Montana’s Wolf Management Advisory Council will meet in Helena Dec. 9-10 for an update on the status of the wolf in the northern Rocky Mountains. The 12-member council was appointed nearly eight years ago to advise Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks on the development of a wolf management plan in anticipation of the wolf’s eventual delisting under the federal Endangered Species Act. The council’s recommendations became the basis of Montana’s Wolf Conservation and Management Plan, which was approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004. While the council disbanded in 2004, members requested then that FWP occasionally engage the council to discuss management-program implementation. The Helena meeting will address the current status of wolves in Montana; the USFWS’s progress toward a wolf delisting decision, which is expected early next year; and recent discussions on hunting and trapping wolves upon successful delisting. The meeting will be held at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel, 2301 Colonial Dr., on Sunday, Dec. 9 beginning at 7:30 p.m. On Monday, Dec. 10, the meeting will be held at the Grizzly Room at the Montana State Library, 1515 Sixth Ave., from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The federal proposal to delist wolves in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming—and parts of Oregon, Washington and Utah—is based on the USFWS’s determination that the Rocky Mountain population has exceeded recovery goals and all potential threats to it have been resolved. When wolves are successfully delisted, FWP will carry out the rest of its management plan, and wolves would be reclassified as a species in need of management under state law. The Montana plan, as recommended by the Montana Wolf Management Advisory Council, allows for a regulated harvest of wolves under certain conditions and provides more flexibility when needed to protect livestock and domestic animals from wolves.
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