Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
You could pay an outfitter in the Northern Rockies $3,600 or $2,900 for a guided hunt to kill one wolf, or you could come to Montana and illegally poach two wolves for $1,135. And you don't need to worry...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Wild wolves? Wildlife. Wild elk? Wildlife. Wild grizzly bears? Wildlife. Wild bison? Livestock. What the . . . ? Yes, you read that correctly. Wild bison are considered livestock in the State of Montana, and thus the Montana Department...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Wolves matter. They lead to more songbirds. Better trout habitat. More game birds. Less insects. Better soil. Fewer coyotes. Wilder elk. More aspen trees. Wolves, in essence, are key to a healthy landscape. So says biologist Christina Eisenberg in...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
While the wolf hunts currently taking place in Idaho and Montana have garnered most of the wolf-world's attention recently, other wolf stories have surfaced in the past few weeks. Discussed below are a few of them: (1) Science Daily...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Better late than never, Montana shut down the wolf hunt just north of Yellowstone National Park for the season on Tuesday. The first fair-chase wolf hunt in Montana's history began on September 15th. The problem with the hunt (besides...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Too many wolves from Yellowstone National Park and the wilderness area immediately north of the Park have already been killed in Montana's first public wolf hunt in decades, which is why Montana temporarily suspended the backcountry wolf hunt just...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks suspended the backcountry wolf hunt just north of Yellowstone National Park today. That's great news. The famous wolves of Yellowstone can let loose a big howl of relief. I wrote about the ridiculousness of...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Several wolves have already been killed by hunters in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness in Montana. Some of the famous wolves in Yellowstone have been killed. And radio-collared wolves that were part of Yellowstone's important wolf studies have even been killed....
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
I recently read American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the history of buffalo in North America. It's a fascinating read, one that will leave you...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
The autumnal equinox took her bow three days ago, but no one needed to tell me. Here, in Montana, the onset of fall needs no announcement; its signs are everywhere. The aspens morphing into gold in my backyard, an...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In an article about the first wolf killed by a hunter in northern Montana, the hunter that killed the wolf, Dan Pettit, offers some surprisingly candid commentary on wolves and elk in the Northern Rockies. One of the most...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
In a huge victory today, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy restored Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for Yellowstone's iconic grizzly bears. Judge Molloy issued his ruling in a case brought by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition in the federal district...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Yellowstone National Park estimates that approximately 3,300 bison currently roam its wild landscape. The Park's annual summer bison population estimate, which is based upon aerial surveys conducted over the summer, was released on Friday. Yellowstone's bison are the only...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
Last night, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy denied our request for a preliminary injunction to stop the wolf hunts in Idaho and Montana and restore Endangered Species Act protections for wolves in both states while our underlying lawsuit challenging...
Posted by Matt Skoglund in Saving Wildlife and Wild Places
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This telling photo was taken by the Western Watersheds Project in Idaho, where the life of a wolf is worth a mere pizza and a pitcher of a beer. The...
