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Ralph Maughan
Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University with specialties in natural resource politics, public opinion, interest groups, political parties, voting and elections. Aside from academic publications, he is author or co-author of three hiking/backpacking guides, and he is past President of the Western Watersheds Project.
An open Letter to the Montana Legislature
Thirty-three contiguous counties in eastern and north-central Montana have been losing population for many decades. (mtwildbison.org – News) These counties include half the area of the state! Most lack a population necessary to support a comprehensive county government, adequate health care, emergency services, quality education, communication facilities and other infrastructure. Poverty levels are the highest in the state.
For decades, attempts to alleviate this situation with resource-extraction have provided only local, often unsustained relief. (Consider “Petroleum” County.) Livestock production has remained the primary economic foundation. This industry has strongly opposed any projects that might compete with cattle production. The approach has not halted population decline or alleviated poor economic conditions.
There are no public-trust, wild bison, year-round, in Montana. Opponents of bison allege that bison restoration, even under strict guidelines set forth by the Montana legislature, (MCA 87-1-216) would devastate local economies. However, bison restoration has potential to augment and diversify local economies by enhancing tourism and with monies spent during months-long hunting seasons for lodging, supplies and outfitting services. (Sage, J. L. 2017. https: scholarworks.umt.edu/itrr_pubs/353).
Restoring public wild bison on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge and on nearby private lands where public bison are accepted can provide sustained local income near the Refuge – without negative impacts to local cattle growers. In particular, small businesses along highways 2 and 191, especially in Blaine, Phillips and Valley Counties and in Lewistown would benefit.
Enhancing local economies is but one reason to restore bison in Montana. However, proposed legislation opposing restoration of public-trust, wild bison, especially on the CMR Refuge, is part of an economic strategy that has failed for decades. As you consider these bills, please do not support actions that will diminish opportunities to provide a more diverse, resilient and healthy economy for future generations in eastern and north-central Montana.
James, IMHO, many will have to judge (and research) for themselves whether today’s aim at “conservation” especially out here in the west, is about bringing back healthy numbers of wildlife species that once roamed the landscape or just promoting/boosting hunting opportunities?
https://www.mtwildbison.org/
https://thehill.com/changing-america/opinion/535688-trophy-hunters-youre-wrong-dead-wrong?fbclid=IwAR0hg6l4zs-gQRuSpDRnJFtfKWyGZc0V_ZgtlQ53gV2PZ8dYPXFerDbqPNE
It’s not just westerners, global communities will have to judge. Trophy hunting, and hunting for many species, is not working out. Humans alter wildlife populations and landscapes so radically we are in a global extinction free fall crisis. When will we start managing ourselves? The denial and institutional persistence to continue status quo “management” reminds me of some Republicans who incited a riot and now pretend that impeachment is about retaliation for Trump. Q Anon consipracy theorists in the Senate ughhh. Humans are in a continuous crisis mode, politically and environmentally, with so much at stake. A long time ago Lester Brown wrote and argued that before humans ran out of resources we would see great political unrest…Here we are, having abused the natural world and recreated so heavily that we unleashed a life altering pandemic and so little has been paid attention to the nexus.
They will have to judge all wildlife management actions hopefully toward bringing back healthy numbers of wildlige populations. For far too long its been abut boosting one species hunting potential.
other mind numbing nasty news from Montana https://committeetoabolishsporthunting.wordpress.com/2021/01/27/urgent-hearing-thurs-increase-wolf-trapping-season-tues-snaring/
When will one of the NGOs work to promote legislation to reverse the no judicial rider that created a nightmare for wolves in the Rocky Mountains and for those of us that appreciate their grandeur.
Louise, trophy hunting and meat hunting in South Africa have produced forty million acres of rewilded natural habitat in a generation where there were once dryland farms.
Those forty million acres produce fifty thousand tons of game meat annually, while the populations of all large game animals are continually rising as farmers raise more and more.
Those forty million acres also support billions of other animals, birds, insects, plants and trees that are not hunted.
It is huge success story, compared to the Amazon or Indonesia. Trophy hunting is the answer for wildlife survival in Africa outside the reserves.
So these games generating farms are better than nature’s wildness?
I doubt it
They are farms, Louise. They have to produce an income. Raising wild animsals in natural habitat is a good second best to nature and better thsn crops.
Conveniently you didn’t mention what was lost
Only forty million acres of marginal dryland cattle and goat farms were lost, replaced with indigenous creatures and plants. I don’t understand why you don’t like it, apart from the obvious fact that it is supported by hunting. The outcome, however, is a huge win for conservation.
Are you praising canned hunt farms, John? If so, definitely doesn’t work for me. And in my world, killing does not equal conservation.
Hello Pamela. Hunting doesn’t equal conservation, but hunting does pay farmers to convert marginal land back into natural bush in order to raise the animals that hunters seek.
In South Africa, more than a million animals are shot for meat and trophies every year, but the farms produce close on three million, so the numbers keep going up. Compare that to the annihilation in the Amazon.
Farms average four thousand acres, and some are a quarter of a million, so the animals are mostly as free as anywhere.
Canned doesn’t mean you hunt in a barn; “a canned hunt” is like a “package holiday”.
It leaves between six and twenty million animals happily living their lives in the sunshine, where everywhere else they are disappearing. You can go there and look at them; you don’t have to hunt them.
Thanks Jim Bailey,,,, Isn’t it time for the FEDERAL government to re-claim the “Public Trust” doctrine over Montana bison, because the State of Montana is abusing its duties to preserve, conserve, protect and expand wild bison into all suitable FEDERALLY owned bison habitat, including BLM, National Forests, National Wildlife Refuge and National Park lands?? The Feds have passed the “management” ball over to the States… However, when a state like Montana declines to serve the Public Trust by NOT re-storing bison to Montana’s Public Lands, then the Feds should assume the duties that are rightfully given to them by law.
Let’s hope Pres. Biden’s new Dept of Interior team will finally take positive actions to restore wild bison withing Montana.
Management of Wildlife on Federal Lands
Abundant state and federal policy advocates a federal – state dichotomy for wildlife management on federal lands, even on wildlife refuges. Handbooks, regulations and plans endorse state supremacy in managing wildlife populations, while federal prerogatives are limited to providing and managing federal habitat.
For non-marine wildlife, only two exceptions recognizing supremacy of federal authority over wildlife populations are commonly noted: for federally listed threatened and endangered species and for migratory birds. These exceptions are clear in the Endangered Species Act and in the Migratory Bird Treaty with Mexico and Canada.
However, Nie et al. (2017), in an extensive review of the U. S. Constitution and of laws governing federal land-management agencies, concluded “the states’ trust responsibilities for wildlife are subordinate to the federal government’s statutory and trust obligations over federal lands and their integral resources” including wildlife.
The National Wildlife Refuge System
Since the Coalition’s goal includes restoring public-trust, wild bison on the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, discussion of the federal refuge system is emphasized here.
The National Wildlife Refuge Administration Act clarifies that actions on a refuge must be compatible with the mission of the Refuge System and with the refuge’s purposes stated in its establishing legislation. Refuge actions shall provide for conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and their habitat and ensure biological integrity, diversity and environmental health of the Refuge System, for the benefit of present and future generations of Americans. A refuge may “restore wildlife where appropriate.”
Notably, a federal refuge must “ensure effective coordination, interaction, and cooperation” with adjacent landowners and with the state in which the refuge is located. However, this instruction does not absolve the Fish and Wildlife Service from fulfilling its mandates, noted above. A refuge must cooperate with state and local dictates only “to the extent practicable”.
Restoring bison on the CMR would contribute to the mission of the Refuge System in that the Department of Interior’s Bison Conservation Initiative’s goals include the maintenance of wildness and genetic diversity in large, wide-ranging bison herds on large landscapes. “Perhaps the greatest conservation challenge that bison face is the lack of large blocks of habitat.” (NPS 2020).
C. M. Russell Refuge Plan
The CMR Plan notes that, without bison, “progress in restoring ecological processes would remain incomplete”, that “bison restoration would bring back what was once a dominant herbivore and keystone species in the refuge landscape”, would be “a positive move toward restoration of natural ecological processes” and “would present the opportunity for wildlife-dependent public uses.”
There is no indication that that restoring bison would be biologically inappropriate.
In the Department of Interior’s Bison Conservation Initiative, its goal and need for large bison herds on large landscapes would be greatly enhanced with restoration of bison on the CMR. The CMR is the largest federal refuge within the historic range of plains bison.
Despite these potential contributions to refuge goals and to the mission of the Refuge System, the CMR Plan concludes: “The Service will not consider reintroducing bison on the refuge unless Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks initiates an effort.” and that “any proposal for bison restoration would be conducted by a public process led by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.” This is an abdication of federal statutory and public trust responsibilities for federal lands and resources, despite the state’s long failure, in not restoring wild bison, to fulfill its own Constitutional mandate and public trust responsibilities to the people of Montana.
Federal/state wildlife management dichotomy is biologically illogical
Modern wildlife biology and conservation recognize the innumerable interactions among animals, plants and the physical environment. It is impossible to manipulate any part of an ecosystem, let alone a keystone species, without influencing many other species in many interrelated ways. Thus, habitat and populations may not be manipulated separately.
Allowing the CMR to manipulate its habitat without bison is a disingenuous proposition. The Refuge is denied one of its most important “habitat managers”. The habitat impacts of wild bison cannot be duplicated by human activity. For examples, the CMR cannot produce thousands of bison wallows as habitat for plants and animals, cannot seasonally distribute shed bison hair for use by nesting birds, cannot duplicate the effects of bison grazing distributed across space and time in natural ways.
Thus, the federal/state dichotomy for wildlife management on federal lands is unreasonable policy, grounded in political expediency.
CMR 2010. Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Environmental Impact Statement, Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge, UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge. (The Draft version is cited here.)
Nie, M., C. Barns, J. Haber, J. Joly, K. Pitt and S. Zellmer. 2017. Fish and wildlife management of federal lands: Debunking state supremacy. Environmental Law 47 (4): 1-126.
NPS 2020. The quote is from: nps.gov/subjects/bison/what-we-de.htm.
The above will be posted on mtwildbison.org soon.
Thank you again – and again for your forceful advocacy for wild bison. Like I said, Hopefully, the Biden administration will see-the-light and move to take the lead in restoring bison to the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge. By the way; speaking of large scale bison habitat: Yellowstone NP is surrounded by over 7 million acres of National Forest and BLM land much of which is bison habitat and the bison are just waiting for “permission” from the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to re-introduce themselves.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets/scientists-find-that-bees-aren-t-getting-enough-sleep-and-a-common-pesticide-is-to-blame/ar-BB1d1CXk?ocid=msedgdhp
All pesticide and herbicide application on public lands should be terminated if the soil/vegetation complex is to recover.
Eat organic food.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/microscopic-life-is-melting-greenland-s-ice-sheet/ar-BB1bVHS4?ocid=msedgdhp
Wolves seem to be taking a number of cougars in areas where they compete, according to a WY study cited in Smithsonian magazine. Wonder what former Washington State University large carnivore researcher, Rob Wielgus, would say about that? I think he was a cougar specialist until he got sideways of the Washington Division of Wildife when he colored outside the lines while advocating wolves in the NE part of the state.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/how-wolves-western-united-states-are-driving-down-mountain-lion-populations-180976775/
I think the human factor is a much greater concern for cougars than wolves. As you know there are plenty of studies that show the effect of stress on predators, whether just trying to avoid us or living in a nightmare world of being hunted by humans. https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2435.12354#:~:text=Tundra%E2%80%93taiga%20wolves%20also%20had,part%20of%20a%20control%20programme.
And many of them have become nocturnal because of human harassment
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/06/180614212655.htm
https://exposingthebiggame.wordpress.com/2021/01/27/energy-spent-avoiding-humans-linked-to-smaller-home-ranges-for-male-pumas/
I wonder what the wildlife agencies that operate more like hunting clubs against most of their constituent’s wishes would have to say about that?
https://rewilding.org/hunting-isnt-conservation/
https://www.idausa.org/campaign/wild-animals-and-habitats/hunting/#:~:text=Hunting%20is%20Not%20Conservation&text=Hunters%20want%20us%20to%20believe,well%20as%20skewed%20population%20dynamics.
I think it shows that left to their own, they can manage their own populations without interference.
But on another note:
https://billingsgazette.com/outdoors/gianforte-nominates-new-fish-and-wildlife-commission-members/article_a2a0955f-58c9-51a6-a507-ffabee3c7fb6.html
Without “interference” bison would eventually repopulate the Great Plains. (The Yellowstone herd grows at about 15%/year.) Think about bison wallows throughout all those wheat fields. Anyway, Montana law says any restored bison herd must be “contained”, though that is not defined.
James Bailey: Is the CM Russell National Wildlife Refuge fenced around it outside perimeter?? I didn’t think it was. Are you saying that bison at the CM Russell Nat. Wildlife Refuge would be “contained” by a border fence around the Refuge, so they would pass the legal standards of the State of Montana which doesn’t want free roaming bison?? By the way, I think a perimeter fence around any Public Lands is a bad idea. Thanks
Parts of the boundary of the CMR are now fenced, but much of it has, at least, inadequate fencing and I believe there are still problems with trespass cattle on the Refuge. There have been grazing allotments on the Refuge. Only a few remain and cattle grazing must be justified as for the benefit of the wild ecosystem (according to the current plan. Correct that Montana law requires any herd of wild bison (there are none now) to be contained, which is not defined. Any bison returned to the CMR would be a step forward. See our proposal at mtwildbison.org.
I should have asked, I’m not sure how many sit on this commission, and probably it is indicative of other Westers states’ boards, if they have them?
The outfitter, hunting interests overrepresented.
The fishing guy, at least nixed mining interests at a river headwaters (that’s always good!)
But I cannot understand why a private gas and oil company is represented on a Fish and Wildlife commission! Especially one who is the head of the state’s chapter of Safari Club International. Hunting interests overrepresented again.
Is there a biologist or scientist anywhere in sight?
**Sorry, it isn’t what we were promised when much of our country’s wildlife was put into the Western States’ hands to manage. It was to be expected that this would happen.
A biologist or scientist whose primary interest isn’t human activities?
I should add that if it isn’t really palatable to think of wildlife killing the young of other wildlife and ‘hard to watch’ – I hope the same can be said for human hunters killing bear cubs and wolf cubs in their dens?
Like that father and son pair in Alaska. Doesn’t anyone find that hard to watch? Why is it okay for people to do it, but not other animals?
Never ok for humans to kill young like that.
Thank you, I think that law needs to be changed back to being banned!
Also, the article WM listed says that in order to compensate for the wolf and mountain lion territorial battles, human trophy hunting of mountain lions needs to be cut back.
Probably that will not go over well, although there is no need for trophy hunting.
Mismanagement and the Domestication of Yellowstone Buffalo. By Buffalo Field Campaign’s executive director, James Holt, Sr. https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/01/15/mismanagement-and-the-domestication-of-yellowstone-bison/
Good – glad to read this. Enough is enough!
Did the old blog (1995-2006)died ?
What old blog are you referring too? If it was at the domain “forwolves.com,” I deleted all the the wolf stories yesterday.
Hi Ralph, yes it was what i was refering to.
It was highly informative and important to me.
Thank you for the prompt answer.
Have a nice day !
Be good to know, if someone out there in the science community, is trying to relate to why this owl, who seldom, if ever, is seen in that part of the country (where human congestion compromises/ruins the lives of what ever wildlife is around) has suddenly making a “rare” appearance?
Yeah, it happens but why? Would be a good question given how the climate is changing and disrupting so many other beings lives, we humans share the planet with.
https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/gorgeous-snowy-owl-makes-mega-rare-manhattan-appearance-central-park?fbclid=IwAR075iZMseLwE8G9JhEx1Wn0fVZ9TsOLtwJcgJnR-2SOvkVK8-lse_lkEGw
I’ve see an article on relationship of snowy owls to lemming populations and also one to coronal mass ejections (CME’s…geek stuff!). If it was timed during a ‘little ice age’ or just during decades of cold climate, it’s an effective migration distribution pattern, right? Ebird and birdforum have some neat threads on this stuff
And almost always it’s young males doing the wandering…just like black bears and mountain lions
I see them occasionally in my neck of the woods during winter migration too, maybe earlier in the fall? It’s always a sight to see!
I loved reading the comments to this post – people really appreciated seeing her, or him?
Here’s another article, most of the comments are making my day today:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/fuss-over-central-park-snowy-owl-suggests-new-yorkers-give-a-hoot-11611944986
But, I thought it was wolves driving ranchers into bankruptcy. Yeah, the two legged variety.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/200000-allegedly-missing-cows-are-at-center-of-bankruptcy-of-major-washington-cattle-operation/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1&fbclid=IwAR3i5kIy4RDy2Y-Z7222eE0W__yynLR4ZJxIzpKGjeJYzwDfoK-HkHd6XlQ
https://montanafreepress.org/2021/01/20/martha-williams-to-join-bidens-interior-department/
Here’s a little more info:
https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1063723311
I just hope the snowy owl steers clear of LaGuardia Airport! In Boston I know they catch and relocate. In NY I fear it is ‘wildlife services’. I wonder if the sightings are really as rare as we think, because in our modern world people’s activities dominate, and birds can probably fly in unnoticed.
But at any rate, there’s a bird survey coming up and I wonder if I’ll see one at one of my favorite beaches, where I have seen them, hanging out on tall places. One year, a snowy owl flew right by me. It was and is thrilling. What a sight they are.
If anyone is interested:
https://www.birdcount.org/
Good news? I hope so:
https://www.denverpost.com/2021/02/03/gray-wolf-north-park-colorado-travel-patterns/
I wonder how this will all sort out – wolves a protected species in Colorado, but subject to overhunting and abuse in Wyoming, Colorado’s Northern neighbor:
“President Joe Biden has directed the Interior Department to reconsider the Trump-era delisting decision.”
Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/biden-backs-trump-decision-to-strip-gray-wolf-of-protections
Copyright © BloombergQuint
Not good
USFWS director appointed
Former Montana Dept of fish and wildlife director martha Williams, a dismal choice
USFWS replied to Biden’s request to review Trump administrative actions
No problem
Hopefully if Deb Haaland is appointed she might overturn that decision
Meanwhile a group of 20,000 savage individuals applied for the thrill of slaughtering unsuspecting wolves in Wisconsin
Tomorrow is a terrible day and a perfect reminder of why a national carnivore protection act is needed
Too many politics in the ESA protections
Trophy hunting should be stopped
It’s really a sickness to want to kill for fun
It’s ghastly. I cannot even believe this kind of barbarism is going to go forward.
If you listen to the so-called bored-meeting, one guy actually said, just as they do out West, that they want to get the population down to the ‘number promised’.
No regard for the species, nothing. I’m surprised the Federal government doesn’t step in.
This is not recovery, in any way at all. Or the recovery is about to end, and all the hard work that people have done and try to do is over.
Louise:: Fortunately, it looks like Martha Williams (Montana) was appointed by the Biden administration as only the “Principal Deputy Director” of the US Fish & Wildlife Service. She will be under the Director of the USF&WS as the “number 2” person in the chain of command.
Yes, hopefully when Deb Haaland is confirmed as Sec. of Interior, she will appoint a F&WS Director more in line with her more enlightened thinking.
Can she make decision though, like Bernhardt did? That’s exactly how he got his position in the Trump administration, and was able to make far-reaching decisions. Let’s not be naive about this. She must be there to do something?
I wish they’d hurry up and confirm Deb Haaland.
For example, weren’t the environmental decisions and parting shots of the Trump administration supposed to be reviewed, didn’t Biden task her with that?
I would have expected that someone temporarily leading F&W would have not come out defending the delisting decision, especially saying it was based on sound science!
It it is under review, as she has been tasked to do – there should have been a halt called to state hunting.
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local/boise-county-idaho-helicopter-crash/277-2ab5c57b-e9fc-4c6f-8026-3887fbd419da
Trying to dart and collar wolves. To bad, wreck a good helicopter, hope the wolves are “howling” with laughter.
Is that all they were doing, I wonder? It was the Dept. of Agriculture Wildlife Services.
The new person Biden has appointed to temporarily head the Interior is the former F&W Director of Montana. She is on record as saying we should focus on ‘recovery’ and not ‘delisting’.
Sleight of hand, to me – once there is a delisting, recovery ends, because all states want hunting of wolves, and unless they agree to no hunting, that’s it for wolves. Not likely to happen. Just look at the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming if you want to see the worst in ‘management’. I hope people do not let it happen again.
Wildlife report:
Taking part in the yearly Great Backyard Bird Count, and I seem to have an overwintering Hermit Thrush at the birdfeeder. I’ve seen and heard them over spring and summer, but I wasn’t aware they wintered over. He (or she) has been there every day, I think for a week or two. So exciting! 🙂
And just like that, 200 wolves can be killed in a week. What happened?:
https://www.startribune.com/wolf-hunt-approved-in-wisconsin-as-legal-fight-continues/600023427/
Thanks for posting Ida.
A bit more of the chronology without the pay wall
After the WDNR, in large extent to The public saying no February wolf hunt
https://www.wpr.org/judge-orders-dnr-begin-february-wolf-hunt
🙂 Sorry. It does seem like a bit much.
And more in regard to the 200 wolf target From WPR
https://www.wpr.org/dnr-propose-harvest-quota-200-wolves
Another look.
https://www.wpr.org/natural-resources-board-sets-harvest-200-wolves
VIDEO – Deer cross under wildlife friendly fence (Wyoming)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/deer-cross-under-wildlife-friendly-145420420.html
Sometimes I wonder how they manage. Loved the little straggler at the end.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/bear-attacks-woman-s-buttocks-as-she-uses-outdoor-toilet-in-alaska/ar-BB1dNORN?ocid=msedgntp
Unreal.
Elizabeth Ann, what a sweetie. I’m not sure about my thoughts on cloning, but in an emergency save situation, it has its merits. A good life-saving ‘tool in the toolbox’ as they say, instead of life-taking. I just fear it should not be relied upon:
https://fws.gov/
Bad news: the appeals court won’t even hear the case. What a disgusting mess:
https://www.wsaw.com/2021/02/20/court-wont-hear-appeal-to-stop-wisconsin-wolf-hunt/
This should be the example of all examples on what happens when an animal is delisted that continues to need Federal protection.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wolf-hunting-season-begins-with-kill-quota-of-119-after-tribes-declare-50-25-of-harvest-in-ceded-territory/ar-BB1dUDve?ocid=uxbndlbing
I’m relieved to see that the Great Lakes Native American tribes stepped up for wolves. I don’t think they will hunt them, but as it is always crassly put, and also in the article I read ‘a share of the harvest’.
And I should say I am very happy that a person of Native American descent has been nominated to lead the Interior, in and of itself. Of course, we never know what kind of a job someone will do, compromises etc., that may have to be made.
Monkey See Monkey Do
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2021/02/another-wolf-hunt-republicans-push-to-open-season-on-michigan-wolves.html?fbclid=IwAR0MaodbmOEW99VzXuil8G2eKLbmMXHN_tWk3WGp096sBD650EglGNgYuo0
Just wow. It’s truly difficult to comprehend. But at least by tomorrow morning it will be all over. How can anyone, especially leadership, give this in any kind of dignity: 🙁
“Wisconsin will end its winter wolf hunt in most parts of the state Wednesday morning after hunters killed more than half the statewide quota in the first 24 hours.”
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/wisconsin-wolf-hunters-bag-more-than-half-quota-in-opening-of-contentious-season/article_d575dba3-6e63-54de-9927-e59c2ca5cfb9.html
I watched quite a bit of the confirmation hearings today for Deb Haaland, and I thought she did very well, at least to the best of my knowledge! 🙂
One thing that concerns me is Sen. Daines from Montana raised concerns about the ESA, and that bears are federally protected in perpetuity. I didn’t realize that!
But I hope he isn’t asking for a compromise there, and I have read where Martha Williams is a grizzly delisting advocate too. Their reproduction rate is to slow to have hunting? Most others had concerns about fossil fuels – LA, ND.
Color me pleasantly surprised – Don Young seems like a very personable nice guy too.
But I believe Director of F&W is a position appointed by the President, not the Secretary of the Interior and serves at the pleasure of the President.
Ida: I wish I had been able to watch the Deb Halland Senate confirmation hearings. Often this pick goes to a western state politician who goes along with the status quo (Public Land oil drilling, logging, cattle grazing, mining, etc.). I think Deb Halland will be different (hope hope).
The Grizzly Bear is protected under the Endangered Species Act because of court orders… They are NOT protected “in perpetuity” as Republican Senator Daines lied about. They are protected until their number grow AND their ranges connect with each other, which they do not do now. However, it would be wonderful to have a law that protects them in perpetuity – wolves too!
I am sure Pres. Biden will lean heavily on Deb Haaland in picking his Director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. This is such a critical position necessary to support our Public Lands and their wildlife.
Yes, wouldn’t it! I think by and large, most approved of this historic appointment!
I hope he does also. 🙂
My apologies – many had concerns about job loss and fossil fuels, that should be mentioned and important – AK, LA, ND.
Senator Wyman from OR was super nice, and Sen. King from ME (yay!) with his lobster patterned tie. 🙂
Don Young has always been a terrible person on wildlife and environmental issues. I was very surprised and pleased that he was supporting her nomination.
Yes!
https://www.idahostatejournal.com/news/local/legislation-aims-to-drastically-reduce-idaho-wolf-population/article_4e0b5064-9f1c-5b69-a737-c83cad7b17f2.html
scum sucking bastards
This is the danger and I see no one talking about it at the confirmation hearing today.
Lots of discussion about the ESA and recovery and ‘graduating’ from endangered species status is all laudable – but it is what happens after that must be looked at. Now an animal is simply abandoned.
These gleeful massacres in WI and in the Wester states have to be addressed. I’m willing to overlook decades of cheap grazing in order that massacres don’t take place under the guise of hunting!!!
You got that right. WI exceeded the quota of 199 animals by 16 to 135. And probably that isn’t the final count.
But this is now the responsibility of a new administration, and I hope it will be addressed, and not overlooked because of party.
oops or 119 animals, sorry.
I hope no one is falling for that same old line that there isn’t enough money in the budget because it all goes to wolves, and other causes are going wanting – so lets abandon the wolves?
https://twitter.com/wolfprotector1/status/1364641775231590402
162 wolves killed as of now. disgusting, you think they would have closed the hunt by now.
https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/wisconsin-wolf-hunters-exceed-quota-double-abbreviated-hunt-dnr
Savagery, isn’t it? Hunting is one thing, an eradication attempt is something else. As always, I think it is right wing political too.
They want the population to be 350, per the DNR board.
a bill was introduced in the ID legislature the other day to eliminate 2/3 of the Idaho wolf population and remove all restrictions on trapping and hunting them.
https://phys.org/news/2021-02-hundreds-idaho-wolves-legislation.html
let see if this new supposed environmentally friendly administration steps in on this one. I won’t be holding my breath.
I fear it is at the very bottom of the many priorities, if there at all.
Wasn’t that tried before by this Jeff Siddoway? It never passes; hunting in planes and dropping in to remote areas via parachute seems too much like a war, and dangerous. More wolf hate than good sense.
It’s ridiculous. But with all the unrest, I hope it doesn’t this time. I blame what happened in WI on this political unrest too. It never ends.
At least one Great Lakes state has some integrity, but we’ll see if it passes:
https://www.howlingforwolves.org/news/press-release-minnesota-bill-introduced-prohibit-wolf-hunting-wisconsin-begins-wolf-hunting
Now here’s something:
She [Nada Culver] most recently served as vice president of public lands and senior policy counsel at the National Audubon Society. Previously, she served as senior counsel and senior director for policy and planning at the Wilderness Society, where she created a group that worked with people on participating in land use planning processes and management decisions.
https://flatheadbeacon.com/2021/02/23/environmental-attorney-to-lead-bureau-of-land-management/
Grazing rights RESCINDED for controversial Oregon ranchers”: (elections have consequences). Hopefully, Bundy will next.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/grazing-rights-rescinded-controversial-oregon-005528838.html
I’ve noticed quite a change in the tone of the reporting these kinds of issues:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/2/27/22303290/wisconsin-wolf-hunt-endangered-species-letters
They need to leave the wild horses alone it’s their land not the cattle not the stupid people that wants to take over everything it belongs to the people of the United States and they want the wild horses to remain free on our public lands not cattle cattle tear up the land a hell of a lot more than horses do these wild horses are a part of our history for millions of years so leave them alone
Hear hear! Jeannie… Most people do not know that in almost all of the wild horse areas, cattle outnumber wild horses about 10 to 1. And yet, it is the cattle owners who claim that it is the wild horses that are eating too much of the grass and harming the land. Cattle should be BANNED from within designated wild horse areas.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/scientists-say-first-wolf-found-near-yosemite-for-century-a-beacon-of-hope/ar-BB1e7qHA?ocid=msedgdhp
It’s so up and down, grief one day, and then hope the next!
A nice place to settle down! 🙂
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/should-we-have-closed-the-season-sooner-yes-wisconsin-dnr-faces-backlash-after-wolf-hunting-season-ends-in-an-uproar/ar-BB1e7Hlh?ocid=msedgdhp
BAD
I hope they get the backlash of all backlashes for this.
They could have behaved in an honorable manner, observing the DNR rules (which were very liberal to begin with), respecting the Native American boundaries and their differing perspective on wolves (not vermin to be wiped out).
But no, they had to make it a slaughter, reveling in killing. Apparently, they do not care how they appear to the rest of the country, and even the world, they are so used to behaving with impunity.
From a confidential source, post hunt meeting between DNR, some pretty colorful language was bouncing off the walls. Lot of folks caught between a rock and a hard place due to that three day fiasco!
Good! Thanks for the update, Immer.
https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/collins-back-haaland-interior-sealing-approval-76226682
The veterinarian Dr. Fox has written an article on Chronic Wasting Disease which can be found at https://drfoxonehealth.com/post/chronic-wasting-disease-anthronpogenic-containable..
His article considers a wider range of factors including the lack of predation and the possible role of electromagnetic pollution and chemical pesticides etc..
It is one of the more complete articles that I have found online on this subject.
Wisconsin’s infamy made the NYT:
“Mr. Arrivo [Attorney for The Humane Society] said it was possible that many of the wolves killed last week were pregnant or might have been mothers with new pups that were still dependent on them and might now die of starvation.
“I think the actual death toll is considerably higher because of the rippling effects through the wolf family structure,” Mr. Arrivo said.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/03/us/wisconsin-wolves-killings.html
“Trump Emboldened Extremists. They Could Spell Trouble For Biden’s Interior Department.”
Chris D’Angelo·Environment Reporter, HuffPost
https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/biden-interior-environmental-agenda-extremism-patriot-movement-130000748.html
Some states to kill wolves any way they can…
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-states-look-step-wolf-160737774.html
The message has to get through that ‘recovery’ is only part of the answer. What happens after recovery needs to be considered in a delisting.
WI is a prime example. They know they can behave with impunity, and the Interior will trumpet reports of the ‘success story of recovery’ only. It’s the only reason I can think of for them to have behaved in this way and to have made themselves look so bad. You’d think they’d have wanted to look good and moderate in the public eye?
I hope something is done about it.
Ida:: The Biden administration – Interior Dept. – says they are “reviewing” the status of gray wolves and whether the Trump administration erred in removing them from the Endangered Species List. And there are also law suits filed to put them back on the the Endangered Species Act….Hope springs eternal.
Yes, but it’s a little late, I think. And a dollar short. They did not step in before Wisconsin killed 216 wolves, at least, completely and deliberately ignoring the state’s DNR requirements. Idaho is going for year-round killing without even hunting tags necessary. Thanks a lot, Feds.
I’m not at all sure that they won’t agree with the delisting decision. The only thing the Democrats will agree with Donald Trump on.
I think the person he has in put in charge of F&W in the interim, Martha Williams, the former Director of FW&P for the state of Montana and a Republican, is a hunting advocate, has touted wolf ‘recovery’ in a not quite so honest way IMO, in the way the former Secretary of the Interior has. And unfortunately, I believe she is going to stay on board after the Interior Secretary is confirmed.
She has written a paper on the ‘Wolf Wars’. She’s an attorney, not a biologist. I’ve read where she says we should think about recovery, not delisting, in an almost spin doctor kind of way, IMO.
The Interior Secretary nominee, Deb Haaland, was supposed to be confirmed last Thursday. 🙁
I’m not sure if this was already posted here, but comment from Adrian Treves about the Wisconsin 3-Day Wolf Massacre. Scientists, not lawyers, hunters, or farmers/ranchers.
What has happened after delisting does not in any way exemplify a ‘commitment to long-term recovery of wolves’, as Wisconsin is on record as to wanting to bring the population down to 350 individual animals, and they might have done it in one week if the DNR hadn’t stepped in!:
“Adrian Treves, a professor of environmental science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison told Science Friday that the hunt could lead to the animal becoming endangered again.
“I think what the Wisconsin wolf hunt shows us is how quickly a determined group of hunters and poachers can reduce a wolf population to the level where it’s going to be endangered again,” he said.
Treves is concerned about the timing of the hunt, which happened during mating season. “So, we can’t expect normal reproduction in the coming year in 2021,” Treves said. “And we actually have no idea how badly the reproduction will be affected and harmed.””
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2021/03/05/science-friday-wisconsin-wolf-hunt-overshoots-quota-worrying-conservationists
And here’s the link to Martha Williams’ paper:
https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1724&context=elr
Wisconsin making a good case for restoring the gray wolf to the fully protected – Endangered Species list.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/editorial-wolf-slaughter-wisconsin-reason-090000870.html
A day late and a dollar short, it seems.
Ida:
A quote by Martha Williams from the paper you sent us;
“A species can reach its recovery goals in terms of population and distribution and even in the temporal sense, but if removed from the list of threatened or endangered species without some binding commitments to continued recovery of that species, human threats to its existence could quickly or over time change the conservation status of the species.”
What she says in several different places in this paper is that States like Wisconsin, Wyoming and Idaho (etc) must have binding agreements with the Feds to protect endangered species BEFORE they are declared “recovered” and removed from the Endangered Species list. Clearly these states have taken no such actions and in fact, have gone in the other direction and are decimating wolves.
Let’s hope Martha Williams and Biden’s team at Interior takes a conservative (as in “conservation” approach by RE-LISTING the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act until all the range states agree to fully protect this iconic species.
I sure hope so. It is understandable that I would have doubts, of course. Her comments that we should concentrate on recovery and not delisting are concerning. And they are rather slow moving about getting it done.
The other thing is that this paper is from 2015. Was this done in Montana under her leadership? No state has done it, the sage grouse was a ‘voluntary’ agreement and look at where that has ended up. A pie-in-the sky view isn’t the reality of the situation. It would be ideal, but I don’t know that states with wolves would accept to binding agreements. The first words out of Sen. Daines’ mouth pretty much were about the ESA and ‘perpetuity’ in his questions to Deb Haaland.
She quotes Theodore Roosevelt too, about the loss of species, but who is also well known for his negative quote about wolves, per him, ‘the beast of waste and desolation’.
Thanks Ida….. I am hoping that what she is saying is that, IF states like Montana and Idaho and Wisconsin do not agree to have binding agreements to protect and conserve wolves with the USF&WS, then wolves will be on the Endangered Species list – and will stay there, as long as necessary. I know this might be wishful thinking on my part…. We’ll see.
I wish too! 🙂
“Schumer’s decision comes after GOP Sens. Steve Daines (Mont.) and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) said they had placed a hold on Haaland’s nomination.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/schumer-moves-to-break-gop-holds-on-haaland/ar-BB1epXRm?ocid=uxbndlbing
It isn’t necessarily news, but more questions and hypothesis about some wolves stories that are mysterious and that are quite a puzzle. Obviously, every mind love to try to work it out.
1) My first question/remark is about Yellowstone Wolf #695M, the founding alpha male of the Quadrant Mountain Pack in 2008. He was a black male who founded the pack with a gray female of the Leopold known as 469F [Born to 220F & 214M in 2003] aswell as a black uncollared female [likely 469F’s sister] & a big gray beta male.
Nobody really know where did 695M orginated from ? Kathie Lynch in her multiples referred him as a Geode Creek Pack Wolf, but it is rather unlikely in my opinion as The Geodes had dissolved by then [in 2005] and most wolves died soon after. Furthermore, 695M is black and the last breeding pair of the Geodes were [if i’m not wrong] #106F [a gray female born to #38M & #41F in 1997] & #227M [Born to 14F or 126F & 120M in 2000] [Another gray wolf].
2 grays can’t produce a black.
Then, their is the Swan Lake Pack. Forever an all gray wolf pack until 2005, when trouble came [most founding males died [#204M, #206M] or dispersed [#205M] when Agate #295M joined]. 152F would then died soon after.
#295M would returned to the Agates for a brief time & then paired with an black female of Southwestern Montana [SW186F], then uncollared and produced 6 pups in 2006. Which the Yellowstone Wolf Project would call the “group” as “the Regenerated Swan Lake Pack”.
I believe that #695M comes from this litter of pups, of which 3 survived to year end of 2006 [50 % pup survival]. That Black wolf [SW186F] is the reason of why Swan Lake had suddenly black wolves…
That’s my guess of his origins. Now his story.
695M [uncollared] grows and becomes a 2 year old [around] and seek love in the nearby Leopold Pack and attracts 469F, her black uncollared sister. The 4th wolf forming the original members would be likely 695M gray brother [my guess], also would be a 2 year old.
Swan Lake Territory always was adjacent to the Leopolds, the black wolf from outside who came in, the successful litter in 2006, the proximity of both packs from which wolves formed the Quadrant Pack, it seems like it could be the answer.
I know it might seems crazy, but that’s my guess. Aswell, When Swan Lake left the park in 2006/2007, a small group known as The Gardner Hole Pack stay in the general area.
what do you guys think ?
2) “Slant” The Slough Creek Wolf
She was numbered #621F after death in December 2007. She was killed by the Druid Peak Pack.
Aswell, two pups [1 killed by Druid, 1 found dead in Slough Creek] were likely numbered #620 & #622 after deaths.
I guess numering dead uncollared wolves is a way to identify/ID the samples taken from their dead corpses [blood, hair, DNA] for analysis & genetics.
That’s why “The Half-Black” would have been numbered #386F & “The U-Black” would have been numbered #427F in my opinion.
What do you think ?
3) SW147M & SW763M, Two famous wolves
SW147M was an agate born, who founded the 8-Mile Pack in 2005 or 2006 according to the Montana Annual Report. SW763M was collared in 2008 i believe. Could he be SW147M son ?
4) The very bizarre but interesting stuff, story of 5-6 legends [some not as well known as others]
Likely every one that red about Yellowstone Wolves knows about Wolf #9F, of The Rose Creek Pack.
She & #10M had a litter of 8 pups in 1995 : 16F, 17F, 18F, 19F, 20M, 21M, 22M & 23M, of which all females bred + 21M.
16F founded the Sheep Mountain Pack with Leopold Male #98M/165M in 1997/1998. She previously had litter with another wolf [34M in 1997] when it was still Chief Joseph II.
In a very very rare occurrences [as cited by R.McIntyre and many experts], some wolves bred at 10 months of age.
16F did with 8M in 1996 & she bred 98M/165M [Born to 2M & 7F in 1997] in 1998. 165M [Numbered as #98 as an uncollared pup] was 10 months old.
Ok so, anyways, let’s continue. They had pups in 1998 & 1999 & 2000 ?
In 2000, 4 wolves of the pack are caught after depredating on livestock to test something [aversive conditionning] in a ranch. These 4 wolves were : 16F [The Alpha Female], 189M, 195M & 196M [3 of her sons].
They were first placed in one of the acclimations pens in Yellowstone and then, transfered to the ranch of the experiment.
Here’s a picture of Number 16F [Misidentified as #19F, her sister who bred 21M in an in-breeding event in 1997, had 4 pups while denning alone and was killed by the Druid Pack and her 4 pups [73M, 74F, #75 & #76] all starved sad story short].
In brief, the picture absolutely can’t be #19F. It is 100 % sure Number 16F. Also to point out, in the last pages of the site “Yellowstone Photo Collection” in “Wolves” there is 3 pictures of wolf #470F. One of them is misidentified as Wolf #270F. The others are identified as #470F. So it proves another time, that that site has errors.
Link [Picture of 16F]
:https://www.nps.gov/features/yell/slidefile/mammals/wolf/Images/17500.jpg
Ok, my bad for the long long text. I continue.
Sadly, 16F died in June 2000 of a renal failure due to stress of capture. She was 5 and had had a very rough life. She was hit by a car in 1997 or 1998 [i don’t remember which year] but she recovered [her litter of the year, that she was raising on her own, didn’t fare so well].
The 3 remaining brothers [189M, 195M, 196M] were released in November 2000. They all were good boys, not depredating for a good periods of time. 189M or 196M bred 155F in 2001 and she had 4 pups. She left them and founded the Freezeout Pack with her brother #161M in 2001 [she was later illegally shot that year]. 189M died shortly after [drowned], swept by the current of a river. He broke through while fleeing the Chief Joseph Pack [i think, if my memory of Ralph First Blog on wolves is good].
196M was shot for seemingly no reason in a control action as was 195M.
BUT…. 195M had bred with a Sheep Mountain Female… 4 pups.
Which turned out to be 2 unknown… #241M & #242F.
242F who joined/help found the Unclear Start of the Mission Creek/Moccasin Lake Packs & then become the Alpha Female of the latter with 473M of Swan Lake in 2005, 2006.
241M left for Idaho and founded the Steel Mountain Pack. As far as i know, he was still leading the pack as of 2008. One of his sons became notorious. He went by two ID’s : B-271M. He was born in 2005. I nicknamed him “The Traveler” after my lectures. He dispersed as a yearling and went as far as Yellowstone. He was first confused with another Idaho Wanderer, A certain B-195M with a bob-tail.
He tried [Unsuccessfully] to pair with Druid/Slough/and soon Cottonwood Wolf #527F in 2007/2008.
He didn’t work out. But as most stop knowing about his life, he continued far from being gone.
He continued to go east and paired with a female wolf of the Beartooth Pack. He would be recollared in 2009 as a Wyoming Wolf : Number #698M. The Female would be collared as 717F i believe. If she was re-collared in 2009, then she could be quite some of them.
He acted as a breeding males for at least 3 years there [2009, 2010 & 2011]
Yep, “The Traveler” became an old wolf. He died at the age of about 7 years & 2 months of unknown causes in June 2012.
PLOT TWIST : NUMBER 949M !!!
YEP my friends !! Could he be !?
According to the Book “Charting Yellowstone Wolves : 25th Anniversay” by Jim Halfpenny, Leo Leckie & Shauna Baron and multiple sources, 949M is believed to have been born in the Beartooth Pack in 2011.
That means he could be B-271M/698M son !
That wolf later joined the Lamar Canyon Pack as the 6th alpha male of the pack history after famous #755M, #925M, #992M [Twin], #993M [“Dark-Black”] & #965M in October 2016. “Small-Dot” and “Husky” also joined with 949M.
He would died of CDV in August 2017 at the likely age of 6 years. CDV stands for Canine Distemper Virus.
So….. many stories, many “questions marks”, many opinions. That is the beauty of writing, imaginations and puzzle solving or at least trying to solve them.
Ah, and i got a last question, if i may….
5) Does anyone know the weight of wolf #925M or #1015M ?
6) What happened to Wolf #55M ?
Correction of one sentence : 469F & her black uncollared sister.
I wrote 469F, her black uncollared sister. Could lead to confusion for some.
🙂
Correction of one sentence : 469F & her black uncollared sister.
I wrote 469F, her black uncollared sister. Could lead to confusion for some.
🙂
Second typo : 155F left the males not her pups.
This is fascinating. 7 years doesn’t seem like a long life; and it is a hard-going life too, for wolves.
I wonder how long wolves lived before human interference and killing?
Thank you.
Around 6 years i believe. Packs fights & Being Killed by prey are the two main deaths causes outside humans. They indeed have a rough life
I consider 8 years being an real feat.
About 50 wolves only did accomplish that feat in the YNP Population out of 1200+ collared/numbered
[See below for a list that i made, there could be some errors but still]
It might not seems like a long life to us… But a wolf of that age can be a great grand-parent already.
Some wolves lineages had extremely fast generations and other extremely lengthy.
For example, Bechler Wolf 192M (The only male white wolf recorded in YNP and the longest living male wolf of the Wolf Project) was born in 1997 to 18F [Born in 1995 to 9F & 10M] & 8M [Born in 1994 to 4M & 5F]
192M lived for 12 years and “The Bechler Female”, who was born in 2008 to him, was/if not still is the Bechler Alpha Female.
She was supposedly as of January 2020 as said in the book : “Charting Yellowstone Wolves : 25th Anniversary”
This is an extremely long generation interval.
Only 3 [8M/18F, 192M/Uncollared Black-Silver Alpha Female, “Bechler Female] in 25 years.
Now, the only gray pup of the Heart Lake Pack.
Born in 2020 to 1104F & The Uncollared Black Alpha Male of Heart Lake, he is the only gray pup of a litter of 5. Currently, 3 black and this gray pup are alive.
He is a 9th generation wolf.
[1] 9F
[2] 7F
[3] 152F
[4] 541M
[5] “The White Lady”
[6] “The Wapiti White Alpha Female”
[7] 1091F
[8] 1104F
[9] Him/Her
The Wapiti White Alpha Female is currently a mother, grand-mother & a great grand-mother.
Some were great grand-parents at the age of 6.
Old Wolves of Yellowstone [8+ years] :
– 2M [April 1994 – December 31 2002]
– 5F
[Estimated to be born in 1990 or 1991. Last seen in 2000/2001]
– 7F aka “Rosie” [April 1994 – May 2002]
– 9F aka “Natascha”[April 1992 or before to 2002. She was last seen there in the Beartooth Pack]
– 13M aka “Old Blue”[April 1986 – Spring 1997] [Original Alpha Male of The Soda Butte Pack/Yellowstone Delta Pack]
– 18F [April 1995. Last seen in 2003] [2nd Alpha Female of The Rose Creek Pack]
– Legendary #21M [April 1995 – June 2004]
– 29M aka “The Wolf No Pen Could Hold” or “The Escape Artist”
[April 1995 ? – 2003]
– 41F [April 1995 – February 2004] [Founding Alpha Female of The Sunlight Basin Pack]
– 42F [April 1995 – February 2004]
– 44F [April 1996 – 2005]
– 48F [April 1996 – December 2005]
– 70M [April 1996 – 2005]
– 72M [April 1996 – 2004]
– 106F [April 1997 – 2005]
– 113M [April 1997 – 2007]
– 115F [April 1997 – 2005]
– 126F [April 1997 – Summer 2009]
– 151F [April 1998 – 2008]
– 152F [April 1997 or 1998 to 2005]
– 192M [April 1997 to Summer 2009]
– 193M [April 1997 – 2007]
– 209F [April 2000 – Fall/Winter 2008]
– 228F [April 1999 – 2007 – ?]
– 302M [April 2000 – October 2009]
– 303M [April 1998 ? – 2008]
– 469F [April 2003 to 2012]
– 471F [April 2003 to 2012]
– 472F [April 2000 to December 2010]
– 478F [April 2003 to November 2015]
– 495M [April 2003 to August 2011]
– 545F [April 2005 to 2013 – ?]
– 586M [April 2002 to 2011]
– 587M [April 2002 to 2011]
– 685M [April 2003 to 2011 or 2012]
– 689M [April 2006 to 2014]
– 712M [April 2006 to 2017]
– 755M [April 2008 – April 2017 – ?]
– 778M [April 2007 – 2016]
– 779F [April 2010 – April 2018]
– 821F [April 2009 – Denning Season 2017]
– 890M [April 2011 – Currently living]
– 907F [April 2013 – Currently Living] [Will be 8 years in a month]
– 909F [April 2009 – 2017]
– 978F/1239F [April 2013 – Currently Living]
– 1014M [April 2013 – Currently Living]
– “The White Lady” [April 2005 to March 2017]
– SW763M [April 2006 to 2017]
– The Uncollared Silvery-Black Alpha Female of Bechler [? – 2002 – 2009 ?]
– OEF [Old Everts Female]
Remark : i could have made mistakes.
Note : The ID numbers corresponds to the Entire Wyoming Population.
Not all were collared in YNP, nor were they all collared.
Some were numbered after death. Furthermore, at the beginning of the wolf reintroduction, pups got numbered even when they weren’t collared. It stopped being that way in 1998 i believe.
A little lobo news. Population keeps moving upwards.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/wild-population-of-endangered-mexican-wolves-keeps-growing/2021/03/12/c2aec480-8351-11eb-be22-32d331d87530_story.html%3foutputType=amp
I wanted to place a comment and a note on that post but i couldn’t, so here I am.
Link : https://www.thewildlifenews.com/2014/12/11/natgeo-mystery-grand-canyon-animal-is-a-gray-wolf-can-it-survive/
That blog post was of 2014 about “Echo”.
Here is more about that wolf :
She was collared as Wolf #914F and weighed 89 lbs. Voilà.
The Story of Wolf 870F [April 2011- March 16 2015]
870F : A True Force of Nature !
————————————
Here is her story [from all my lectures, even tho I never seen her]
———–
The Mollie’s Pack had an aging but famous breeding pair in 2011 [In fact, the pair were the breeding wolves of the pack together since 2007/2008].
Nez Perce Born Wolf #486F & Mollie’s Born #495M. Two Highly Important and Amazing Wolves.
They were around 7 & 8 years old by then in 2011. But today, it is the story of their daughter, Wolf 870F.
She was born in 2011 to this breeding pair as a gray colored wolf.
In August 2011, her father died while hunting prey [an elk or bison].
She was only 3 months old by then.
Her mother went missing around November of that same year.
But The Mollie’s were a big pack and older sisters took the charge of leading the pack.
Wolf 686F & 779F were in commands and the big pack went looking for a new alpha male in the populated Northern Range in late 2011 and beginning of 2012.
By Populated, the Northern Range had these packs and groups in October :
– 642F’s Group [With Males 684M & 685M & Females 642F & 752F]
– The 8-Mile Pack [7 Wolves, 5 adults/2 pups]
– The Agate Creek Pack [At least 7 wolves, including 6 adults]
– The Blacktail Deer Plateau Pack [15 wolves, 10 Adults/5 pups]
And the last one : The Lamar Canyons [11 wolves, 6 adults/5 pups]
Many wolf watchers hated the Mollie’s because when they went in The Northern Range, they would and will wreck the place. They were an huge, massive 12 adults wolves and 7 pups.
The Agates lost 3 maybe 4 wolves to the Mollie’s : Beta Male #586M [A Mollie’s Born], Alpha Male #641M [Another Mollie’s Born], Yearling 775M & Alpha Female #715F.
586M was born in 2002 ? to 174F/193M & 641M was born in 2007 to 486F/193M.
Another Pack also had a clash with the Mollie’s : The Lesser Known Mary Mountain Pack.
The Mollie’s Killed their alpha male [Wolf #636M] and a yearling wolf [#758M] of the Mollie’s became the New Breeding Male.
Territoriality is a thing that isn’t as much close to us right now. But remember that a long long time ago, we defend our territories and huntings grounds from other groups of humans to maximize our survival odd.
It is the same for wolves and it can be fatal.
OK… Back to 870F.
She became a yearling in April 2012, and the pack had a new male arrived in late 2012 from part unknown : a uncollared gray male that would later be known as 980M later on.
During the year, the Agate Creek Pack dissolved & “Big Blaze” and 2 yearling females tagged with 2 Mollie’s to form the Junction Butte Pack.
The Big Male (838M, 128 lbs) would be killed by the Mollie’s in June of that year.
870F would joined the pack in August or September 2012 as
a yearling.
The Pack Consisted at her arrival of :
– “Puff” [911M]**
– “Ragged-Tail” [Female]
– “Patch” [890M]**
– 823F [Would be harvested in the Wolf Hunt]
– 759F [Uncollared]
– 889F**
– 970F**
– Maybe 2 more adults/yearlings
– 2 pups [of Ragged-Tail]
** : Not collared yet
The Breeding Pair were “Puff” & “Ragged-Tail” at the time.
The Junction Butte was one of the biggest packs in terms of the size of the pack after their first year.
[The Blacktail Pack started their pack with 4 agates & 6 Males from the Druid Pack for 10 wolves in late 2008].
Here comes 2013 !
Uncollared #759F dispersed and paired with 755M of The Lamar Canyon.
And our 870F had become the newest alpha female.
In the breeding season, The Junctions had 4 breeding females :
-“Ragged-Tail”
– 870F
– 889F & Likely 970F ?
During that particular breeding season, “Puff” bred with “Ragged-Tail” & 870F and likely with 970F aswell while 890M bred 889F.
Note that 870F, 889F & 970F are sisters and littermates.
Only… something happened.
While she was breeding and in a tie* with “Puff”, packs members mobbed 870F.
It was likely the thrill and enthusiasm of the breeding season and excited pack members.
She suffered a serious injury to her neck.
[* : the moment where two wolves are “butt-to-butt” and can’t separate from each other only with great difficulty in the act]
The Aftermath of that injury made her movements difficult and her struggling a lot to stay with the pack movements.
“Puff” stayed with her for a while. But he returned to the Junctions.
889F/890M had denned as a pair away from the pack, but their union was unsuccessful [no pups] and they went there separate ways.
889F became a loner & 890M rejoined the Junctions.
“Ragged-Tail” [the only female with surviving pups] went missing late that year [in November] and 970F became the new alpha female.
“Puff” left and returned for a brief time in his natal pack at that point : The Blacktails.
870F in all of this ?
She survived with a life-threatening injury alone for 2 months on her own.
She then rejoined the pack in 2014 with acting alphas being 890M & 970F.
Not for long however…
because she took back her throne from her sister and re-established herself as the dominant breeding female.
That’s some determination & perseverance !
That year, she bred with 890M and had 5 pups.
Her sister left the pack with “Puff” [now known as 911M then] and had a litter of 6 pups ?
Late in 2014, 870F suffered another injury.
She was attacked by the Prospect Peak Wolves.
Courageous and powerful, she survived another big event.
Three of her pups survived to year end [60 %].
The main pack in late 2014 joined 911M/970F.
In the Winter of 2014/2015, her sister 970F & her mate, “Puff” [911M], re-claimed their role of dominant breeding wolves.
890M became the beta male.
As for 870F, it wasn’t so easy.
Her sister forced her out of the pack. Don’t forget 870F was injured by the Prospects in late 2014.
And once again, she was alone, having to fend for her own food.
A True Warrior with an extremely hard and rough life, 870F passed away 6 years ago on this day, March 16 2015, of malnutrition.
She was nearing 4 years of age [3 years & 11 months]
She might have a lived an average life in term of lifespan, but what a life !
– Dominating Other Packs as pup/yearling with the Mollie’s
– Joining the Junctions
– Becoming The Alpha Female
– Being Injured While Breeding with “Puff” in 2013
– Surviving on her own for 2 months
– Rejoining the pack
– Re-establishing herself as the alpha female
– Breeding with 890M in 2014 and giving birth to a litter of 5
– Being Again injured, this time by an attack of the Prospect Peak Wolf Pack
– The Return of The Sister
– The Sister [970F] dominating and displacing/forcing her out of the pack
– Persisting for a while on her own but finally dying as true warrior and brave wolf.
That was a insight of her life :
Wolf 870F [April 2011 – March 16 2015]
——————————–
Text : My own
Sources :
– Yellowstone Wolf Project Annual Reports 2011-2015
– Yellowstone Wolf : Tracking The Packs
– Charting Yellowstone Wolves : 25th Anniversary by Jim Halfpenny, Leo Leckie & Shauna Baron
– Multiples stories of wolfwatchers on facebook about those wolves and their personnalities
Picture of James Hager :
Gray wolf 870F of the Junction Butte Pack
https://www.gettyimages.fi/photos/wolf-870f?phrase=Wolf%20870F&sort=mostpopular
The text is my work and preferrably ask before using : )
🙂 Wonderful. I have heard the Mollies were the biggest and baddest!
Yes.
Thank for the comment, glsd you like the story.
I did! You’re right; she may not have had a long life, but is was quite a full life! 🙂
Save the Tongass!!
A heartfelt wonderful film – important – and timely.
The Biden administration should dedicate the Tongass and most of SE Alaska as a new National Monument – free from logging and mining, in partnership with the local Native Americans.
Adding to the video’s concerns, Ed.
https://www.times.org/forest-liquidation-sale
Thank you Nancy for sending us this very informative and eye-opening article. The history that is told of Southeast Alaska is fascinating and the cost to the American taxpayers and ecosystems for its logging destruction is staggering.
I am very thankful that Pres. Bill Clinton initiated and worked hard to get the Roadless Rule passed… without it, most of our non-Wilderness wild Forest Service roadless areas would be no more.
Save the Tongass film:
The California Coastal Commission just voted 10 to 0 to ban off-road vehicles at Oceano Dunes near Pismo Beach within the next three years. Snowy plovers, least terns, steelhead trout, all Endangered Species were adversely affected by the ORVs to say nothing about the noise, dust and air pollution to the residents and wildlife of the area. This is the last place in California where motor vehicles are currently allowed to drive on the beach.
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/environment/article250048609.html
That’s wonderful! 🙂
A couple of documentaries coming up re killing contests. Beware, graphic footage. I don’t think I can watch, but I am glad that it is being shown so that people can be aware just how quite unbelievably violent they are. One of the organizers of a coyote killing contest in WI claims he loves and respects them. Now I’ve heard everything! And he is an advisor to the WI DNR! The WI DNR needs a good spring housecleaning and rules review, IMO.
And one from Texas.
https://sanantonioreport.org/documentary-predator-killing-contests/
I’m not sure if these are local or being shown nationally, but it was very disappointing that the wolf killings in Wi were not at least worthy of a sound byte on the national news.
Sorry, here’s the one from WI:
https://www.nbc15.com/2021/03/18/hunting-or-killing-controversy-over-coyote-contests-fuel-emotionally-charged-debate-in-southern-wisconsin/
New Mexico BANS trapping and poisoning of wildlife on its Public Lands. Hopefully, many states will soon follow New Mexico’s lead.
https://mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/AHzwOvU9TcFJYFU2AQIi4EOJpNo
https://www.oregonlive.com/environment/2021/03/5-wolves-found-dead-in-northeastern-oregon-cause-of-death-unknown.html
Poisoning?
These Oregon wolves were found dead 6 WEEKS AGO….. This is not transparent government… What do the authorities know and what are they hiding from the public??
Both Oregon and Washington do a lot of talking about protecting wolves, but the reality is that the livestock industry gets the real protection.
I’m not sure if this one was already posted?:
Wildlife biologists from tribal and conservation groups are decrying Wisconsin’s February wolf hunting season as a wildlife management “debacle’’ that placed politics above science and that will help anti-hunting efforts across the board.
And they’re now asking for changes to state laws before the same thing happens again in November.
“This wolf hunt really gave a black eye to sound wildlife management,’’ said Adrian Wydeven of Cable, representing the Northland College-based Timber Wolf Alliance. “It plays right into the hands of groups that want to stop any kind of wolf management, or any kind of hunting, because it was so excessive.”
Wydeven said he expects groups that have filed federal lawsuits to restore federal protections for wolves to now use the results of the Wisconsin hunt — which ended with 82% more wolves killed than planned — as an example of why states can’t be trusted to use sound science to manage the big canines.
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/northland-outdoors/6937523-Critics-say-Wisconsin-winter-wolf-hunt-was-too-much-too-soon#.YFVH9sP9s6c.facebook
And the absolute nerve of hunters, and ‘spokesman’ of HN, questioning and outright ignoring the DNR and scientists, thinking they know better.
Glad I don’t have this problem.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2021/mar/18/mouse-plague-runs-rampant-in-eastern-australia-video
or this.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/australia/spider-exodus-australia-scli-intl/index.html
We’re all in this together.
News Flash: Montana Governor illegally traps and then executes a Greater Yellowstone wolf that was wearing a research collar… He is let go after a warning by the Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/montana-governor-gets-warning-killing-175704240.html
Wow. 🙁 There are so many things that are wrong with the country’s hunting laws, but no respect for science and the wildlife with research collars needs to be rectified. All of this political posturing and selfishness has to stop. They are depriving Americans of their rights to have protected wildlife on our public lands and in our national parks.
I’m sure it is pretty obvious when an animal is collared? And done by the governor no less.
For anyone interested – the latest from a fellow blogger Max Werner:
https://www.hancockhouse.com/products/wolves-grizzlies-and-greenhorns
Tribal leaders: Breach the lower Snake River Dams
https://www.yahoo.com/news/letter-tribal-leaders-breach-lower-122200433.html
Wow! And the improvements will be dramatic.
There is what looks to be a good documentary on the extinction, climate and pandemic crises airing tomorrow night on PBS:
https://www.pbs.org/show/extinction-facts/
More evidence that China is an outlaw nation where fish and wildlife are concerned. This is a sad and well written article with plenty of lessons to go around.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/how-the-global-demand-for-seafood-is-leading-chinese-factories-to-pollute-an-african-nation-144448931.html
to Jeff E with respect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8K0sW8GX-4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePLW8JZC0A&t=19s
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/svesda-po-imyeni-solntse-zvezda-po-imeni-solntse-star-called-sun.html
http://russmus.net/song/7248
“Record litters revive bear population of the Pyrenees – to the dismay of farmers”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/record-bear-litters-revives-threatened-141738468.html
I’m not sure what they do in Europe, but at least in the US, it’s tiresome to keep hearing the reasons for killing wolves, coyotes, bears and other carnivores. Isn’t it a falsehood or at least a great exaggeration to say that ranchers and farmers do not have other remedies except for hunters with any depredation of livestock? They already have the right to shoot them, and get all kinds of assistance from the government:
https://madison.com/ct/opinion/column/cori-petersen-the-wisconsin-wolf-hunt-helped-restore-rights-to-farmers/article_3bb07ea1-1af1-5ddb-8497-9f656f71f491.html
As I was saying:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/dnr-partners-with-usda-on-wolf-management/ar-BB1fgE54?ocid=uxbndlbing
USDA meaning ‘Wildlife Services’. So the kind of overkill that happened in February in WI is not needed. Terrible.
Ida… Thanks for this.
“Hopefully they’re afraid of humans again and not coming close,” Calaway said.”
The MYTH that killing a predator like a wolf or bear or coyote somehow instills fear in still living predators is rubbish. Because they are DEAD, there is no way that a dead predator can signal to others to stay-away from humans and their livestock. This is what anti-wolf, anti-bear, anti-coyote humans call “wishful thinking”.
My wishful thinking is for Deb Haaland and the rest of Biden’s Dept. of Interior to RESTORE the gray wolf to the Endangered Species List where it scientifically belongs.
You’re welcome!
I agree, animals don’t just learn to avoid humans, after being taught to fear. And it is a disingenuous reason for killing them anyway.
All business have risk associated with them, and for farming and ranching, this is theirs, IMO. They get more than ample consideration for their losses by the gov’t. You would think that ‘checking on this to see that all is calm’ would be a regular behavior of a farmer or a rancher?
To brutalize them as in WI is totally unacceptable, as is a proposed year-round hunting season in the West, no tag necessary. How can this be acceptable as recovery and good species ‘management’ by the Federal government?
What’s more, these people boldly dance their unacceptable behavior right before the eyes of their states’ voters and taxpayers, and nobody seems to notice, or it means they approve.
Farmers, ranchers and hunters never compromise – unless you want to consider an unhealthy, unrealistic wolf population of 350 individual animal their only compromise.
Completely unacceptable, IMO. Yes, I do hope that the current administration will restore protections for these continually tormented animals. We will remind them continually as well, if they try to hide behind ‘recovery’.
Good read.
https://consortiumnews.com/2021/04/01/the-problem-isnt-human-nature/
Hello Ida. My experience is in Africa, where wild animals live lives of constant “fear” that we humans would find impossible. Animals are used to predators, even where humans replace the top predators.
I must take issue over farming. Farming isn’t a hobby. It’s a business, and all businesses strive to reduce risks and increase opportunities. Where problems cost less than their solutions, they are tolerated, but where problems can be removed legally and economically, they are removed. Govt compensation sounds fine, but it is a whimsical top down control in a world of farming that is pragmatic and bottom up.
Even a vegetarian diet requires farmers to kill all the creatures that eat his/your vegetables, so everyone is culpable.
The reality is that a wolf has a more charismatic position in the minds of people and the press than a rat or rabbit.
If the scientists, ecologists and field managers are happy with the science and numbers, that is the only basis for a decision.
John Nash wrote, “If the scientists, ecologists and field managers are happy with the science and numbers, that is the only basis for a decision.” Unfortunately, these decisions to slaughter wolves in Wisconsin, Wyoming and Montana et al are like the Montana decision barring any wild bison to set foot on on any Public Land in Montana. They are NOT the produced by ecologists and scientists. The are produced by corrupt legislators bought and paid for by the livestock industry and have nothing to do with science or ecology.
The reason it is crucial for the Biden administration to place the wolf and wild-bison on the Endangered Species List is to take control of their management away from the livestock industry until both species return to healthy numbers in suitable historic habitats. I do not know if the Biden administration will take such actions, but we will soon find out.
The scientists have and do write letters, comments and recommendations. Theyare ignored for politics.
IMO, it really isn’t just that the wolf may have a charismatic appeal in the minds of some. For me, it is the ruthless persecution of them that must stop.
Those put in ‘charge’ of their caretaking have failed. I wouldn’t call what happened in Wisconsin normal at all, and it is just a continuation of what we have seen being continually pushed forward in the West. Wisconsin seems to have outdone even that.
They did not pay any attention at all to DNR recommendations, nor did they respect the decision of their neighboring Native American tribes.
The DNR’s rules which were very, very liberal to start with! They were allowed night hunting, dog hunting, and multiple users of one hunting tag from the looks of it. And still it wasn’t enough. At the heart of it, these people want to wipe them out, just like in the West. It needs to be stopped.
It is not a priority in the public’s mind, or these laws would have been tightened up, at the very least. Somebody voted the decision-makers into office?
And lots of other animals have charismatic appeal, certainly a rabbit does at this time of year. 🙂
At least for me there are many that do. Bison, elk, deer, grizzlies, coyotes, eagles, et al – all throughout human history.
You’re right Ida. Many animals appeal. Wolves have become iconic because of the intense politics around them. Also we should not forget the lessons of Yellowstone. Wolves end up bringing balance back. To me it’s the balance that’s important.
There’s much “talk” about “resilience” these days. It’s sometimes a “buzzword” to justify busy-fussing with the landscape. Resilience depends very, very much on diversity. Resilience of biotic communities depends upon species diversity. Resilience of species populations depends much on their genetic diversity. Wolves are part of that diversity.
+1 Political speak for sure.
Yes. I should add horses and the beautiful salmon to that list, among many others too. :0
Speaking of Yellowstone, did you watch this discussion, Hiker?
More info on the Trump wolf delisting:
“But there’s no indication yet that the Biden administration will attempt to roll back that move, despite an order the day President Joe Biden took office that departments across the government review decisions from the previous four years that were “damaging to the environment, unsupported by the best available science, or otherwise not in the national interest.” The order specifically cited the gray wolf delisting as one to reconsider.
It’s also unclear what effect the three-day hunting season in Wisconsin, where hunters killed nearly double the state’s non-tribal quota, will have on other states.”
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2021/04/04/biden-administration-mum-so-far-on-returning-gray-wolves-to-endangered-species-list/
VICTORY: Traps, snares, and poisons banned on New Mexico public lands!
Moments ago, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law a bill banning traps, snares, and poisons on public lands across the state of New Mexico.
The new law—called “Roxy’s Law” in honor of a dog who was strangled to death in a neck snare on public lands in 2018—will save untold numbers of native wildlife, including bobcats, swift foxes, badgers, beavers, ermine, coyotes, and Mexican gray wolves. It also will protect recreationists and our companion animals from cruel and indiscriminate traps, snares, and poisons on public lands across the Land of Enchantment.
This monumental victory for wildlife and public lands would not have been possible without the public’s backing and the work of WildEarth Guardians, Project Coyote and dozens of other conservation and animal welfare groups.
Thank you, everybody involved! 🙂
Wildfires, anyone? I sure hope not and am glad this mess was interrupted:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/us/arizona-illegal-party-tonto-national-forest-trnd/index.html
Yay!:
https://www.sltrib.com/news/2021/04/08/update-deb-haaland-tours/
Thanks for this Ida….. The sooner the better!
“Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez told The Tribune that he would be advocating for a larger monument in his meetings with Haaland.
Nez said the Navajo Nation is maintaining its long-held position that Biden should not only restore Bears Ears to the 1.3 million acres designated in 2016 but also expand it to the 1.9 million acres backed by the Navajo government and other member nations of the inter-tribal coalition.”
The info continues to change about Planet Earth:
Wow! Thank you Nancy, this video is so very interesting and thought provoking.
Ida have you seen this yet?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/pets/cute-pups-from-yellowstone-wolf-pack-disrupt-traffic-control/ar-BB1fzGj9?ocid=msedgdhp
🙂 No, I haven’t! Isn’t that something? Just like a dog.
Thanks for posting!
My comment? Deduct the amount overkilled from the fall’s quota, if not outright cancel it.:
“A newly formed Wolf Management Plan Committee is expected to begin meeting this summer to craft recommendations for a new 10-year plan for wolves, which were removed earlier this year from the federal endangered species list.
The committee, whose members have not been named, is to include hunting and trapping groups, wolf advocacy and education organizations and agricultural interests, as well as DNR staff and representatives from other government agencies, the Wisconsin Conservation Congress, and the 11 Ojibwe tribes which retain hunting rights in the northern part of the state.”
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/dnr-seeks-comments-on-wolf-management-plan-fall-hunt-quota-for-wisconsin/article_d47ce19b-61be-5e6b-85da-9dc00c980c3b.html
A few of the lowlights:
“Four of those wolves were taken illegally, though only one citation was issued for hunting without a license, according to the report.”
“The report said wardens conducted 101 investigations during the hunt and issued 14 citations and 31 verbal warnings.” (Now don’t do that again!)
“Randy Johnson, large carnivore specialist with the DNR, said using dogs to track wolves allowed hunters to be more selective than in prior hunts, when regulations limited the use of hunting dogs.” (How, you may ask.)
Oh, I know! It allowed them to ‘select’ double the quota of wolves to kill.
I simply cannot believe that WI has the gall to demand another hunting season in the fall, and a full one this time, after the disaster of this partial one. What makes anyone think the same thing won’t happen again? The complete ignoring of the rules by vicious predators?
In the partial season, the state killed off 20% of its wolves!
Not to defend Wisconsin, but in the 2012/13 hunt, hounds were not allowed. 13/14 and 14/15, hounding was not allowed until the end of deer season. What happened in February would not occur during a “normal”season.
I don’t understand why hounds were allowed this time, and it appears that they will be allowed in November.
It is an entirely different ballgame now, but that question should definitely come up.
I don’t think, after the rampant abuses in February, that there should be any hunting in November. It just sounds greedy.
Here’s the final report from the WDNR. I was surprised to see that 218 wolves were killed, not the 216 that was bad enough:
https://widnr.widen.net/s/k8vtcgjwkf/wolf-season-report-february-2021
If this many were taken in less than 3 days, what makes anyone think it won’t be the same and worse when they have three months?
There really have to be some big changes made. Only a fool would believe that doing the same thing over again will have different results.
I cannot believe that no sooner than killing 218 wolves, and no consideration for the Native Americans, they are already planning another killing spree. It doesn’t speak well of us. 🙁
As I wrote before, use of hounds was not permitted in Wisconsin wolf hunts until after the close of deer rifle season. Wisconsin has greatly commodified its wildlife, and deer hunting is king. Interrupt that and scat hits the fan. In the past, use of trailing hounds had no impact until after deer season, by which time most of the legal take had already occurred. That’s why what happened in February would not occur if a wolf hunt occurs this coming autumn. Your argument is the flip side of of the argument used by those who believe the three day take is proof of wolf overpopulation and is the reason for the quota filled in three days rather than three months.
If you don’t understand why hounds were allowed, you don’t understand the impact of the hounding lobby, nor do you understand the make-up of the Wisconsin NRB (natural resources board), and the efforts that have been attempted to change its selection process. Grass roots efforts are being made.
If you would like to follow what is being done, or join in the process in whichever way you can, I’d suggest joining/assisting Friends of The Wisconsin’s Wolves and Wildlife. https://wiwolvesandwildlife.wordpress.com/
Out of state folks are welcome. Zoom chats occur weekly. Here’s an organization that is doing all the right things, and they provide a number of tools by which you could help, not just the donation button.
I appreciate your comments, Immer.
I probably don’t understand entirely, but I am obviously aware of the impact of hunting, hounding and agriculture in this issue.
But where I disagree is that catering to these people does not one ounce of good; they and they alone are responsible for the poor actions they take; and any retaliation they take is on them, not wolf advocates.
I didn’t realize out-of-state comments are welcome, I have read that blog.
Also, the lawsuit against the Trump delisting – the Federal government’s response is due Monday, April 19. We’ll see what is said. 🙁
https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/04/05/biden-administration-mum-so-far-on-returning-gray-wolves-to-endangered-species-list/
Inmer do you know of any legal challenges to relist or what if anything is being done within o terror under Haaland
https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administration-over-gray-wolf-delisting-2021-01-14/
Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Over Gray Wolf Delisting: Jan. 14, 2021
SAN FRANCISCO— Six environmental groups filed a lawsuit today against the Trump administration’s rule that removed Endangered Species Act protections for gray wolves in the lower-48 states (except for a small population of Mexican gray wolves in Arizona and New Mexico). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made its decision despite the science that concludes wolves are still functionally extinct in the vast majority of their former range across the continental United States.
Earthjustice filed the lawsuit on behalf of Defenders of Wildlife, the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, National Parks Conservation Association, Oregon Wild and the Humane Society of the United States.
There was supposed to be a Response due from the government on April 19, I haven’t seen or heard anything about it yet. Here’s the Complaint. What Idaho is doing also is way above what I would hope USF&W would or will support as protection of a species that has been delisted, or that is could be considered recovery:
https://earthjustice.org/sites/default/files/files/grey_wolf_complaint_.pdf
Here’s the original report of 216 in case it has been ‘forgotten’, and this news reports says that quotas had been exceeded in several years prior:
https://www.wsaw.com/2021/02/23/52-wolves-harvested-on-first-day-of-states-wolf-hunt/
Oh, it also says they have no changes to make at this time for the November killing spree, which I assume means that multiple dog owners will hunt with one man’s tag again then too.
Big changes should be made.
Hi everyone, here’s a sweet video I made of the Lamar Canyon Pack !
https://youtu.be/PA-4Lf2gUBs
The video of 6 minutes 41 seconds showcase all the dominant breeding pairs [“Alphas”] in the Lamar Canyon Pack History.
The Pictures featured in this video are the courtesy of Optics Yellowstone & Gloria K. Straube.
They granted me permission to use their pictures. You need to ask them if you want to use those pictures.
Here is a link to Optics Yellowstone :
https://www.opticsyellowstone.com/
—————————————————————————————————————————
My sources of informations :
Yellowstone Wolf Project Annual Reports :
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature…
Books :
“Charting Yellowstone Wolves (25th Anniversary)” by James Halfpenny, Leo Leckie & Shauna Baron
Feel Free to comment here or on Youtube.
C.B
Beautiful, and a little sad too. :’)
Thanks for posting!
Thank you so much !
https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/04/person-attacked-by-grizzly-bear-in-west-yellowstone/
looks to be about a half mile due north of West Yellowstone
But how vile is it that there are vicious predators setting traps and waiting to shoot wolves just outside of Yellowstone National Park? Without regard for a collar or anything? It’s is so disrespectful – at least something there needs to change, a buffer zone or certain parts off limits, something.
There will always be poachers, no matter what the laws and regulations are. Now we’ve got legal hunting *and* illegal poaching, and government exterminators.
Something must be done.
WI ‘wolf management planning’ ramping up. Don’t know if I like the sound of that! I still believe that since the hunt was forced in February and so many were killed above quota, that there ought to be a decrease adjustment made to the quotas for the additional 2021 portion of the hunting season, if they must have one at all. Surely enough is enough?
Results of public opinion polls say that the public is satisfied with the current population as well. I hope that means something. Farmers have always had the option to shoot for predation, and the state has just renewed the contract with Wildlife Services:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/wisconsins-wolf-management-planning-ramps-up-hunting-and-trapping-season-to-begin-in-early-november-but-kill-quota-to-be-determined/ar-BB1fLjPM?ocid=uxbndlbing
The guide that was attacked by the grizzly has passed away. The bear has been killed after charging a group of game wardens.
Sad and unfortunate for all. The bear was being a bear and the article states the man was an accomplished outdoorsman who knew the risks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/19/us/grizzly-bear-attack-yellowstone.html
It really doesn’t look like individual states are capable of managing wolf populations. It is a foolish idea from the start. You can’t have one state with protection and another without.
As many, many have said – wolves do not recognize state boundaries!
https://omaha.com/news/state-and-regional/another-gray-wolf-shot-in-nebraska-this-time-north-of-fremont/article_9a6cabb0-9d2b-11eb-8250-474196299ba8.html
Idaho legislation aims to kill 90% of Idaho’s remaining wolves.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/legislation-aims-kill-90-wolves-230051980.html
Ida is correct: “It really doesn’t look like individual states are capable of managing wolf populations.” The only workable option therefore, is to return the gray wolf back to the federal Endangered Species list.
Yes. And the sad thing is that this was predictable, once the ethically questionable decision by the combined forces in DC conspired to delist them. The judge in the case’s own words, not just from a nobody:
“The way in which Congress acted in trying to achieve a debatable policy change by attaching a rider to the [2011 funding bill] is a tearing away, an undermining and a disrespect for the fundamental idea of the rule of law,” Molloy wrote.
And for the grizzly, it was a terrible accident. We should have evolved from revenge killings of wildlife, and a pound of flesh demanded, in the 21st century.
The article states that the bear charged a bunch of game wardens. Game wardens or wildlife preservers, that is the question I guess. That’s normal behavior for a threatened bear? And that he was ‘old’
So what?
There are risks in the wild, unless we want to turn it into a sanitized zoo and recreational center. (Which sometimes I wonder may be true)
It was a terrible accident, but people already have all of the odds in their favor, in just about everything. Groups of people or hunters can’t go after an animal and then claim it attacked them.
I guess the media and others expect their prey to deliver themselves up willingly?
Sorry, source for the judge’s comment, but it can be found just about anywhere online:
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1059952507
Killing wolves is the only thing that either political party can agree on – even mum on Donald Trump’s continuation of the delisting! For unity I guess. I guess it looks better not to say anything, after disagreeing with every Trump decision for the last four years.
https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/features/stunning-visuals-of-a-black-panther-playing-in-the-snowy-woods-of-siberia-shared-by-owner/
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/biden-taps-montana-environmentalist-to-direct-bureau-of-land-management
Wasn’t Elizabeth Klein from Audubon? I wonder why she was ‘dropped’? I wouldn’t trust Jon Tester’s assessment, and wouldn’t want the Interior to be in bed with him, again, or if he ever left.
I was pleasantly surprised, the national news has been having environmental segments (yay!) the last couple of evenings. This is on my wish list, and I was happy to see it up for consideration:
https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/snake-river-endangered-rivers-us-77276162
Sheesh, it just goes from bad to worse, doesn’t it. 🙁
One more thing – They’ve got Martha Williams, an attorney and the former Fish, Wildlife and Parks Director for Montana (for Gov. Steve Bullock) as Principal Deputy Director of USF&W, now the nominee for the Director of the BLM Tracy Parks-Williams, chief-of-staff to former Governor of Montana Bullock and aide to Jon Tester, and Jon Tester himself!
Too much Montana isn’t it, and this position will not just be about Montana and the West’s overriding concerns, as it always is. I have real concerns about it. It just seems ripe for corruption to me. I can’t believe it. 🙁
^^oops, two more things – and Sen. Daines too. Sounds like a nice little cozy club doesn’t it, and conflicts of interest? What does everyone else think about this appointment?
Here is an announcement article about Biden’s pick for heading the Bureau of Land Management.
She has been fighting the industrialization of our public lands all her life, so let’s hope she continues.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-taps-montana-environmentalist-us-225927687.html
But – a lot of her time has been in Montana state government, where she has I am sure learned to do a lot of compromising. It just doesn’t look good to have such close relationships with the Montana state government, and to carry that over into the Federal government. Cronyism and old school politics.
In one of the articles I read, in ‘the fine print’, it said that some were worried that hunting and fishing ‘won’t be represented’! Not only are they represented, they are overrepresented, IMO. Apparently this person hunts and fishes the public lands, and Martha Williams does too. So I think I called it right when I thought from the beginning it is only going to be politics as usual.
Some Westerners who post here may be more familiar with her than I am. What do you all think?
But I don’t like to fall for PR spin of calling someone an ‘environmentalist’, or ‘head of Green group’:
“But news of Stone-Manning’s pending nomination came as a surprise to some BLM observers, who expected Biden to nominate Nada Culver, BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs, who is also performing the duties of director. Culver, like Stone-Manning, has an environmental advocacy background, joining BLM last month from the National Audubon Society.
Culver is expected to remain as BLM’s deputy director of policy and programs, helping Stone-Manning implement the Biden administration’s agenda, according to sources.”
https://www.eenews.net/stories/1063729975
I kinda was expecting Nada Culver of Audubon. I know she was only temporarily appointment to the BLM, but I wonder why she isn’t in the running? Maybe she isn’t a hunter, and I really do feel hunting is nauseatingly overrepresented in government.
And as far as William Pendley, that really isn’t a fair comparison. It’s almost offensive to read. Anybody would look good next to him.
I’m sure the taxpayers don’t want to continually shoulder fees for ranchers and hunters either! By this logic, if they don’t pay in, they don’t hunt – which I’m sure is wildly agreeable to most:
https://coloradosun.com/2021/04/26/gray-wolf-funding-license-fees/
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/idaho-lawmakers-approve-bill-to-allow-killing-of-90-of-state-s-wolf-population/ar-BB1g7fS5?ocid=msedgdhp
At least the Interior Dept. had the good sense to continue protections for grizzlies, such as theyt are:
https://www.idahostatesman.com/outdoors/hunting/article250962479.html
The truth comes out in Wisconsin, but will anybody pay attention in DC?:
https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/environment/report-guided-by-politics-wolf-hunt-harmed-packs-did-little-to-resolve-conflicts/article_637efd23-f00d-5268-bf15-6977071c652a.html
Lowlights:
“The report, whose authors include a former state wolf biologist, says 60 to 100 wolf packs may have no pups this year because hunters took so many adult wolves, which could result in the loss of up to 40% of expected reproduction among the 245 known packs in non-tribal lands.
And because the hunt occurred late in the breeding season, the impact of those losses will be magnified, in part because it will be harder for remaining wolves to find new mates.
Wisconsin was the first state to legally protect wolves, the first to list them as an endangered species and the first to create a wolf recovery plan. Yet, the report states, “Wisconsin has now become a prime example of what happens when wolf management is driven by politics instead of science.””
“Opening the hunt so late in the breeding season made it much easier for groups of hunters with vehicles, radios and cell phones to track wolves using packs of hounds, the method used in 86% of the registered kills.
The report notes it is difficult for the DNR to enforce limits on the number of dogs used and that state law, which allows hunters up to 24 hours to register a kill, hindered the agency’s ability to control the hunt.”
“It [the report] also faults the DNR for damaging tribal relations by failing to consult with tribal leaders and for missing opportunities to gather data that could help assess the actual population impact.”
These laws need to be changed. Other states have not been allowed to go ahead with a hunting season without a valid ‘management plan’ in place. How did Wisconsin get away with it?
Is there a war on wildlife going on? Wolves, Tule elk, grizzlies, coyotes, and now bison at the Grand Canyon. Gianforte has nixed any plans to expand bison in Montana as well:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/grand-canyon-opens-lottery-for-shooting-bison-in-the-park/2021/04/30/57a5ae2a-aa15-11eb-a8a7-5f45ddcdf364_story.html
Kinda sad, but if it keeps them safe and wary, I suppose. . . and away from the lazy wolf-killers waiting just outside the park to harm them. 🙁 (It would be nice to haze them with paintballs too).
https://www.thedailybeast.com/yellowstone-is-shooting-paintballs-at-wolves-and-says-its-for-their-own-good
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/04/new-soil-study-shows-pesticides-destroying-very-foundations-web-life
https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/5/5/zimbabwe-mulls-first-mass-elephant-killing-in-decades
More disturbing statistics from the Wisconsin Wolf Slaughterfest in February. They really took their ‘political disappointments'(if you catch my drift) to a disturbing level, and the WDNR allowed it, or was naive about it, or maybe it is just incompetence! And to suggest another hunting season right on the heels of it!
If they think people are going to forget about it eventually, they couldn’t be more wrong. The cavalier attitude about it by the spokesperson was hard to believe:
“That 218-wolf harvest might reveal little about wolf numbers or pack distribution, but it suggests negligence for the record proportions of hunting licenses the Natural Resources Board ordered with its 7-0 vote Feb. 15. The DNR offered up the Board’s 2,380 permits and sold 1,548, or 13 times the nontribal kill quota of 119 wolves. That’s a far higher proportion than first three wolf seasons, when the DNR sold 893 permits in 2012, or 7.7 times the nontribal quota; 1,879 permits in 2013, or 7.3 times the quota; and 1,139 permits in 2014, or 7.6 times the quota.” [emphasis mine]
It cannot happen again, and the number over quota should be deducted from this year’s second go-round. But somehow, I doubt it will:
“Still, February’s season was not a low-key event. The DNR received 84 wolf-hunting complaints, which is 2.3 times more than the 36 such complaints filed during the previous three wolf seasons combined, which totaled 181 days.
Further, those 101 investigations are 26% more than the 80 made during the first three wolf seasons; and 14 citations in three days compares to 37 total during the previous three seasons: 10 for hunting and 27 for trapping in 181 days.” [emphasis mine]
https://www.wdtimes.com/article_5469deba-ecdb-5c97-b432-8b3341ab1ae0.html
Dogs weren’t allowed the first season, and not till after deer rifle season the following 2 seasons. Therefore, fewer complaints.
That said, growing disgruntlement with hounders is occurring, ever so slowly.
Should also say, the last two hunts, wolf quota all but reached by time hounds were allowed.
What’s the likelihood, I wonder, that the WDNR will restrict the use of dogs a little more this time, since the dog hunting was so abused? I’m sure that won’t go over well.
Something should be done.
If a wolf hunt is in the works for next autumn, it will revert rules to the past hunts. Deer hunters don’t want dogs running through the woods. That would be big money complaining.
Whew! I sure hope so, and that another mess of things won’t be made.
I just don’t know what to say:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/grand-canyon-bison-kill/
Wildlife watch:
On a happier note, for any of you who feed birds –
The hummingbirds seem to have arrived early this year, at least for our area. Last year I saw my first one on 5/7, but this year within an hour of putting up the feeders, I saw a male, and then later a female on 5/3. I usually try to have them up by 5/1.
Here’s some good news, anyway. (Rated R for right whales!)
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2021/05/07/right-whales-hugging-video-cape-cod-bay/
No wildlife is safe – first wolves, then bison – and now they’re after the wild horses, again: 🙁
https://www.ksl.com/article/50161869/range-wars-tension-mounts-in-the-west-over-public-lands-grazing-wild-horses-and-ranchers
Hi everyone! I love this thread. As I’m anxiously awaiting to hear how the trial for Steven Donziger is going, I wondered if you all are staying up on the case of the largest environmental lawsuit in history? See donzigerdefense.org or #freedonziger on social media