Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
We're working to fix a technical issue causing problems with our broadcasts. We'll have it resolved as soon as possible. We apologize for the inconvenience.

CSKT Wildlife Managers Work To Update Wolf Plan

Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribal wildlife managers expect to have the updated, 5-year wolf management plan finalized by the end of January.

It focuses on wolves found on the Flathead reservation and is separate from the plan the state of Montana uses to manage other wolf populations.   

Summer surveys and observations suggest there are a minimum of 30 wolves on the reservation, but Tribal Wildlife Program Manager, Dale Becker, says it's difficult to pin-down a specific head count.

"That doesn't include pups that may be here that weren't there at that time. Some of those do include pups, some don't. That's about the best information that we have.

"We seem to have constant activity along the west side of the reservation.That's where we have quite a bit of activity showing up such a depredation issues and things like that."

Becker points out there are other areas where packs suddenly appear and decide to stay.

"We're in an area here, especially once you got out of the mission valley where there's just a lot of livestock out on the landscape. It's fairly good-sized chunks of open-space rangeland...the wolves eventually stumble across that and sometimes utilize the opportunity. You get to the place where you do a pack removal and there's new wolves on the scene relatively quickly; often within a month."

None of western Montana's wolves are reintroduced from other areas.  

"The closest reintroduction was down in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho. The next closest, of course, was down in Yellowstone. So these are all animals that have either come down from (British Columbia), or descended from animals that in a former generation came out of B.C. probably."

Becker says the 2014 draft wolf management plan isn't drastically different from the last one completed in 2011.

"That provides us some good management flexibility. It leaves the question of hunting aside. Last year, the council approved hunting. This year they didn't. Whether they will in the future, that remains to be seen."

Becker says the council also approved wolf trapping provisions last year, but opted against it this year.

"That may have been just a little too much of a weighty issue for some of them - that's just my opinion, I don't know. It seemed like things bogged down on that. The hunting didn't seem to be so much of an issue."

The 2011 Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' wolf management program was a three-year plan. Becker says it drew lots of interest and diverse comments at the time. This time around, he says far fewer people submitted comments.

"There are some people who are just going to be adamantly opposed to wolves period. There are some who think they can do no wrong and the rest will be somewhere in the middle. I think to a certain extent, for a lot of people, the wolf issue - even though it's still hotter than a two-dollar gun, it's maybe subsided a little bit."

Some commentators raised often-heard safety-related concerns.

"Impacts on domestic livestock or domestic animals, including pets. There were some human safety concerns; those related to potential for wolves to attack someone," says Becker. "We haven't seen anything like that. Also, wolves do carry some diseases that can pass to dogs and can potentially pass to humans. We haven't seen that either."

Other commentators wondered if wolf packs will get so large that they'll eventually harm big game populations and opportunities for tribal subsistence hunters. Becker says wildlife managers are - and will continue - to study that very question. He quickly adds that tribal wolf management funds are very limited.

"This tribe and the Blackfeet tribe - and I think I can speak for the other tribes in the three states - received basically chicken feed. Our amount was $10,000 and that doesn't really go very far to do much of anything. "

Becker says he and his colleagues are always searching for grants to help cover the costs of wolf management and related activities.
 
Read the 2014 Confederated Salish and Kootenai wolf management plan here.
 

Edward O’Brien first landed at Montana Public Radio three decades ago as a news intern while attending the UM School of Journalism. He covers a wide range of stories from around the state.
edward.obrien@umt.edu.  
(406) 243-4065
Become a sustaining member for as low as $5/month
Make an annual or one-time donation to support MTPR
Pay an existing pledge or update your payment information
Related Content