Conservation groups seek to end wolf hunting season early

Wolf hunting season is underway and trapping season begins on Nov. 28, but a motion filed in Lewis and Clark County District Court last week could halt the harvesting of wolves until a new lawsuit is settled.

Conservation groups WildEarth Guardians and Project Coyote asked the court Thursday to immediately halt Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping seasons via a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. The advocacy groups allege significant flaws in the model used to estimate the state’s wolf population.

The request came two weeks after lawyers for the conservation groups filed a lawsuit against the State of Montana, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, and the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission, arguing that state regulations for wolf hunting and trapping violate multiple laws and the Montana Constitution.

“We have a constitutional right in Montana to participate in agency decision making,” Lizzy Pennock, a carnivore coexistence advocate at WildEarth Guardians, one of the groups suing the state, told the Inter Lake on Friday. “When the Commission started using the new population model, they did not include the public.”

According to the motion, the wolf population modeling method was not reviewed by the scientific community before FWP began using it in 2020, relies on assumptions never analyzed in a public process as required by the Montana Administrative Procedure Act (MAPA) and the Montana Constitution, and may have overestimated the state’s wolf population because the “model does not account for known wolf mortality.”

There are other reasons the current regulations for wolf hunting are unconstitutional, according to Pennock. For example, the 2002 Wolf Management Plan, which provides the foundation for wolf conservation and management in Montana, was not used and the public was not included in the discussions.

Montanans also have a constitutional right to a clean and healthy environment for present and future generations, which includes wildlife, Pennnock said. Wolf hunting, especially with an inaccurate count, impedes that right, she said.

The model used was an integrated population occupancy model, or iPOM. It estimates the population based on the availability of suitable habitat, average pack size and average territory size. According to the motion, the model “does not account for wolf known mortality, including mortality resulting from public hunting, Wildlife Service’s depredation, poaching or known pack elimination.”

Further, the Montana iPOM is a sequence of unrelated models, Dr. Scott Creel of Montana State University wrote in a report, so estimation errors carry over step by step, model by model. Creel’s report, as yet unpublished, is referenced in affidavits filed in support of the conservation groups’ underlying lawsuit.

While the basic logic of the sequence is valid, the sequential modeling will “inevitably” lead to estimation errors, Creel concluded.

As a result, FWP’s model assumed an increase in the wolf population, despite “two years of significantly above-average killing in the state,” the motion states.

FWP did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

Hunters have killed 56 wolves since the season began in September. When the trapping season opens on Nov. 28, the advocacy groups anticipate wolf hunting will accelerate with new dispatch methods being used. Those include neck snares, which were legalized by the 2021 Legislature.

“We’re living in a system where we have very few examples of wolf populations that are not exploited or killed by humans,” said Michelle Lute, the carnivore conservation director at Project Coyote, referencing Yellowstone National Park. “Whether it's 50 wolves killed or 500, we see the impacts. There are so many aspects that, if disrupted, will cause chaos.”

The harvest quota for the 2022-2023 wolf hunting season is 456. Were that many taken, the motion argues it would have devastating consequences on Montana’s wolves, killing about 40% of their estimated population.

The 2021-22 hunting and trapping season saw 299 wolves harvested. In an annual report released earlier this year, FWP officials concluded that the state wolf population had stabilized at about 1,160 animals.

Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com.