Montana's Top Wolf Official Cries Wolf

Montana wildlife commissioners approved yesterday a wolf hunt set to begin this fall.  The quota is 75 wolves, which is about 15 percent of Montana's wolf population. 

NRDC is not against hunting or a future wolf hunt (when the species has fully recovered in the Northern Rockies and its long-term viability is ensured), but because of troubling facts with the current wolf landscape, we think this wolf hunt is premature.  Most of the recent scientific analysis finds that a larger wolf population with genetic connectivity among the subpopulations of central Idaho, northwest Montana, and greater Yellowstone is needed to ensure the wolves' long-term survival.  And that has not yet been achieved.

But that's not the reason for this blog entry. 

I write because of troubling, inflammatory public comments by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks's state wolf coordinator, Carolyn Sime, that appear in a widely circulated Associated Press story on Montana's wolf hunt (the article is today's above-the-fold cover story of my town's newspaper, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle). 

Here is the quote from the article:

Without hunting or another means to manage wolves, she added, "you either eliminate all the wolves or you eliminate all the livestock."

The only thing people will remember from this article is Montana's top wolf official saying, "you either eliminate all the wolves or you eliminate all the livestock."

That is as polarizing a statement as one could make on this issue, and it's also misleading.  With wolves and livestock, it is not an either/or question.

Yes, wolves occasionally prey on livestock (and there is a compensation program for the affected ranchers), but cold weather, dogs, lightning, disease, and poisonous plants kill many more livestock each year in the Northern Rockies than wolves do.

So, by Sime's logic, if we want livestock in the Northern Rockies, we need to eliminate all domestic dogs, eradicate all diseases and poisonous plants, and build a bubble around the Northern Rockies to keep the weather stable and lightning out.  

Also troubling is that just a few months ago Sime was slinging mud at NRDC in the newspapers, accusing us of incendiary rhetoric and exaggerated statements.

She said NRDC is "aim[ing] to put a 'court of perception' campaign ahead of 'court of law' proceedings."  She also said that "environmental groups 'lobbing grenades from the sidelines' . . . only sets back collaborative approaches to wolf management."

Sime should practice what she preaches and not go lobbing misleading grenades in the newspapers. 

Wolves and livestock can easily coexist in the Northern Rockies - they already do - but all the stakeholders are going to need to work together going forward.  We at NRDC are working hard with regional livestock operators to find common ground, build trust, and find more solutions for conflict-free coexistence of wolves and livestock on the landscape.

Polarizing comments by public officials will only derail the progress already achieved, which is bad for both wolves and livestock.

(Wolf photo by SigmaEye on Flickr)