”. Of course I wasn’t pleased with the settlement deal and I don’t think that it would have provided any more protection than what wolves face today but I also don’t think that it is useful to blame anyone other than the people who orchestrated this gutting of the Endangered Species Act. We could have that conversation but what purpose does it serve other than to feed one’s ego?
The real focus should be on making sure that wolves remain on the landscape and serve a meaningful role in the ecosystem and not just a token population that exists at artificially low levels. I suggest that there are a few main targets to make sure this happens. First, defund the Wildlife Services predator control program, they need to be grounded so that they can’t kill wolves from the air. Second, conservationists need to recognize that the livestock industry is who orchestrated this and that they will be more scrutinized now that they have done this. More focus should be placed on public lands ranching that depends so much on the good graces and taxes of the public. And Third, the politicians who take the votes of wildlife advocates need to held to account. Western Democrats worked hand in hand with Republicans and the livestock industry to get this done. They need to know that they will face primary challengers who are willing to scuttle their entire candidacy just to make the point.
Does the metaphorical Hayduke live? I’m not so sure anymore. Can he be resurrected? I hope so. As conservationists we have to give them hell.
There has been a flurry of press and opinion about the wolf delisting rider attached to the budget bill and the ongoing negotiations in Wyoming to change their wolf management plan in the last several days.
Some of the reporting is good and some misses important elements of the controversy but the issue has become very well publicized. By all reports I’ve received, members of the House and Senate have received a huge number of calls about the issue but, unless the bill is defeated, there is likely no way to remove the language from it.
Below the fold is a long compilation of just the articles which have appeared in the press in the last two days.
Just when you think it couldn’t get any worse, new language was added to the rider which delists wolves in the Northern Rockies at the insistence of Wyoming’s delegation. The new language intends to make it easier for Wyoming’s plan to pass muster or make it so that a plan that is being negotiated will pass muster with the USFWS. There are reports that Governor Mead has been holding meetings behind closed doors among only groups who have little respect for wolves. The deal being considered would slightly decrease the free-for-all kill zone and provide for “dispersion routes” so that wolves could possibly disperse to Colorado or Utah.
Cody Coyote commented on the Wyoming negotiations here. The pulled article he mentions was here.
This is the language contained in the Final FY 2011 Budget Bill.
SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review and shall not abrogate or otherwise have any effect on the order and judgment issued by the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming in Case Numbers 09–CV–118J and 09–CV–138J on November 18, 2010.
What does this all mean? Well, first, this language requires the Secretary of Interior to reissue the 2009 delisting rule which leaves out Wyoming but delists wolves in Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and northern Utah. This cannot be challenged in court. And, as I pointed out above, it also protects the decision that the judge in Wyoming made which requires the USFWS to re-examine Wyoming’s wolf management plan.
If it passes this could happen at any time during the following 60 days.
Wolf Crosses the Lake Superior Ice to Become Leader of the Pack. By Nicholas Bakolar. New York Times.
Today Montana District Court Judge Donald Molloy denied the settlement agreement put forth by 10 of the 14 environmental groups who sued to keep wolves protected under the Endangered Species Act. The settling parties had asked the judge to set aside his previous ruling which found that the USFWS 2009 delisting rule was illegal because it split the distinct population segment (DPS) of wolves in the Northern Rockies and left them listed in Wyoming. The Endangered Species Act does not allow the USFWS to partially delist a DPS.
“[The] District Court is still constrained by the “rule of law.” No matter how useful a course of conduct might be to achieve a certain end, no matter how beneficial or noble the end, the limit of power granted to the District Court must abide by the responsibilities that flow from past political decisions made by the Congress. The law cannot be ignored to accommodate a partial settlement. The rule of law does not afford the District Court the power to decide a legal issue but then at the behest of some of the litigants to reverse course and permit what the Congress has forbidden because some of those interested have sensibly, or for other reasons, decided to lay a dispute to rest.”
Well, they’ve done it. They’ve reached an agreement to keep language in the upcoming budget bill which would delist wolves everywhere in the Northern Rockies except Wyoming. (Added to clarify what has happened)
While this process doesn’t immediately delist wolves, it cannot be challenged. It is unclear exactly what the language says but presumably wolves in the Northern Rockies will be delisted in all but Wyoming as previous wording has indicated. Previous language mandates the US Fish and Wildlife Service to republish the rule which delisted wolves in 2009. It does not preclude a petition to relist wolves if their populations become endangered again. The delisting rule still holds the states of Idaho and Montana to their management plans but it seems that, with the most recent “wolf disaster declaration” that they don’t intend to allow more than 100 wolves to persist in the state.
Also, the recent settlement agreement, as some have previously indicated, will likely provide political cover to the USFWS to accept Wyoming’s management plan with little or no changes. It seems that wolves are facing dark days ahead.
Budget bill pending before Congress would remove wolves from endangered list.
Matthew Brown – Associated Press
To clarify, the language has not been passed yet. It was not included in the short term budget agreement which funds the government for the next several days but, rather, will be included in the long term budget bill which is being written and will be posted for review for three days as House rules require.
Yesterday I received an envelope containing a report which was hand-delivered to every member of the U.S. Congress. The report was prepared by the group Living with Wolves which was founded by filmmakers Jim and Jamie Dutcher.
Their mission statement reads:
Living with Wolves is dedicated to raising awareness about the social nature of wolves, their importance to healthy ecosystems, threats to their survival and the essential actions people can take to help save wolves.
I think the report is very worthy reading and does a good job of explaining why legislative delisting of wolves should be opposed.
Wolves at a Crossroads: 2011
The Endangered Species Act in Peril.
Editorial basically says Idaho legislature has gone bonkers. And in the end, hysteria triumphs in Idaho Legislature. Magic Valley (Twin Falls, ID) Times-News.
Most of the comment on the blog has been about what happens to the wolves, but my take has also been if they pass crazy legislation like this in the Idaho legislature, can you imagine what other laws must be like? As they say, “when the legislature is in session, lock your gate and prepare to protect your life and property.”
I have been thinking about this and all the other frightening things the legislature has done this year (fortunately not to me directly). Sane Idahoans need to organize or they will lose their freedom, property, and many other rights. Because it is such a Republican state by tradition, there might have to be a third party.
The legislature also just closed their primary election (that is they will now only allow registered Republicans to vote in it). The effect of this is to permanently lock craziness in power because independents and Democrats will have no say in who the Republicans nominate for office. In Idaho the winner of a primary election is pretty much the one who will win in November. Otherwise, the only hope is reform from within the Republican Party.
The Idaho Statesman has published an editorial about the recent “Wolf Disaster Declaration” recently passed by the Idaho House and sent to the floor for a vote in the state Senate:
Our View: Beware: Legislative ‘scientists’ at work – Idaho Stateman Editorial Board
Boyle says Idahoans feel physically and psychologically threatened by the wolves — a message echoed, in less-than-measured tones, in the bill itself. “The uncontrolled proliferation of imported wolves on private land has produced a clear and present danger to humans, their pets and livestock, and has altered and hindered historical uses of private and public land, dramatically inhibiting previously safe activities such as walking, picnicking, biking, berry picking, hunting and fishing.”
Not exactly. Wolf attacks are extremely rare — and certainly in relation to the region’s population of fearmongering political panderers.
Strong language in the editorial, but not enough to pacify what looks soon to be their bloodlust fantasy codified into state statue.
The Senate Resources and Environment Committee will be holding a hearing today at 2:00 pm on H343 in room WW02 of the Capitol building. There will likely be crowd present so be there early if you want to testify.
This bill, which is likely to pass and be signed by the Governor, demonstrates exactly why Idaho cannot be trusted to manage wolves. Even if the IDFG desires to set management goals for wolves above the minimum of 10-15 breeding pairs or 100-150 wolves, the legislature is showing that it can, and will, override them. This legislation seems to even strike at their own 2002 plan which allows wolves to persist in areas where they are not even causing conflict. This would define conflict in such a way that even their presence on a mountain top far away from anyone is a conflict because it might scare some weakhearted berry picker.
Senate Resources and Environment Committee hearing schedule.
You can watch or listen here: Idaho Legislature Live (Idaho Public Television).
Sometimes you have to wonder…….
It doesn’t seem like a good move by those who want wolves to be delisted to me.
House presses on with wolf disaster declaration.
Associated Press
Update: According to sources in the legislature, I’m guessing that this will likely pass the Senate and be signed by the Governor. How this will affect negotiations in the US Senate over the rider to delist wolves, which is attached to the Continuing Resolution, is yet to be determined.
Idaho House declares wolves a disaster emergency.
By Laura Zuckerman – Reuters
Language of the “Wolf Disaster Declaration” published.
It is not the same language as contained in the legislation we posted in February.
It essentially provides for a disaster declaration if there are more than 100 wolves in Idaho.
“[T]he legislature finds that public safety has been compromised, economic activity has been disrupted and private and public property continue to be imperiled. The uncontrolled proliferation of imported wolves on private land has produced a clear and present danger to humans, their pets and livestock, and has altered and hindered historical uses of private and public land, dramatically inhibiting previously safe activities such as walking, picnicking, biking, berry picking, hunting and fishing. The continued uncontrolled presence of gray wolves represents an unfunded mandate, a federal commandeering of both state and private citizen resources and a government taking that makes private property unusable for the quiet enjoyment of property owners.”
Unfortunately, the crisis is real – bounties are being proposed in state legislatures, Wildlife Services considered gassing pups in dens, citizens are being encouraged to defy federal law and to kill wolves in both Idaho and Montana.
It’s lawless, it’s absurd, it’s anti-rational insofar as it’s a response to a real condition prompted by wolves’ actual behavior … But it’s perfectly rational politically – thus far it has been rewarded politically by both anti-wolfers and implicitly by some pro-wolfers’ capitulation alike – it’s a paradigm that will prevail under state management of wolves should wolf advocates lose the effort to keep wolves federally protected – because the sad truth is that in the halls of state legislatures, reason will have no voice.
Wolf-fearing ID lawmakers want emergency declared – Associated Press
BOISE, Idaho — Wolf-fearing lawmakers want Idaho to declare a disaster emergency that could include enlisting local law enforcement officers to help eradicate packs of the predators.
Update 4/2/11: It turns out that the language being considered is none other than the legislation we posted in February.
Read it here: Final Draft of Idaho Wolf Legislation
Update 4/4/11: The wording of the legislation is posted here: Language of the “Wolf Disaster Declaration” published.
This article describes the results of a study suggesting another “trophic cascade” mechanism by which predators and salmon interact, enriching the diversity of plant-life in the world’s largest old-growth temperate rainforest:
Pacific salmon run helps shape Canada’s ecosystems – BBC News
The annual migration sees salmon return to western Canada to spawn, but many are caught by bears and wolves, which carry carcasses away from the streams.
This allows nutrient-rich plants to thrive in these areas.
I wish I could suggest this was a surprise:
Lawmakers try to lift wolf protection despite deal – Associated Press
Key lawmakers in the political skirmish over gray wolves in the West say they will continue their efforts to lift federal protections for the predators, despite a proposed settlement between environmentalists and the government.
When I watched the political process unfold in Idaho, I learned something:
A few conservationists’ attempted to appease the flagrant anti-wolf sentiment of the heavy-handed IDFG management plan by agreeing to sign off on everything in exchange for a sliver of a “wolf watching area” in the Wood River Valley. One crumb was asked, where hunting would be off-limits. Decision-makers scoffed and rejected the idea.
How did compensation work at increasing tolerance for wolves ? It hasn’t.
Rational decision-making processes haven’t worked with anti-wolfers. Political appeasement hasn’t worked. In fact, it seems to be counterproductive, accomplishing little more than a demonstration of weakness – emboldening the anti-wolf effort.
Added 4/1/11 ~ a more lengthy rendition of the AP story :
Lawmakers to keep pressing wolf bills despite settlement between wolf advocates and government
~ be
The population of wolves on Isle Royale was formed when a pair of wolves crossed frozen Lake Superior in 1949 from Canada. Since 1958, one of the most important and longest studies of wolf/moose interactions has taken place there. The wolves and moose have fluctuated up and down due to many causes such as tick infestations, genetic inbreeding and fluctuations of forage for moose and prey for wolves. These interactions are seen as a microcosm of wolf prey interactions and demonstrate the many influences on populations.
In the course of this study researchers have found that another male wolf crossed the frozen lake and joined the population. His genes are now represented in 56%, or 9 wolves, of the population of 16 now present on the island.
Besides genetic inbreeding, there is another issue which could eliminate wolves from the island and that is the possible loss of the two remaining female wolves. That has prompted a proposal to bring a few new wolves from the mainland to supplement the population’s genetics and increase their fitness. This runs counter to the National Park Service’s policy to allow natural processes to take place so there will surely be debate about this in the future.
Isleroyalewolf.org has an interesting graph showing the historical wolf and moose population fluctuations that you can see here: http://vicksta.com/wolf%20and%20moose%20graph7.html
Poop Reveals an Immigrant in Isle Royale Wolves’ Gene Pool
Michigan Tech News.
Graph of information presented in Montana's Bitterroot 10(j) proposal. (Click for Larger View)
The US Fish and Wildlife Service has issued an Environmental Assessment for Montana Fish Wildlife and Park’s wolf reduction proposal for the Bitterroot hunting district HD250 just southeast of Hamilton, Montana. In the proposal to kill all but 12 wolves in the district, they claim that wolves are responsible for declines that they have seen in the district and that they are causing “unacceptable impacts” elk population there such that they can no longer meet the objectives they have set there.
While the elk population has declined it should be noted that there was a sharp increase in harvest of all classes of elk in the area after wolves were documented even though as one of the peer reviewers says “[t]here is strong evidence that female harvests need to be reduced when wolves are present (for example, see Nilsen et al. 2005, Journal of Applied Ecology)”. The elk count objectives for the area were also drastically increased to levels far above what the area had previously supported and harvest levels remained high as well.
There is also very little information about the population of bears and mountain lions which also take elk. Bears, in particular, take very young elk and can have a very large impact on elk populations.
Whether or not killing large numbers of wolves and other predators is effective in increasing elk populations is still debatable but it seems apparent to me that the FWP is blaming wolves for their poor management of elk and that their objectives were based on more wishful thinking rather than what was actually possible.
Here are the Criteria for Proposing Wolf Control Measures under the 2008 NRM Gray Wolf ESA Section 10(j) Rule
Disappointing small number of anti-wolf protesters show up at Molloy hearing. Missoulian. By Ken Briggeman.
Judge Molloy will rule “soon” on whether to accept the settlement.
As described in the Missoulian article, there are three ways this could go. One, he could say that the settlement has no value. Two, he could recommend to the 9th Circuit that they accept the settlement. Three, he could say it needed more discussion and ask the 9th Circuit to let him take the case back.
Judge asked to lift federal protections on wolves.
By MATT VOLZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Update 3/25/11: Here is a better article about the hearing.
Judge Molloy hears sides on wolf settlement, hunts.
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
The hearing on the “wolf settlement” begins in just a few minutes. I won’t guess what the outcome will be but I think the case against the settlement is pretty strong. It also appears that the backlash against the settling parties has been strong among wolf supporters with many stating that they have removed their support.
What’s worse, letting the legislature gut the ESA or doing it yourself?
Wolf settlement puts ball in judge’s court.
By EVE BYRON – Helena Independent Record
Earlier we learned why Western Watersheds Project stands firm. Does not join wolf settlement. Now initial briefs have been filed before the Court, with the Settling Parties filing a motion for an indicative ruling, essentially asking the judge whether he would partially stay the August 2010 order vacating and setting aside the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 2009 Delisting Rule in the states of Idaho and Montana only.
I have attached links to several of the briefs, including Western Watersheds Project’s brief opposing the settlement, below the fold:
Introduction
Pursuant to the Court’s March 21, 2011 Order, Dkt. 193, Western Watersheds Project hereby objects to and opposes the Motion for Indicative Ruling filed jointly by several plaintiffs and defendants (collectively the “Settling Parties”) who attempt to settle the present case and a related case (No. cv-08-14-M-DWM). Dkt. 187.
The Settling Parties seek to strip Western Watersheds Project (“WWP”) and other non-settling plaintiffs of the legal ruling already rendered in their favor by this Court, without intervening or overriding legal authority, without all parties agreeing to the proposed settlement, and without ensuring adequate protection for wolves. The Court already held it improper for the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (“Service”) to base its Northern Rocky Mountain (“NRM”) wolves delisting decision on politics. Defenders of Wildlife v. Salazar, 729 F. Supp. 2d 1207, 1228 (D. Mont. 2010)(“Even if the Service’s solution is pragmatic, or even practical, it is at its heart a political solution that does not comply with the ESA.”) Yet the Settling Parties now seek the Court’s blessing for the politically motivated decision to be reinstated, and they provide no basis for the ruling they seek and settlement they propose, other than altered political postures.
The Eagle Cap Wilderness in the Wallowa Mountains is large and rugged. It’s in extreme NE Oregon near Washington and Idaho. This herd of 25 bison is of unknown origin. What a happy discovery!
The Eagle Cap Wilderness, the nearby Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness and areas in Oregon’s Blue Mountains are also where the state’s wolves live.
Wild herd of bison roams base of Wallowa Mountains in Oregon. Richard Cockle. The Oregonian
One of my photos of the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
Judge doesn’t dismiss poaching charge. Trial rescheduled in felony case against anti-wolf activist. By Terry Smith. Idaho Mountain Express Staff Writer.
The issue seems not to be whether he poached an elk, but whether it actually met the legal definition of “trophy” elk.
We have done quite a few articles this case, which many are saying shows the blatant hypocrisy of anti-wolf, “elk loving,” activists.
Today’s announcement that a number of plaintiffs in the wolf delisting case are seeking a settlement with the Department of Interior they hope Judge Molloy will approve does represent a difference in strategy how to proceed in the current political environment.
Three groups, the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, Western Watersheds and Friends of the Clearwater are standing firm.
Western Watershed’s Executive Director, Jon Marvel, today told me the reasons for the group’s firm stance.
Western Watersheds stresses that this settlement is only with the Department of Interior. No one, including Senator Jon Tester of Montana, has indicated that in response to the settlement they will withdraw or modify any legislation they have introduced to delist the wolves by law, nor do Secretary of Interior Salazar or President Obama make any promise or even say they oppose such legislation, much less veto it if it passes.
There is nothing in return from this settlement except the promise to keep the scant number of wolves in Utah, Oregon and Washington on the endangered species list.
Western Watersheds believes that having won the case in the first place, the groups should not then ask that the judge approve the violation of the law and his own decision (delisting the NRM wolf by state boundaries).
I suppose there might be different statements from some of the groups. I think the differences were based on differing perceptions of what the future holds in terms of legislation and the worthiness of the Administration’s position of protecting the existing population of wolves.
Personally, I think the idea that there needs to be 5000 wolves is wrong as well as politically unpopular. The existing wolf population of about 1600 is robust and genetically healthy, but both could change.
Settlement offer splits wolves’ supporters; law firm withdraws. By Eve Byron. Helena Independent Record.
“Among politicians and businessmen, *Pragmatism* is the current term for “To hell with our children.””
~ Edward Abbey
You win some, you lose some … but when a coalition of wolf advocates were successful in demonstrating that federal efforts to delist wolves were not based on science, i.e. unlawful, and won an injunction in federal court putting Northern Rocky Mountain wolves back on the Endangered Species List, the effort wasn’t over – not by a long shot.
Threat of political intervention, legislative delisting, hangs over this question thick – and it’s this pressure, or more appropriately wolf advocates’ response to it, that is being tested now.
Earthjustice has stepped down from representing wolf-advocates as Defenders of Wildlife, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance, Oregon Wild, Cascadia Wildlands, Wildlands Network and Hells Canyon Preservation Council look to find cover from their own shadow :
Rift splits groups fighting to keep wolves on species list – Great Falls Tribune
The Alliance, Western Watersheds Project and Friends of the Clearwater refused to settle, Garrity told the Tribune Thursday.
“I believe these other groups will ask Judge Molloy for stay of his ruling which put wolves back on the Endangered Species List. This would mean that wolves could then be shot on sight and the states could have a hunting season on wolves before the wolf population is fully recovered,” Garrity said. “We are sticking to our original request that wolf management should be based on science and the law, not politics.”
Here’s the story. If wolves are de-listed, Balyeat wants spring hunt. Bozeman Chronicle.
About Balyeat . . . when this glassy-eyed extremist first showed up in the wolf news, I knew there was an element of the anti-wolf folks that had another agenda. Wolves were just a way of leading people down a path of ideological blindness.
Project Vote Smart. Senator Joe Balyeat (MT). More from Vote Smart.
The guy has a long time record of religious nuttery. Montana Profile. Joe Balyeat. Church, State & the Ayatollah
No doubt Senator Jon Tester faces stiff competition from one of most loathsome politicians of The West — a poser who claims to be a cattle and goat rancher but somehow became the 14th most wealthy member of Congress, Dennis Rehberg.
Keeping Tester in the Senate seems to trump all other concerns for Senate Democrats. Tester was the only senator who got a rider attached to the defeated Senate Democrat’s continuing resolution. His anti-wolf rider is now in temporary limbo, but will probably be back.
The author of the op-ed below argues that in addition to delisting wolves without so much as a hearing, by preventing any court from reviewing its legally, he is violating the First Amendment right that “Congress shall make no law” that restricts the right of American citizens “to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
My view, if Rehberg gets elected, he will sell himself to the international corporations full time. We expect today’s Republicans to do that; but is Tester standing up? Is he speaking up for the teachers, fire fighters, unionized workers, the unemployed – people who Rehberg loves like he loves wolves? What has Tester done besides crumble when a noisy band of right wingers tell us the elk are eaten and we will all soon have dog tapeworms? In my view Montana, needs Democrats who will fight like they are in Wisconsin. I gave money to Tester in his last election, but now I send 5 or 10 dollars to the Wisconsin Democrats every day or so. It makes me feel much better.
Tester’s wolf rider is bad policy. By Michael Garrity. Helena Independent Record.
With all of the vitriol surrounding wolves in the Northern Rockies you would think that more and more people are opposed to wolf recovery and the Endangered Species Act. Not so fast according to a recent poll which found that Americans strongly support the Endangered Species Act and wolf recovery. They also feel that scientists, rather than politicians should manage wildlife.
Endangered Species Act Summary
Poll Finds Strong Public Support for ESA… and Wolves.
Ag Weekly Online: Twin Falls, Idaho
The 2010 Northern Rocky Mountain Wolf Reports are out and they show a decrease in the overall wolf population. Wyoming and Montana saw slight increases while Idaho accounted the decline seen in the overall population. It has long been predicted that wolf populations would level out and possibly decrease as seen in Yellowstone but it is hard to attribute the declines to any particular cause. It could partly be attributable to last year’s hunt which occurred partially during the wolf breeding season and afterwards, a reduced elk population , increased poaching, difficulty in monitoring, and other factors could play a role as well.
Keep in mind that these estimates are minimum population estimates and that the actual population is higher. All of the discussions I have had with the people who do these counts indicate that they feel that while these counts are not complete, they are within 20% of the actual counts and are probably accurate with regard to the trends that they show.
Wolves of the Northern Rocky Mountains: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Report: Wolf Pack Numbers Remain Steady, Livestock Losses Down
NBC Montana
And from this article:
Sen. Benjamin Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who blocked efforts to take wolves off the list in the last Congress, issued a statement this week to The Associated Press saying he remained opposed to a legislative solution to the issue.
Wolf population dips in Northern Rockies
By MATTHEW BROWN – Associated Press
Both of the budget bills which contained language which would have delisted wolves were defeated in the Senate this afternoon. It appears that another short term continuing resolution will be brought up to fund the government once the current CR expires on March 18th.
Senate rejects rival GOP, Democratic budgets.
By ANDREW TAYLOR – The Associated Press
Location
Idaho Outdoor Association
3401 Brazil Street
Boise, ID
Wolves and cougars, once driven to the edge of existence, are finding their way back — from the Yellowstone plateau to the canyons of Zion, from the farm country of northern Minnesota to the rugged open range of the West. This is the story of a science now discovering top carnivores as revitalizing forces of nature, and of a society now learning tolerance for beasts they once banished. Narrated by Peter Coyote.
After the film Ken Cole and Brian Ertz of Western Watersheds Project will present their views of wolf management, the agencies that manage them, and the present political climate in which wolf management exists.
The event is FREE.
Visit the Idaho Outdoor Association website
To find out more information about the film visit: Lords of Nature
Visit the Western Watersheds Project website:
View on Google Maps
| Need help finding your congressional representative? | |
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US Representatives The Honorable _____________ United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20510 Write your Representative |
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Tester amends federal budget bill to declare wolves recovered in Montana, Idaho.
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
This is one of the best reviews and interviews of Carter Niemeyer since his book, Wolfer, came out early this year.
Former wolf hit man Carter Niemeyer an unlikely advocate. By Julie Sullivan. Oregonian.
Tester amends federal budget bill to declare wolves recovered in Montana, Idaho. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian.
The recent CR (Continuing Resolution) that passed Congress avoiding a government shutdown for two weeks provided short term relief on wolf delisting by Congress, but it is just a short term measure while the Senate and the House argue over the budget.
As he said he would, Montana’s U.S. Senator Jon Tester got language added to the Senate’s final budget bill. It seems to match the language on the House side that was inserted by Mike Simpson of Idaho. It delists the” wolf in Idaho and Montana, but not Wyoming. It prevents legal challenges to the delisting.
Provision of this on both chambers of Congress pretty much guarantees the wolf will be delisted in Idaho and Montana. In Idaho, Governor Otter seems determined to have a wolf killing spree as soon as he and the GOP Tea Partiers are done gutting the state’s education system, busting unions, and cutting Medicaid for those who are sick and poor.
You can contact U.S. Senators about this, asking that it be removed. We are still an uncertain distance from a budget because to the extreme differences between Republicans and Democrats on many parts of the budget. I expect sniping, possible government shutdowns, and unstable budgets to continue for quite a while.
Kathie Lynch has a detailed report on amorous adventures of Yellowstone wolves observed during her recent trip to the Park.
_____________________
By Kathie Lynch. Copyright 2011
Yellowstone’s February wolf breeding season gave us have high hopes for the arrival of new pups this April. Although only six ties (matings) were actually observed this year, they included the alphas of all three packs which are most often seen in the Northern Range (Lamar Canyon, Blacktail, and Agate)–a very good sign for wolf watching this spring and summer!
February weather ran the gamut from unusually warm, sunny afternoons of 45F temperatures and snow-free roads to biting winds and bitterly cold days when the thermometer never got above 7 degrees. Low visibility and ground blizzards sometimes made driving a white knuckle experience, with unplowed turnouts and deep, drifted snow across roads in the Lamar Valley and on the Blacktail
Despite the wintry weather and fewer than 100 wolves in Yellowstone, we still managed to see wolves, or at least one wolf, almost every day. The Lamar wolves proved to be the most reliable, although even they frequently disappeared from view for several days at a time, no doubt hunting or doing boundary checks throughout their large territory.
Earthjustice’s lawyers chastise Schweitzer for comments on wolf management.
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
Here is an article that reasonably sums up where wolves are in the political landscape. Contrary to what I’ve read in other articles, it appears that Carter Niemeyer supports delisting only conditionally. He will likely be marginalized for it.
Niemeyer said that while he agrees wolves should be off the endangered species list, Simpson’s path to get there is inadvisable. “It sets a terrible precedent to delist them outside the normal delisting procedures,” he said. He worries that if the ESA is bypassed, slow and cumbersome as it may be, the results could open a Pandora’s box.
“Reasonable people need to prevail right now, otherwise we’re going to get a political fix that is going to be unacceptable.”
As debate rages, Wood River Valley sees less of predators.
By Ariel Hansen – Magic Valley Times-News
This mirrors my sentiment but I would add that I don’t think that the states or the USFWS have been negotiating in good faith. The states, particularly Idaho and Wyoming, and increasingly Montana, have a toxic view towards wolves. With the new draft legislation it appears that they don’t want to even consider managing wolves using science and rational thought. The legislatures seem to perpetuate every anti-wolf myth and made up tale that the anti side can come up with. The USFWS, despite contrary assertions by the extreme anti-wolf crowd, hasn’t budged from it’s stance that a sustainable wolf population only requires 10-15 breeding pairs per state even though those estimates were made at a time when understanding of wolves and population ecology was in its infancy. Now the science indicates that a much higher population is required.
The draft bill appears to have been written by Runft & Steele Law Offices, PLLC in Boise, Idaho and was distributed to a group of politically connected people.
The bill is radical and shows that anti-wolf forces will seek eradication of wolves in Idaho if national legislation to remove all protections from wolves is or isn’t successful. Obviously eradication of wolves in Idaho is far more important than educational funding which, as you know is being cut. Of course the funding for the bounty program, if the bill is passed unchanged, “will be paid by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game from its General Operating Budget”.
There are several more provisions in the bill which remove all protections for wolves and rescinds all cooperation with federal agencies.
The bill is available for download and pasted below. Read the rest of this entry »
Could Larry Craig be a closet wolf lover? This one doesn't seem to be pleased by his advances 😉
Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, a group who is turning out to be more for livestock than for wildlife, has hired former Senator Larry Craig to lobby for legislation which would remove protections from all wolves nationwide. This would leave the doors open for states like Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming to eradicate as many wolves as they please.
It amazes me that this manly man hunting group would hire a coward who is too scared to admit that he is gay. It highlights the hypocrisy of these groups who use hyperbole and fear against wolves and any other predator that they fear.
Maybe a little hyperbole and satire is in order 😉
Clarification and a note about the danger of satire: Larry Craig feeds the homophobia present in this society by hiding his sexual preference. While homophobia is no laughing matter, it should be noted that Larry proudly fought against the rights of people to love who they choose to love. I find that particularly disgusting and in particular need of satire of the ruthless variety.
-Ken
Larry Craig lobbies on wolf legislation.
By John Miller – Associated Press
Parties to the lawsuit challenging the changes made to the 10(j) rule for the experimental, non-essential populations of wolves in Central Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone filed their arguments yesterday. At issue now are not the changes made to the 10(j) rule in 2008 which ease restrictions for killing wolves, but whether or not the 10(j) rule even applies anymore. Judge Molloy questioned the litigants about whether a 10(j) rule was justified because wolves from both the Central Idaho and the Greater Yellowstone populations have essentially become one population with those of Northwest Montana and Northern Idaho north of I-90 which are nonexperimental.
The ESA makes it clear that the 10(j) provisions only apply to populations that are “wholly separate geographically from nonexperimental populations of the same species”.
(j) EXPERIMENTAL POPULATIONS.—(1) For purposes of this subsection, the term “experimental population” means any population (including any offspring arising solely therefrom) authorized by the Secretary for release under paragraph (2), but only when, and at such times as, the population is wholly separate geographically from nonexperimental populations of the same species.
Feds, environmental groups file arguments on wolf recovery with Molloy.
By ROB CHANEY of the Missoulian
Added – Copies of the Briefs ~ be :
I guess by now Beers needs no introduction, but the themes he expresses show the anti-wolf folks are really just part of tea party eruption with their efforts to nullify the laws of the United States. He would make the Southern Confederates of Civil War days proud, IMO.
The notes below were taken by someone very familiar with wild wolves who prefers not to have their name released as they don’t want to be “hassled.”
_____________
There were about 150 people in the crowd, including many couples. The average age was 50. More men than women. No kids or teens. There were at least 6 members of the Idaho legislature present, and several members of Crapo’s staff.
In the lobby beforehand was a raffle that included items such as an Alaskan wolf pelt ($900) and the thing most people were standing in line for, an engraved “SSS” rifle.
Sponsored by Idaho Freedom Foundation, BSU Political Science Department, Idaho for Wildlife, Rocky Mtn Elk Foundation, Idaho Outfitters and Guides Assn, and Maurice Clements
Beers was introduced by Maurice Clements as a great American who has been relentlessly harassed by the USFWS.
This is bad news for Washington’s small wolf population but it sounds like the the case of a previous poaching incident from 2009 is still open and progressing. We’ve heard rumors that charges may be filed soon in the poaching of wolves from the Lookout Pack in north central Washington. The Lookout Pack is very important genetically because it came on its own from southwestern British Columbia, far from where the wolves reintroduced to Central Idaho and Yellowstone came from. They are also fully protected under the Endangered Species Act and the sentence for anyone convicted of killing them could be pretty severe.
Skinned corpse of wolf discovered, but state won’t say from which pack.
Conservation Northwest
Obama’s budget would deeply cut farm subsidies. By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times
I kind of thought Obama might not figure this out, but his budget proposal seems to take a whack at this nasty agency as well as the heretofore unstoppable subsidy payments to rich and corporate farmers. If you want to help wildlife, please write to the President and your members of Congress urging an axe be taken to the Department of Agriculture agency Wildlife Services. Make it clear you are not asking for cuts in the Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service. These can be confused because the anti-wildlife cattle and sheep operations deliberately got the federal agency that kills wildlife, Animal Damage Control renamed “Wildlife Services.”
This is not all good news because the Department of Agriculture does have some conservation programs that protect the land, although perhaps at too high a monetary cost.
It is possible that the explanation of Governor Schweitzer’s behavior on both bison and wolves are the cuts to wasteful USDA programs, including the federal wolf killing agency. I personally think that cutting Wildlife Services budget is one of the best things we can do to protect our native wildlife from government directed killing.
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Cuts to Wildlife Service’s proposed by Obama’s budget. Note that FY 2012 begins on October 1, 2011
http://www.obpa.usda.gov/budsum/FY12budsum.pdf
page 84
Wildlife Services:
Wildlife Damage Management
2010 enacted $79 million
2011 Estimate $79 million
2012 Budget $69 million. Ask for zero, RM
Today Governor Brian Schweitzer has sent a letter to the Department of Interior stating that Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks will no longer prosecute killing of wolves by landowners defending livestock in northwest Montana, they will kill entire packs upon any livestock depredation, and they will kill entire packs of wolves in the Bitterroot to protect elk herds.
This would appear to violate federal law.
The letter is here and copied below : Read the rest of this entry »
The GOP in the House of Representatives is starting to work on their version of a continuing budget resolution that would be needed to fund the government until a formal budget is passed to fund government agencies. Another way to fund the government could come in the form of an omnibus spending bill until a formal budget is passed. The Republicans have indicated that they do not support shutting down the government so funding must be appropriated by March 4th when the current continuing budget resolution expires.
The Senate will have its own version and there will likely be a big fight over any funding of the government. There are significant changes that could take place to any of these bills.
The wording of the language is as follows:
SEC. 1713. Before the end of the 60-day period beginning on the date of enactment of this division, the Secretary of the Interior shall reissue the final rule published on April 2, 2009 (74 Fed. Reg. 15123 et seq.) without regard to any other provision of statute or regulation that applies to issuance of such rule. Such reissuance (including this section) shall not be subject to judicial review.
If language like this passes wolves in Idaho, Montana, and parts of Oregon, Washington, and Utah would lose Endangered Species Act protections while those in Wyoming would retain protection.
GOP budget bill lifts wolf protections.
By MATTHEW BROWN – Associated Press
Story. Hunting groups clash. By Rob Chaney. Missoulian
It appears there is a difference in strategy how to get at wolves, according to the Missoulian. However, I think it is more likely the the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (actually David Allen, CEO) has actually given up the fight for wild elk and has thrown in with the worst enemies of elk — catttle and sheep associations.They are probably satisfied with elk shooting pens.
The biggest competitor of elk for food is public range cattle. They eat 90% the same thing, and year after on public grazing allotments at seasons end you find 80, 90, 95% utilization of grass and forbs by cattle and sheep, even though the government grazing plan usually says utilization will be 40, 50 or 60%. In most cases, if you want more elk (and other grazing wildlife), there has to be more food for them. Over hundreds of millions of acres, cows are stealing grass from elk.
Look below who has joined the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation in supporting Senator Orrin Hatch’s anti-wolf bill — almost every livestock association out there, plus a number of right wing hunting groups.
Yesterday Orrin Hatch, Max Baucus, and Jon Tester introduced bills into the Senate, and Denny Rehberg introduced two bills into the House. All of them would delist wolves but there are three approaches taken.
S.249 and HR 509 would delist all wolves nationwide and prevent them from ever receiving protection under the Endangered Species Act, while S.321 and HR 509 would delist wolves only in Montana and Idaho.
The Baucus/Tester bill would make the 2009 delisting rule law, and has changed from last year’s version which would have placed minimum threshold of 518 wolves identified in the IDFG plan into effect. This bill contains no such language so essentially Idaho can reduce wolf populations to 100 or so wolves as defined in the Idaho Legislature’s plan. The Montana plan calls for managing wolves for a population of at least 342 wolves.
The Rehberg bill, HR 510, would simply delist wolves in Montana and Idaho but would not require the states to follow their own management plans leaving the door open for wolf eradication if directed by the legislatures of each state.
From the USFWS Press Release 2/10/11:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today the availability of a draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of Idaho Department of Fish and Game’s request to manage gray wolves in the Lolo Elk Management Zone in north central Idaho in response to impacts of wolf predation on elk.
The Draft Environmental Analysis and supporting documents are available at the USFWS website here.
Department of Natural Resources Director Michael Styler told a legislative committee Tuesday that the return of the wolves is comparable to “the resurrection of the T. rex and turning him loose on the landscape.”
Natural Resources director compares wolf to ‘T. rex’ The Salt Lake Tribune.
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2/10/2011. A reflection on this. Upon reading the account of Styler’s testimony, I have to wonder if he wasn’t really protesting the fact that he was politically forced to take the policy position he did. Sometimes people will protest their coerced speech by giving a speech so bizarre that you wonder if they are sane, or not being serious. I don’t know of this man, but reading his comments it came to me that it was like reading something in The Onion. Ralph Maughan
Later. No thinking about it and reading about him, he was serious. RM
Last week there was a big story about how wolves had killed a cow in the foothills above Eagle, Idaho, which most of you probably know is just west of Boise. Well, Carter Niemeyer, – the Montana western supervisor for Wildlife Services from 1975-1990 and the Wildlife Services Montana wolf specialist for the following 10 years until he took a post in Idaho as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s wolf recovery coordinator – did his own investigation and says that wolves didn’t kill the cow.
Here are the comments that I received today from Carter about the findings of his own investigation: Read the rest of this entry »
Finally there’s a little bit of good news about Mexican wolves. After the population stagnated well below the recovery figure of 100 wolves, I has declined in recent years. In 2010, on the strength of wild born pups and a halt on government killing for livestock depredations, it grew by 8. The wolves were about equally distributed between Arizona and New Mexico.
Illegal shootings were the leading cause of death.
Federal biologists count 50 Mexican wolves in wild. Associated Press
This species of wolf is apparently very interesting because it shares habitat and prey with similar (but non-wolf) animals. That would put them in competition.
New African Wolf Discovered. ScienceDaily
Three wolves have been confirmed in the northeast corner of Oregon near the border with Washington.
The “pack” of three wolves, at this point, should more appropriately considered a group until they determine what sexes the group consists of. It likely is a pack though.
Wolf pack confirmed in Umatilla County.
East Oregonian
Here is the actual text of the judge’s latest wolf decision. I think he is also saying a valid 10j population has not existed for some time, although he did not resurrect the argument that the original 10j reintroduction was not proper. Molloy’s order on experimental wolves
I think he may have cut the Gordian Knot. It is unclear still to me what the effects of this will be — who actually won. Strictly speaking, the government won (I mean on paper).
Judge Molloy has issued a order asking the defendants and plaintiffs why the 10(j) lawsuit “should not be dismissed as moot due to the absence of a population meeting the statutory requirements for 10(j) status.”
If the lawsuit is dismissed wolves in all of the Northern Rockies could lose their status as an experimental, non-essential population or 10(j) status and receive full protection under the Endangered Species Act. This would be because wolves from the Central Idaho and Greater Yellowstone populations have bred with those in the Northern Idaho/Northwest Montana population which came from Canada on their own and enjoy full protection of the ESA because they are not part of the 10(j) population. To receive 10(j) status, a population must be “wholly separate geographically from nonexperimental populations of the same species.”.
This would surely heat up the debate about wolves and would make it much more difficult to kill wolves for protection of ungulates and livestock in all areas where wolves exist in the Northern Rockies. This would also change the whole dynamic at play with Wyoming’s intransigence. If wolves remain listed in Wyoming and this lawsuit is dismissed then wolves there would be much more difficult to kill. This would provide ample motivation for Wyoming to come up with a management plan that is acceptable to the USFWS.
As soon as we get a copy of the order we will post it.
Judge’s ruling could threaten state’s ability to kill wolves
Lewiston Morning Tribune.
Judge’s ruling could put new limits on wolf hunts
Associated Press
When Emotion Drives the Wolf Debate, Research Suffers. “The Rocky Mountain West is producing solid science in regard to wolves. Too bad what’s learned is buried under what’s opined.” By Steve Bunk. Guest column in New West.
I want to add that science in many fields is being attacked (not necessarily by the government, but by political groups) in the United States. This turn to ideology, crude self interest, and various religious dogmas will destroy America, IMO. Ralph Maughan
Denny Rehberg (R-MT) has introduced the first wolf bill of the new congress into the House of Representatives which would hand over management authority of wolves to the states of Montana and Idaho.
Update 1/27/11: Apparently there are two bills. The second one would remove all protections from wolves nationwide.
From New West. An Excerpt from “Wolfer: A Memoir.” By Carter Niemeyer.
Siberian hunters chase 400-strong wolf pack. RT Question More.
A wolf pack 400 strong? Tales from the Russian woods.
In reality there are probably several wolf packs killing some ill kept horses.
Outlandish wolf stories have come from Russia for centuries. Recently a book about Russian wolves was put together by Will Graves (Author) and Dr. Valerius Geist (Contributor). Wolves in Russia: Anxiety Through the Ages. Although it is meant to be a serious study of Russian wolves, it is pretty much a collection of more folklore.
For more information on Russian wolves, may I suggest the new version of Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. The new vocal narration is by Sophia Loren, Bill Clinton and Mikhail Gorbachev. It has a new ending too, making it as accurate as the aforementioned book.
Good animal husbandry by the "original stewards of the land" © Ken Cole
You put them out in the spring then “discover” them in the winter.
Poor animal husbandry in remote areas can lead to all kinds of problems for ranchers, cattle, wildlife, and habitat alike. It’s just one reason that these Great Basin desert areas are unsuitable for cattle grazing in the first place. It’s a desert and cattle grazing requires a huge amount of land just to support one cow. There often isn’t enough water for the cattle and the plants and landscape of the Great Basin did not evolve with large ungulates like bison or cattle so they are easily damaged by the presence of cattle.
Here, the ranchers are complaining about rustlers. This is probably a widespread problem throughout the arid West but, as you can see from the article, the ranchers are reporting sightings of wolves in the area. I’m sure that once any sighting is confirmed the hysteria will quickly focus on wolves rather than rustlers as a cause for their woes.
Oregon ranchers hit by rustlers finding a surprise this winter: returning cows.
By Richard Cockle – The Oregonian
During a talk in Spokane, Washington given by the director of the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department about how budget cuts were affecting the department the subject of wolves came up and then things got ugly.
A response blurted out from the middle of the room:
“Why don’t we shoot some legislators?” a man said.
‘Shoot’ remark was unnerving.
Rich Landers – The Spokesman-Review
The state or Oregon is providing official monthly news on its wolf population.
There are two wolf packs, the large Imnaha Pack and the small Wenaha Pack. Both are in the extreme NE corner of the state near Idaho and Washington.
Here is the December update: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/docs/oregon_wolf_program/2010_December_wolf_report.pdf You can find the archived reports at Wolves in Oregon. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Related story in the Seattle Times. Oregon wolf pack has 2 more pups than expected. The Imnaha wolf pack in northeastern Oregon may have more pups than previously thought. The Associated Press
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Update. Leader of the Yellowstone wolf team, Dr. Doug Smith talks about the elk situation on Montana Public Radio News. Note that it is not the first story in the “evening news.”
Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, & Parks – Contact: Karen Loveless
406-224-1162
National Park Service – Contact: Doug Smith 307-344-2242
U.S. Forest Service – Contact: Dan Tyers 406-848-7375
U.S. Geological Survey – Contact: Paul Cross 406-994-6908
January 12, 2011
Winter Count Shows Decline In Northern Elk Herd Population
———————————————————-
Wildlife biologists say increased predation, ongoing drought, and hunting
pressure all contributed to a decline in the northern Yellowstone elk
population from 1995 to 2010.
The annual aerial survey of the herd conducted during December 2010
resulted in a count of 4,635 elk, down 24 percent from the 6,070 reported
the previous year. There has been about a 70 percent drop in the size of
the northern elk herd from the 16,791 elk counted in 1995 and the start of
wolf restoration to Yellowstone National Park.
Note that the story below is a much longer replacement for the original story I posted.
Wildlife investigators: Poison killed Colorado wolf. By Catherine Tsai. Associated Press in the Denver Post.
Yet another collared Mexican gray wolf, F521 from the Fox Mountain Pack, found dead in December.
$58,000 Reward Offered in Arizona Wolf Shooting. Arizona Reporter
This reward was first offered in July for the killings of other collared Mexican gray wolves.
Anyone with information in Arizona is encouraged to call USFWS agents in Mesa, AZ at 480-967-7900 or in Alpine, AZ at 928-339-4232.
Here is the latest update from Ed Bangs office, the only government folks in the West who seem to be regularly producing data now. It says it’s for Wyoming, but it also gives Yellowstone Park news, Oregon news and other wolf news. There is a link to Montana FWP and they do have an Oct. 2010 update. Interesting it shows the estimated wolf population in Montana for 2010 to be only 400 wolves, compared to the final 2009 count of 524 wolves. The number of 400 will probably go up a bit before the final report is issued, but preliminary data absolutely and flat out fails to show any explosion in wolf population even though the 2010 wolf hunt was canceled.
wyoming news-Jan7-2011. pdf file
Kathie Lynch is now perhaps the only person writing publicly the details of the Yellowstone Park wolves. With more change than continuity in the last year, her most recent report takes us into the wolf world of the Blacktails, Lamars, Agates, Canyon, and even a bit of Mollies and the Quadrant packs. Ralph Maughan
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© Yellowstone wolf update. Jan. 7, 2011. By Kathie Lynch, Copyright
Winter holiday time in Yellowstone glowed with magnificent mauve, apricot and pink sunrises. Hoar frost glittered on bare trees and bushes like bright, twinkling stars, while bitterly cold temperatures of -22F and mountains of sparkling snow guaranteed a white Christmas.
While finding wolves was sometimes challenging, fox watching was incredible. In the past, the hardest part of achieving a “Three Dog Day” (seeing a wolf, coyote and fox) was finding a fox. This time, foxes were everywhere.
The star of the show was a rare dark phase red fox, which looked almost black and is sometimes called a cross fox. It delighted everyone in the Lamar Valley with its careful listening for voles under the snow and head-first dives.
With only three wolf packs (Blacktail, Lamar, and Agate) as likely wolf watching possibilities in the Northern Range, I felt lucky to see wolves almost every day of my two week stay. One day I saw no wolves and one day we could only find one–a sleeping one, at that! Another day, dawn to dusk effort on the part of devoted wolf watchers only produced two black ears behind a bush. Read the rest of this entry »
Norman A Bishop was a naturalist interpreter for many years at Yellowstone Park, and played a key role in the wolf restoration. He is retired and continues a vigorous life, partly as an expert ski racer. He holds many positions including the board of the Wolf Recovery Foundation, of which I’m President.
He started circulating a version of “what good are wolves” about a month ago. It’s good to see it up on-line because it seems that 10-15 years ago everyone interested knew the reasons restoring wolves was a good idea. With the reality of them we learned some of the ideas were not so, and there were other good reasons no one had really predicted.
Over time the opposition distorted the reasons and just made things up. The news media produced thoughtful stories, but also too many easy ones with headlines like “Rancher loses a dog and calf to wolves . . . heartsick.” This is variation of a common type of journalism that is disparaged — “fuzz and was.” That means routine police stories and dead people, usually by accidents. Ralph Maughan
From New West, ” ‘What Good Are Wolves?’ A growing body of scientific research shows wolves are key to the ecosystems of the Northern Rockies. Here’s a condensed version compiled by a long-time wolf advocate. By Norman A. Bishop, Guest Writer.”
Drops gassing of pups in their dens and sterilization but continues heavy handed killing of wolves.
Public Comments accepted until January 3, 2011
Basin Butte Wolf Spring 2006 © Ken Cole
In anticipation of Monday’s federal court hearing of a case brought by Western Watersheds Project, Wildlife Services has revised its Idaho Wolf Environmental Assessment. While the new EA drops gassing of wolf pups in their dens and use of sterilization, the preferred alternative does not consider exhaustive use of non-lethal methods to prevent wolf conflicts by intimating that it would be too expensive for ranchers to use proper animal husbandry techniques to avoid such conflicts.
Wildlife Services [sic], formerly Animal Damage Control, is an agency under the Department of Agriculture which responds to wildlife threats to agriculture. They are not related to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is under the Department of Interior and who manages endangered species, enforces the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and manages National Wildlife Refuges.
Freudenthal is on to other things. We don’t know what Governor Mead will do, but over a year ago Wyoming outfitters Tory and Meredith Taylor wrote an excellent story for WyoFile on the true state of affairs with wolves and elk in the Cowboy Energy State.
Barstool Mountain Myths: Wolves & Elk Numbers Strong Despite Dire Predictions. By WyoFile on April 6, 2009
There are differences between Democrat Freudenthal and Republican Mead. However, on wolves it will probably be slight. Freudenthal, however, was a pioneer of sorts in using wild, irresponsible exaggeration of the impacts of wolves. Five years ago he was claiming that the then much smaller Wyoming wolf population was not only destroying the state’s wildlife, but its very economy. If his view of things was true, I guess by now the state would be depopulated save for the few stragglers the wolves hadn’t taken down yet.
We haven’t heard much of that from him lately. That’s probably because it was a total fabrication, and the economy later on did decline severely because of real problems at the national and international level — an unfortunate intrusion of reality.
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed litigation in response to the lack of response to their petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to expand protections for wolves across a significant portion of their historical range.
Conservationists seek to expand wolf range across U.S..
Laura Zuckerman – Reuters
Lawsuit Launched to Recover Wolves Across Country
Center for Biological Diversity Press Release.
I’ve rewritten this post as it appears that there is still a chance for a bill to move in the Senate.
The bill that would have removed wolves from the Endangered Species Act has failed and the bill which would have removed protections for wolves in Idaho and Montana introduced by Max Baucus of Montana was not successfully attached to the appropriations bill.
With so much else going on in Washington DC it appears that none of the bills to remove protections from wolves will be successful this congress but there is still a slight chance that the Baucus/Tester bill could move during the lame duck session of congress.
There is another dynamic here to take into consideration, the Baucus/Tester bill, which would require that Idaho and Montana maintain a number of wolves higher than the minimum of 10-15 packs, is opposed by many sportsman’s groups including the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation because it gives wolves even some protection. If this bill is passed it would be considered by some as a win for Tester who is likely to face a very tough reelection battle in 2012. With that, it seems likely that Republicans will try to block it since their whole strategy of late has been to block anything that might benefit Democrats.
That being said, the Baucus/Tester Bill would still set a very bad precedent for the Endangered Species Act. It would set a precedent that would allow delisting of any species if it somehow becomes inconvenient for the powers that be or those who kick and scream the most.
Idaho senators fail in bid to remove federal protection for wolves.
Dan Popkey – Idaho Statesman
State of the species
Anti-wolf bills unlikely to pass before year’s end
By KATHERINE WUTZ – Idaho Mountain Express
Utah bill to delist wolves fails in Senate.
By Laura Lundquist – Magic Valley Times-News
Another form of poaching that is probably more common than this one incident might indicate. This case shows how difficult it is to convict many poachers. It took two years to catch someone using the bait station after it was first discovered.
Is poaching becoming more commonplace because of the recession and could it be the reason for declines in elk? The recent study in Oregon indicates that the level of poaching is very high there. Could it be just as much of a problem in the neighboring states like Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming? What is going on here?
Elk Baiting Poachers Fined, Lose Hunting Privileges.
Idaho Fish and Game News Release
The story below has been getting a lot of attention.
Wolves, Elk, and Slob-Hunting. What’s a bigger threat to elk: wolves or slob-hunters? By Matt Skoglund, Guest Writer in New West. 12-17-10
With in the condition of the economy and the traditional lack of wildlife ethics in some areas, I think we have to also add flat-out poaching. For example, when they say “elk numbers have plunged in the West Fork of the Bitteroot, it must wolves,” how about an investigation of the number of convicted poachers in the Bitterroot Valley too. Before you settle on an answer, a smart person considers all the possible reasonable answers.
– – – –
And here is a related story from Montana’s Madison Valley. In the Hunt: (Slob) Hunters play wolf blame game. by Nick Gevock. mtstandard.com |
The LA Times weighs in on western politicians’ effort to deslist Northern Rocky Mountain Wolves by way of legislation:
Rocky Mountain Low – LA Times Opinion Editorial
The actions of three states and a handful of congressmen seem likely to undermine the return of the gray wolves of the northern Rockies. Even worse, they would set an appalling precedent for undermining the species act.
Former gubernatorial candidate Rex Rammel, currently under investigation for poaching elk, told a group of Idaho residents that citizens should organize wolf killing parties and that he didn’t think the authorities would intervene.
Not so says the feds:
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