CHAPTER 3: AI/IKKNAI'IVIS 



the significant amount of public comment received during scoping. Tiiis alternative builds upon the 

 council's original planning effort and mirrors public comments calling on FWP to seek common ground 

 between wolf advocates and those most directly affected by wolf presence. In addition, this alternative is 

 based on calls for a balanced wolf management program that is consistent with modem scientific wildlife 

 management practices and how FWP manages other large carnivores. 



Administration, Delisting. Upon approval of plans from Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, USFWS would 

 propose to delist the gray wolf from ESA. When that administrative process is complete, management 

 authority is transferred to the respective states in which wolves reside. 



Stale laws and administrative rules become the regulatory and legal mechanisms guiding management. 

 FWP and the FWP Commission will establish the regulatory framework to manage the species. FWP is 

 responsible for implementing monitoring, research, law enforcement, public outreach, and other 

 functions. The FWP Commission oversees FWP policy. A MOU will be signed by FWP, MDOL, and 

 WS to address wolf-livestock conflicts. The Montana Legislature maintains its budget oversight 

 authority. Ongoing interagency, tribal, and interstate coordination activities are important cornerstones of 

 program administration. 



FWP anticipates that the public will readily identify real or perceived problems or shortcomings of the 

 program. The challenge for FWP will be to discern between earnest differences of opinion in preferred 

 management direction and substantive shortcomings of the program. Difficult decisions will have to be 

 made and will sometimes be called into question by various interests. However, the ensuing public 

 dialogue will also help evaluate the program and lead to improvements. The Montana Wolf Management 

 Advisory Council recommended that the State of Montana continue to engage a diverse advisory citizen's 

 group to collaborate on wolf management. 



Prey Populations. FWP would seek to maintain the public's opportunity to hunt a wide variety of species 

 under a variety of circumstances in a sustainable, responsible manner. Wolf presence within the yearlong 

 range of a specific ungulate herd adds a new factor that FWP biologists must consider among all 

 environmental and human-related factors. FWP would integrate management of predators and prey in an 

 ecological, proactive fashion to prevent wide fluctuations in both predator and prey populations (Table 

 23). To that end, FWP may increase or decrease hunter opportunity for either predators or prey species, 

 depending on the circumstances. If reliable data indicate that a local prey population is significantly 

 impacted by wolf predation in conjunction with other environmental factors, FWP would consider 

 reducing wolf pack size. Wolf management actions would be paired with other corrective management 

 actions to reduce ungulate mortality or enhance recruitment. Concurrent management efforts for wolves 

 and ungulates would continue until the prey population rebounded, recognizing that by the time prey 

 populations begin to respond they may be influenced by a new set of environmental factors. 



FWP regularly surveys ungulate populations across a spectrum of their habitats. Information gathered 

 from live populations is also supplemented by harvest information gathered at hunter check stations or 

 through the telephone harvest survey. FWP will intensify ungulate monitoring efforts and consider 

 habitat enhancement projects where wolf packs are established. Research will also improve ecological 

 understanding of wolf-ungulate interactions and evaluate specific management actions for ungulates 

 and/or wolves. 



FWP further clarifies under this alternative that prey species are managed according to the policy and 

 direction established by the programmatic review of the wildlife program (FWP 1999) and by species 

 plans. Even though plans are written for individual species, the underlying foundation of those plans is 

 based on an ecosystem perspective. The.se plans typically describe a management philosophy that 

 protects the long term sustainability of the resource and aims to keep the population within management 



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