In Montana, Bears and Wolves Become Part of the Culture Wars
The politics of predators seem poised to enter a new chapter in the
state, which now seems intent on reviving some of the practices of a
century ago that virtually exterminated wolves from Montana.
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Wildlife scientists say the bills, which would affect gray wolves and
grizzly bears, “are harmful to wildlife, harmful to the image of
hunters, contrary to science and wrong for Montana.”
Wildlife scientists say the bills, which would affect gray wolves and
grizzly bears, “are harmful to wildlife, harmful to the image of
hunters, contrary to science and wrong for Montana.”Credit...Dennis
Fast/VWPics/Universal Images Group, via Getty Images
ByJim Robbins <https://www.nytimes.com/by/jim-robbins>
NYT, March 28, 2021UpdatedMarch 29, 2021,2:15 p.m. ET
HELENA, Mont. — In addition to its spectacular landscape of mountains,
rivers and prairie, Montana, the third least populous state in the
country, has long been known for something else — wildlife policies that
have protected animals of all sorts, including ones like grizzly bears
and gray wolves that are often seen as threats to humans and to farming
and ranching.
The state’s abundance and variety of wildlife has been a selling point
for tourism, a source of pride to many Montanans and something that has
set it apart from its less ecologically minded neighbors in the Mountain
West. Even as its neighboring states of Idaho and Wyoming have
aggressively reduced their wolf population, for example, Montana has
managed its numbers largely through hunting seasons and targeted lethal
control actions by wildlife biologists.
Now, with its first Republican governor in 16 years, Greg Gianforte, and
a solidly Republican legislature, the politics of predators seem poised
to enter a new chapter. In the West these days, predators are very much
part of the culture wars, and the state now seems intent on reviving
some of the practices of a century ago that virtually exterminated
wolves from Montana.
Several bills are headed to Mr. Gianforte’s desk that would allow for
more killing of wolves in the state to drive down their numbers.
Practices that are being proposed include the use of spotlights at
night, which is considered unethical because it temporarily blinds the
animal; hunting animals by luring them with bait like wild game or
commercial scents; night vision scopes and widening use of neck snares
that catch and choke animals to death. Other controversial predator
proposals allow hunting black bears with hounds, a practice outlawed a
century ago, and placing limits on where wandering grizzlies can be
moved, which conservationists say could lead to more bear deaths.
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Proponents of the changes say the state is overwhelmed by the presence
of too many predators, and their numbers urgently need to be reduced. At
a hearing, State Senator Bob Brown, a Republican who introduced one of
the bills, said many of his constituents felt they had “no voice,” and
that game, in particular elk and deer, that they depended on to fill
their freezers was being eliminated by wolves instead.
ImageThe bills headed to Governor Greg Gianforte’s desk would
allow for more killing of wolves to drive down their numbers in the state.
The bills headed to Governor Greg Gianforte’s desk would allow for more
killing of wolves to drive down their numbers in the state.Credit...Thom
Bridge/Independent Record, via Associated Press
“We can’t sit by and allow our game — the thing that feeds so many
families — to be taken off the table,” he said.
Critics say the state is embarking on a wholesale war on wildlife that
is based on little more than emotion and supposition, and rejecting
decades worth of management lessons.
“It’s bar talk replacing biology,” said Ed Bangs, a wildlife biologist
who is now retired and used to lead the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s
wolf recovery project. He also led the effort in the mid-1990s to bring
the first wolves to Yellowstone National Park after a half century’s
absence. “People are saying it seems like there are fewer elk and deer,
so it must be the wolves,” he said. “I believe in professionalism and
vetting with science; this is based on bar talk.”
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Mr. Bangs is one of more than 50 wildlife biologists who have signed a
letter calling on Republican officials to reject the legislation. The
bills have passed, or are near passing, both houses of the Legislature
and are awaiting a decision by the governor.
Experts say these changes, if they occur, probably would not cause a
crash in the number of wolves and grizzlies to the point where their
existence is seriously threatened. Instead, in their letter, the
wildlife scientists say the bills “are harmful to wildlife, harmful to
the image of hunters, contrary to science and wrong for Montana.”
“This is an all-out war on wolves,” said Nick Gevock, the conservation
director for the**Montana Wildlife Federation. “We support ethical fair
chase hunting of wolves. This is going way overboard. It’s a
19th-century approach.”
The result is a dispute over wildlife management suffused with
contemporary politics with Mr. Gianforte at the center of it. In
February, he was the subject of controversy when he trapped and shot a
black, radio-collared wolf known as 1155 that had come north onto a
private ranch from nearby Yellowstone National Park. The wolf wore a
collar as part of a study of wolves at Yellowstone.
While trapping and even shooting a collared wolf outside the park is
legal in Montana, the governor had neglected to take a required three
hour wolf trapping certification course that teaches hunters to trap and
hunt wolves “ethically, humanely and lawfully.”
Mr. Gianforte said at a news conference he had been trapping since he
was a “tot” and called his violation of the law an oversight. He saidhe
was issued a warning letter
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/greg-gianforte-wolf-violation.html>and
had since taken the course.
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Mr. Gianforte, a hard-line Republican, first came to national prominence
in 2017 when he body slammed a reporter for The Guardian after taking
offense at answering questions about his race for Congress. He won the
House seat and later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor assault charge. But
indications seem to point to him possibly gaining politically from a
firm stance against predators in a state where anger over the perceived
overabundance of wolves and bears runs deep, and one that overwhelmingly
supported Donald J. Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.
Image
A grizzly bear in northwestern Montana.
A grizzly bear in northwestern Montana.Credit...Montana Fish, Wildlife
and Parks, via Associated Press
The return of the wolf and grizzly bear to the northern Rockies are two
success stories that came out of the Endangered Species Act. In 1975,
when grizzly bears were listed as endangered species, there were from
100 to 200 of them, mostly in Yellowstone and Glacier national parks.
Their numbers are now estimated at about 1,800 in the Lower 48 states.
The grizzlies were able to make that comeback largely because hunting
was ended, trash was carefully managed and there was an effective
crackdown on poachers.
Outside Yellowstone and Glacier national parks, grizzly bears roam
mainly in wilderness areas of the state, though they are expanding into
more populated areas where they are increasingly vulnerable to being hit
by cars, shot by hunters, and killed or removed by biologists because of
conflicts with humans. And bears and wolves pose a real threat to
livestock and to humans. Every year, hikers or hunters are attacked by
bears, and in many parts of the state anyone hiking is cautioned to be
“bear aware” and carry a pepper-based spray for protection.
The debate over protecting endangered species, particularly predators,
has long roiled Montana, pitting liberal urban areas in the state and
across the country against rural ranchers who are increasingly concerned
about their livestock being killed or hunters who think game animals are
in decline. Until now, a measured approach — which includes some hunting
of wolves and intervention by the state when grizzlies get into
someone’s beehive or chicken coop — along with lots of protection have
prevailed. But with wildlife management increasingly part of the culture
wars, antagonism toward widening federal control and Republican control
of the state, the balance has shifted, conservationists say.
The new bills approach management of bears and wolves in various ways.
One of the new bills would pay wolf hunters their expenses — in effect,
critics say, a bounty — to kill the animals. Another bill would allow
for snaring animals with a metal aircraft cable fashioned into a noose
that would hang over a trail. When the animal gets its head caught in
one, it grows tighter as the animal tries to flee, until it is strangled
to death. Snares can be used for coyotes in Montana but not wolves.
A major problem with snares is that they also kill species that are not
the target, such as moose, elk, deer and even pet dogs. “Snares are
cheap,” Mr. Bangs said. “It isn’t unusual for a trapper to set out 100.
And you catch all kinds of stuff.” Snares that were set for coyotes, for
example, inadvertently killed 28 mountain lions from 2015 to 2020, Mr.
Gevock said.
Another bill would extend the wolf trapping and snaring season. Wildlife
experts say the extended season would overlap with the period that
grizzly bears and black bears are out of their dens and could be
inadvertently trapped. Another**would reinstate hunting black bears with
dogs and prevent Montana wildlife officials from relocating any grizzly
bears captured outside recovery zones. Most recovery zone habitat are
occupied, which means many grizzlies would most likely have to be
euthanized.
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In their letter, the wildlife professionals wrote that the bill would
reverse 40 years of policy “and result in the unnecessary death of many
grizzly bears.” They also said that the bill would prevent grizzly bears
from being removed from their endangered species status.
Supporters of the bills say bringing down the wolf population is
essential. State Representative Paul Fielder, a Republican and a retired
wildlife biologist and trapper who introduced two of the bills, said
there were about 1,200 wolves in the state, according to the Montana
Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Because of their recovery,
wolves are no longer protected by the Endangered Species Act. Federal
law requires that Montana has 15 breeding pairs, which, according to Mr.
Fielder, is about 300 wolves.
“We have four times the number of wolves the Montana management plan
requires,” he said when the bill was introduced.
The state already allows hunters to kill about 300 to 350 wolves a year.
Increasingly, the arguments are being couched in the language of
national politics.
Steve Daines, the state’s senior U.S. senator and a Republican, this
week became one of five senators who introduced legislation to take the
grizzly bear off the endangered species list. “Wildlife management must
be determined by science, not by activist judges,” he said. “Montana’s
state leaders know what’s best for our communities, public safety, the
ecosystem, wildlife and the bear itself.”
Mr. Gianforte has not yet said whether he will sign the bills. A
spokeswoman for the governor would only say he “would carefully review
any bill that the legislature sends to his desk.”
But Representative Tom France, a Democrat and retired regional executive
director for the National Wildlife Federation, said whatever emerges in
Montana would almost certainly echo the partisan split of national politics.
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“The return of the grizzly bears and wolves were remarkable success
stories in the state and federal partnerships — this is a rejection of
that,” he said. “There’s a political sentiment here.”
The State Legislature is saying “We don’t live by federal laws and
aren’t going to pay attention to them,” he added. “Montana is not
excused from the polarization that typifies the nation.”
<https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/23/us/greg-gianforte-wolf-violation.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article>
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