Legislator wants state to fight feds over wolves

By JIM MANN/Daily Inter Lake

An aggressive states' rights bill has been drafted in the Montana Legislature to basically cut all ties with the federal government on wolves and assert state management over the species.

The bill is sponsored by Sen. Joe Balyeat, R-Bozeman, and drafted with input from the Montana Shooting Sports Association and a group called Friends of the Northern Yellowstone Elk Herd.

"I have reviewed it regularly and I recognize that it is pretty aggressive," Balyeat said in a telephone interview from Bozeman on Friday. "And the biggest problem is that we're trying to take on the feds … While I fully recognize that it's going to be difficult for Montana to win that fight, I feel like we simply had to do something. It is long past time to get something done. Wolves are destroying the legacy of wildlife that Montanans, hunters and sportsmen, have bought and paid for over the years."

The bill would void the current Montana wolf conservation and management plan and the state's cooperative management agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The bill calls for "active predator control to protect game herds .. according to the needs and values of the citizens of the state. These wildlife management

activities may not be impeded by federal agencies, federal regulations or federal personnel."

It also entirely bans the state from spending any money, time or resources on enforcing any wolf policies of the United States.

It calls for the state attorney general to seek retroactive damages from the federal government for economic losses, wildlife losses, loss of livestock and pets attributed to wolves.

It has a provision that requires the state to defend "any Montana resident accused by the United States of illegally taking a wolf on state or private property" if the taking is in compliance with conditions in the bill.

It sets forth a lengthy list of conditions that must be met by the federal government before the state can engage in any "future cooperative agreement and management plan" pertaining to wolves.

"Until all of the provisions of the Montana wolf policy are met, wolves are unprotected in Montana wherever they are found on state or private land," the draft states.

The bill takes a legal position that the U.S. Constitution's supremacy and commerce clauses do not allow for the Endangered Species Act to trump state law because of the more recently enacted 10th Amendment and its provisions for the rights of states.

"I don't know what the end result will be," Balyeat said. "But even at a minimum, we are firing a shot across the bow of the federal government … We know that there will be litigation resulting if we pass this legislation. But it's all going to end up in the courts anyway. The judges are deciding everything anyway."

Regardless of its legal viability, Balyeat said the bill will win political support.

"I will make an easy prediction," he said. "Even if we find the largest committee room in the Capitol [for a hearing], it will be jam-packed with people supporting this legislation."

A press release from Gary Marbut of the Montana Shooting Sports Association states that a growing number of hunters, livestock growers and citizens in Montana are frustrated with a protracted failure of the federal government to delist wolves and turn over wolf management to the state.

He notes that wolf proponents have continually opposed all delisting or down-listing efforts, and they have failed to offer any criteria or guarantees about what conditions they would consider wolves to have been recovered and eligible for state management.

"We've absolutely hit the wall with wolves," Marbut said. "Populations of huntable game owned by the people of Montana are being devastated."

Derek Goldman, Northern Rockies field representative for the Endangered Species Coalition, called the bill "pretty extreme."

While Balyeat refers to a Northern Yellowstone elk population that has rapidly declined with wolves having a disproportionate impact on calves, Goldman points to Montana's overall elk population that is 14 percent above goals set by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

He noted that the department extended the elk hunting season in Region 3 districts.

A much more important impact on elk than wolves is a loss of habitat, Goldman said, and a much more important reason for lost hunting opportunities is shrinking access to hunting on private lands with large numbers of elk and other game.

Goldman also questions whether there is growing frustration about wolves among hunters.

"I think a lot of hunters recognize that wolves are part of the landscape and we can have intact landscapes and great hunting," he said.

The draft of Balyeat's bill is available on the state Legislature's Web site at:

http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/lchtml/LC0792.htm

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com