BUTTE – Montana won’t follow Idaho’s lead in declining to manage wolves, a state official says.
“Giving back your management authority and your decision-making authority is not the same thing as getting rid of all the wolves,” said Carolyn Sime, wolf program coordinator with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. “Wolves are on the ground to stay. Who do you want managing them, your state fish and wildlife agency or the federal government?”
She said not having the state manage wolves would remove the people most qualified and knowledgeable about wolf management, and that having state biologists track and monitor wolves will help the state when wolves are again delisted.
Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter on Monday ordered state wildlife managers to relinquish their duty to arrest poachers or investigate when wolves are killed illegally.
Otter rejected the wolf management Idaho has conducted for years as the federal government’s “designated agent” after a federal judge in Montana returned wolves to Endangered Species Act protections earlier this year.
Errol Rice, executive vice president of the Montana Stockgrowers’ Association, said he prefers that the state manage Montana wolves rather than the federal government.
“As long as the federal government is going to keep them listed, they need to provide some funding to adequately manage them,” he said.
The number of wolves has skyrocketed since 66 wolves were brought from Canada to central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park. The population hit the original recovery benchmark of 300 animals a decade ago and at least 1,700 wolves now roam parts of six states.