( HAPTER 4: KNVIKONMKNTAL (ONSKyiKNCKS 



CHAPTER 4: ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES 



Introduction 



This chapter compares the predicted environmental consequences for each of the five alternatives. 

 Wolves will be present in Montana regardless of which of the five alternatives is selected, but the number 

 of wolves present will vary by alternative. Different management philosophies and tools will lead to 

 different outcomes, each based on the range of management philosophies - from conservative to 

 aggressive. 



The environmental consequences are speculative because no one can accurately predict the status of 

 Montana's wolf population at the time of actual delisting, which may be one to three years away. 

 Moreover, the actual outcomes will result from future management decisions and circumstances that may 

 or may not have been fully anticipated. Therefore, the reader may find it helpful to consider the 

 significance of the impacts described in each alternative, and then to compare alternatives relative to each 

 other rather than to focus exclusively on the prediction. The impacts are estimated using the best 

 available information and historical data, in keeping with accepted scientific and statistical methods. 

 Some assumptions were necessary to estimate impacts. Those assumptions will be identified wherever 

 they occur. 



For this EIS, FWP evaluated the environmental consequences by assuming each alternative would be 

 implemented starting in 2003. Impacts are then reported for 2015. Some environmental consequences 

 will be short term and develop rapidly. Others may not emerge for several years. The longer time span 

 accounted for: 1 ) the time required to complete the delisting process, 2) the biological life span of wolves 

 and their prey, and 3) impacts which develop while the wolf population stabilizes. Cumulative 

 environmental impacts result from incremental consequences added to other past, present, and reasonably 

 foreseeable actions by FWP, including actions by other state agencies and businesses regulated by other 

 state agencies. In this EIS, consideration of cumulative impacts is limited to the State of Montana. 



While impacts are predicted, it is also possible for FWP to mitigate or lessen impacts to some degree, 

 based on how and when specific management strategies described for each alternative are implemented. 

 FWP intends to lessen the impacts of a recovered wolf population where possible, while still maintaining 

 a secure and healthy population. This chapter also identifies any irreversible and irretrievable 

 commitments of resources to implement any of the five alternatives. A summary of the consequences of 

 each alternative is presented at the end of this chapter (Table 43). 



Methods to Estimate Some of the Environmental Consequences 



None of the alternatives in the EIS represent the type of policy choices examined in the analysis 

 conducted prior to the reintroduction of gray wolves to YNP and central Idaho. Rather than a "wolves or 

 no-wolves" analysis, this EIS analyzes the consequences of a spectrum of wolf conservation and 

 management alternatives. This section describes the methods used to estimate certain consequences. 

 Other methods are described under each alternative. 



Wolf Numbers and Di.stribution 



Wolf numbers and distribution are expected to increase through time. FWP is uncertain of how rapidly 

 the wolf population will grow. Some newly colonizing wolf populations in highly productive habitat, 

 such as YNP, have grown rapidly. Other long-established populations, such as in northwestern Montana 

 have increased more slowly. Wolf distribution will probably be determined by prey abundance and 



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