Wolves still stir passions in region

BILLINGS — It was a frigid January day when the doors to the small crates finally opened, and the first gray wolf bolted into the wilds of Idaho. The event was cheered by environmentalists, who had wondered if they would ever see wolves reintroduced in the Northern Rockies, and decried by ranchers and others who had hoped to keep it from ever happening.

Ten years after gray wolves were first reintroduced to the region, passions still run deep. The wolves’ incredible recovery and expansion in the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have ensured that.

Ranchers worry about livestock being attacked. Outfitters, like Edwin Johnson in Gardiner, Mont., worry the wolves are decimating elk herds and threatening their livelihood.

“You haven’t even seen the tip of the iceberg yet, because wolves are going to be all over the place,” he said.

Conservationists acknowledge some problems but say wolves haven’t been the scourge some predicted they would be or claim that they are. In fact, they say wolves have had positive effects on both the ecology of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem and economies of communities around Yellowstone National Park, where wolves also were reintroduced beginning in 1995. The park has become a wolf-watching hotspot.

Some conservationists say the true measure of success will come when the wolves are taken off the list of animals protected by the Endangered Species Act, a move that, despite the wolves’ having already achieved recovery goals, could still be years away because of litigation.

“The book needs to be closed in order for us to say that the Endangered Species Act is doing its job and that wolf restoration is a complete success,” said Jon Schwedler, a spokesman for the Predator Conservation Alliance in Bozeman.

The story spans decades, with wolves in the region gaining protection under the act in 1974. The animals were essentially gone from Idaho, Wyoming and Montana until the 1980s, when a small number migrated naturally into Glacier National Park from Canada.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a 1987 plan, proposed reintroduction of an “experimental” population in Yellowstone. After several years of study, public comment and controversy, a decision was made in the early 1990s to reintroduce wolves to the park and wilder parts of central Idaho.

Ranchers were among those firmly against it, worried about how the predators would affect their livelihoods. State Farm Bureau groups and others sued to stop the release of the gray wolves from Canada.

“You have wolf advocates from New York to L.A. They love these animals and have no sense of what they’re capable of,” said Jake Cummins, executive vice president of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. “When they’re killing a calf, they’re not as warm and fuzzy as they’re portrayed.”

When the release finally came, some wolf advocates present, including Suzanne Stone, were worried not only about the wolves’ well-being, but their own.

“There was a lot of hostility toward the people bringing them in, and the wolves themselves,” said Stone, who is now the Rocky Mountain field representative with the Defenders of Wildlife.

Jan. 14, 1995, was frigid; the roads were ice-covered and slick. The first wolf let go in an area known as Corn Creek bolted from the crate. But others — Stone remembers a total of four let go the first day — were more tentative.

The wolves bound for Yellowstone stayed in “acclimation pens” for two months, before their release in March 1995. The idea was to allow both for family units to bond and for the wolves to get used to their new surroundings, so they wouldn’t wander too far.

The next year, 37 more wolves were reintroduced in the two areas. Federal wildlife officials had expected to reintroduce animals for five years but stopped after two because the wolves were reproducing and the population was growing on its own.

The controversy grew with it. In 1997, a federal judge in Wyoming ordered the gray wolves removed, saying the reintroduction was illegal. An appeals court later overturned him.

Co-existence between ranchers and wolves has, at times, been uneasy. Conservation groups, like the Defenders of Wildlife, provide compensation for confirmed losses and offer assistance with proactive, nonlethal measures to help keep wolves from livestock. But farm group leaders say it’s often difficult to prove losses and that little short of a shotgun will keep wolves from coming back.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, 278 cattle and nearly 800 sheep were confirmed killed by wolves in the three states from 1995 to 2003. During that time, 201 problem wolves were also killed, most by government agents, the agency said.

“The only thing that works with animals this smart is knowing that they can be killed,” said Cummins, of the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. “Until you start using lethal methods, they pretty much adjust.”

Gray wolves reached their recovery goals in 2002. But before the Fish and Wildlife Service can propose that wolves in the Northern Rockies be delisted, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming each need to have approved management plans.

The agency approved plans by Montana and Idaho last year, but rejected Wyoming’s, which called for a dual-classification of wolves. In areas where wolves would be classified as predators, they could be shot with little restriction.

The state is currently suing.

What happens between now and delisting could be telling. The Fish and Wildlife Service said this month that it would hand over to Montana and Idaho as much management authority for wolves as they want in the interim.

The states’ performances “will be a guide in whether they can be trusted once wolves are delisted,” said Ed Bangs, Fish and Wildlife Serivice wolf recovery coordinator in Helena, Mont.

Looking back on the wolf program, those on all sides of the debate have a wide range of still-strong emotions.

Maury Jones, an outfitter in western Wyoming, said he wishes the reintroduction never happened, and swears it will be the “greatest wildlife disaster ever seen.”

Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, said he still wonders if he could’ve done more to stop the reintroduction. The costs, he figures, probably would have paled next to headaches ranchers are experiencing now.

Doug Smith, the Yellowstone wolf project leader, said the wolf reintroduction has been the opportunity of a lifetime and a scientist’s dream, providing an opportunity to compare an ecosystem with and without a key predator.