Environmental Impact Statement

• Main Author: Hagener, M. Jeff
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln 2003
• Subjects: Canada; Northern Rockies; Canis lupus; gray wolf
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/wolfrecovery/22; https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/context/wolfrecovery/article/1021/viewcontent/Montana_EnvImpactStmt_2003.pdf

Introduction Gray wolves (Canis lupus) are thriving and expanding in number and distribution in Montana. This is because of natural emigration from Canada and a successful federal effort that reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park (YNP) and the wilderness areas of central Idaho. There are probably more wild wolves in Montana now than at any time in the past 70 years. Since 1974, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has managed wolves in Montana, under the authority of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The biological recovery goal for the northern Rockies wolf population is a total of 30 or more breeding pairs for three years in the states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, with breeding pair being defined as a male and a female that raised at least two pups to December 31. The biological requirements for recovery were met at the end of 2002. But before USFWS will propose to delist, federal managers must be confident that a secure, viable population of gray wolves will persist if the protections of the ESA are removed. To provide that assurance, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming must develop conservation and management plans and adopt other regulatory mechanisms in state law. Upon review and approval of the state plans, USFWS will propose to delist the gray wolf. Upon delisting, management authority for wolves will return to the state governments where wolves reside. Purpose and Need for the Proposed Action USFWS has managed wolves in Montana as endangered or as experimental, nonessential under the authority of ESA. In March 2003 USFWS down listed wolves in the Northwest Montana Recovery Area as threatened. Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) proposes to prepare and adopt a wolf conservation and management plan so that management authority can be transferred to the State of Montana because the biological recovery goal has been met. If Idaho, Wyoming and Montana do not develop and adopt conservation and management plans, which in combination must assure the long-term security of wolves in the ...