|
Flathead area's protected wolves struggling for survival Unprotected packsin Yellowstone, Idaho faring much better By MICHAEL JAMISON Of The Missoulian WEST GLACIER - When the federal government unleashed wolves in Yellowstone National Park, it seemed no one was pleased. Those opposing the wolf's presence said the predator was an affliction on the landscape. Those in favor of reintroduction said the animals should enjoy the full protection of the Endangered Species Act. The federal government, however, chose a middle ground that left everyone grumbling. The wolves were on their way, they told the public, but they would be an "experimental, nonessential" population, and as such could be killed without the constraints of the ESA. Environmentalists filed suit, demanding that the wolves be fully protected, as are the wolves that naturally wandered into the Flathead over the past 20 years. Now, with the Yellowstone program well established, scientists have encountered a curious and surprising bit of irony - the unprotected wolves of Yellowstone and central Idaho are faring far better than the fully protected wolves of northwest Montana. "Who would have guessed it," said Diane Boyd-Heger, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "It does seems to go against common sense, doesn't it?" Boyd-Heger is the newest addition to the USFWS Montana field office, where for years two lonely biologists have handled all the wolf-related issues for the state. Since the beginning of this year, however, that staff has been doubled with the addition of Boyd-Heger and biologist Tom Meier. Wolf recolonizationWhile new to the USFWS, Boyd-Heger is well known in the Flathead, where she studied the natural recolonization by wolves from 1979 to 1997.During that time, she watched the rise and partial fall of wolves in northwest Montana, as a single wolf loped into Glacier National Park from Canada, met another and ultimately led to nine breeding pairs. In recent years, those nine breeding pairs dipped to five as wolves died or were killed off. Despite legal protections, the Flathead's wolves were losing ground. In Yellowstone and central Idaho, however, Canis lupus is thriving without the advantage of protective laws. The contradiction has left some environmentalists scratching their heads, wondering how to account for the apparent mystery. Boyd-Heger, however, believes she has the answer - or answers, actually - to the seeming inconsistency. "In Yellowstone and central Idaho," she said, "the wolves are living in fairly large wilderness areas. No one lives there - no livestock, no pets, no private property. It's a huge roadless expanse. "But where wolves have come back on their own in northwest Montana, they are in conflict everywhere they go. Every time they turn around, there's a road or a pasture or a fence or a property line. Wolves like ungulate winter range, but that winter range is down low. People and cows are down low too. And when a wolf meets a person, you often end up with conflict." Death from humansThat conflict, she said, can result in dead wolves - wolves killed by trains and cars and guns and federal agents responding to ranchers' concerns. Of the 43 adult wolves known to have died while Boyd-Heger was studying the northwest Montana packs, 84 percent fell to humans. North of the border, researchers in Banff and Kootenay national parks determined 28 of 29 wolf deaths between 1986 and 1993 were caused by humans, even though the wolves lived, for the most part, within the protection of the parks.But even Yellowstone and the uninhabited territory of Idaho's wilds may not be large enough for the 225 or so wolves that now roam there. Of the wolves that have left the relative safety of Yellowstone, none have survived long enough to reproduce - although there is hope that this spring will break that rule. And last year, a small number of livestock were reported killed by wolves in Idaho, marking the first serious confrontations between the reintroduced animals and local residents. Currently, Boyd-Heger said, there are about 125 wolves of " dispersal age" among the Idaho population, which means more animals are "dispersing" from the main pack, looking to make their own way in the woods. As those wolves disperse, she said, they find themselves in "people country" at the wilderness fringe. Does that mean Yellowstone and Idaho's wolves will follow the same rise and fall pattern of the Flathead's packs? Boyd-Heger hedges her prediction. "We'll see," she said. "Some things you can't really predict." Other factorsWhile it is possible the experiences of northwest Montana will be repeated in Yellowstone and Idaho, Boyd-Heger says there are other factors that may tip the scales in another direction.In northwest Montana, for instance, a severe winter in 1996-97 killed off about 50 percent of all white-tailed deer. Essentially, two generations of deer were lost, and population numbers have yet to bounce back. Fewer deer mean hungrier wolves, she said, and hungrier wolves mean ranchers might, in the short-term, have more problems with predators. Since the beginning of the year, six Flathead wolves have been killed after attacking cattle, and four more have been moved out of the area. Other wolves were killed in the Ninemile area west of Missoula, and scientists are keeping a close eye on several packs whose territories overlap pastures. But in Yellowstone and Idaho, Boyd-Heger said, wolves rely more on elk than deer, and elk are big and strong enough to withstand winters that decimate deer. The difference in food source, she said, could mean the difference in wolf survival. Another key to ensuring a different future for the Yellowstone and Idaho wolves, she said, is the progress made in technology and education. When wolves first wandered from Canada into the western edge of Glacier Park, little was known about what they might do, where they might go, or how we might influence their actions. Now, thanks to innovations pioneered by wildlife biologists working with wolves and other species, Boyd-Heger has new tools for dealing with wolf-human conflicts. Last year, she worked in Arizona, part of a team coordinating the reintroduction of the Mexican wolf. While there, she chased bold wolves from human settlements with rubber bullets, cracker shells, sirens, flashing lights and propane cannons, much the way other wildlife specialists have successfully hazed bears. And wolf-specific techniques are emerging, she said, that should work where techniques used for other species failed. "We can't just adopt the tools used for other species," she said, "without coming up with some ideas that are specifically geared toward wolves. I mean, if you use Karelian bear dogs on wolves, you're going to end up with a lot of dead Karelian bear dogs. Education as a toolThe biggest tool, however, may be education. Boyd-Heger spends much of her time knocking on rural doors in wolf country and giving presentations that inform residents about wolves and how to live with them."Education is going to be crucial," she said, "if we expect to have wolves on the landscape. We could easily use four or five or six full-time people just to handle education. It's a lot easier to teach people than it is to 'unteach' wolves that have learned unacceptable behaviors." But without those four or five full-time educators, the burden falls on Boyd-Heger and her partner Meier. The biologists are charged with monitoring wolves in northwest Montana, a region bordered by Canada to the north, Idaho to the west, Interstate 90 to the south and Interstate 15 to the east. Within that region are 41 known wolves and countless head of livestock. "We have a huge area to cover," she said, "and we can't reach everyone with education. But we try to hit as many as possible. I have no doubt we can learn to live successfully with these predators." Her hope, she said, comes in large part from her experiences in rural kitchens and living rooms. "Most ranchers who see a wolf don't respond with a rifle," she said. "Most see them, are intrigued and concerned all at the same time, and then come up with ideas to get along with their new neighbors. I think there's great hope in that. Most of the stories that are reported are from the extreme ends of the spectrum. The truth is, most of the folks are in the middle and are very cooperative and creative. They're the best help we have." Especially, perhaps, in a world where protected wolves fall faster than those without federal refuge, and man has more influence than his laws.
|