('li\nKR 3: AI. lERNAnVKS 



Table 27. Wolf management strategies to maintain the minimum number of breeding pairs required in 

 Montana under Alternative 4 (Minimum Wolf). 



Wolf Management Strategies to Maintain the Minimum Required 



Montana 

 Fish, 



Wildlife 



& 



Parks 



Mininiuni number ot breeding pairs and social groups required; distribution liniiled to western 

 Montana and mostly on public lands 



Management liberal most of the time; management not adaptive; independent from rest of wildlife 

 programs 



Minimum health and disease surveillance 



Intense monitoring required, with heavy reliance on radio telemetry 



Limited or no research to improve ecological understanding or evaluate management actions 



Law enforcement a low priority beyond administration of special kill permit programs and 

 retrieval of wolf carcasses legally killed under special permits 



Public outreach emphasizes landowner contacts to inform them of wolf activity in an area; 

 outreach also to addresses human safety concems 



Significant interagency and interstate coordination required 



Ensure human safety; discourage wolf habitation 



Limited and potentially inconsistent opportunity for public hunting and trapping since many 

 wolves would be killed through other management/control activities 



Liberal number of special kill permits available to landowners 



Management for boundary packs overlapping national parks, tribal reservations, Canada, Idaho, or 

 Wyoming more conservative than for other packs since national parks would be an important 

 contribution towards Montana's total number 



No Advisory Council or annual citizen invitation to interagency coordination meetings 



Wildlife 

 Services 



When the wolf population is above the minimum, aggressive management and control to prevent 

 establishment of new packs, especially on private property and in eastern Montana, and where 

 there is a potential for wolf-livestock conflicts 



Technical assistance to landowners 



Field investigations and management response; lethal control first on private lands but response 

 could be more incremental on public lands when wolf population close to the minimum standard 

 and for packs near national parks 



Citizens 



Non-lethal harassment on private lands 



Lethal take in defense of human life or livestock on public or private lands if wolf "attacking, 

 killing or threatening to kill" a person or livestock; may take a wolf if it is "attacking or killing" a 

 domestic dog 



May receive special kill permit to remove wolves on private land; public land if there is a history 

 of wolf-livestock conllicts; landowner could use designated trapper; number of pennits liberal 



92 



