Minimum tally shows 422 canids in 72 packs in state

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has tallied a 34 percent increase in the state's wolf population in 2007, most of it occurring in Western Montana with the help of wolves from Idaho.

The 2007 annual wolf report was released this week, just as a coalition of environmental groups announced plans to sue the federal government to prevent wolves from being removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Without a court's intervention, a delisting rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will transfer legal management authority of wolves in the Northern Rockies to the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming on March 28.

The coalition maintains that delisting is premature because the overall population of roughly 1,500 wolves in the region is too small and genetically disconnected to be secure.

But Montana has been reporting striking growth in the numbers of wolves and packs in the state.

"The population is secure but dynamic," says the state population report, based on monitoring efforts conducted throughout 2007.

"As of December 31, 2007, the minimum Montana wolf population estimate was 422 wolves in 73 verified packs, 39 of which qualified as a 'breeding pair,'" the report states.

At the end of 2006, the state had 316 wolves in 57 packs, with 21 breeding pairs.

The 34 percent increase in wolf numbers can largely be attributed to growing populations in Western Montana, from the Bitterroot Valley up to the northwest corner of the state, the report states.

"The Montana wolf population is certainly influenced by populations in the state of Idaho," said Caroline Sime, the wolf program manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

Sime said16 packs that roam on both sides of the Montana-Idaho border. Twelve are counted as Montana packs because of denning locations, while four are counted as Idaho packs.

Wolf conservation groups are concerned that with delisting, the three states are proposing hunts that could have effects that cross borders. Rules that allow for a heavy wolf harvest in Idaho, they say, will have implications for the sustainability of Montana's population.

According to Montana's 2007 report, the federally defined Northwest Montana recovery area has 213 wolves in 36 packs with 23 breeding pairs.

In the southern Montana "experimental" recovery area, there are 209 wolves in 37 packs with 16 breeding pairs.

Sime and federal wolf officials have long stressed that the population numbers are conservative counts, acknowledging that there are likely more wolves and packs on the landscape that have yet to be verified.

The report also includes wolf mortality and livestock depredation statistics.

Of 102 documented wolf deaths in 2007, 73 were related to livestock kills.

Government trappers killed 63 wolves, while private citizens killed seven wolves that were actively chasing or attacking livestock, and four were killed by special permits issued after confirmed livestock losses.

Confirmed cattle losses increased from 32 in 2006 to 75 in 2007, and confirmed sheep losses increased from four to 27. Two llamas, 12 goats and three dogs were confirmed as being killed by wolves last year.

Just three packs accounted for 25 percent of the total livestock losses and 30 percent of the wolves killed through management actions.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com