Marc Cooke, president of the non-profit Wolves of the Rockies, turned his focus to protecting wolves about 10 years ago. He had been involved with anti-trapping issues at the time.
“I realized quickly that the anti-trapping movement was well represented,” says Cooke. “In the meantime, wolves’ heads were on the chopping block. Wolves were being ‘aggressively managed.’ They had no voice.”
A friend told him that Fish, Wildlife & Parks wasn’t listening to individuals, but would put more emphasis on non-profits and organizations. So, he and some others started Wolves of the Rockies with just $1000.
“We got our non-profit status,” said Cooke. “We didn’t have much money so we had to come up with another angle. We had to develop relationships with everybody, whether we agreed with them or not. Now we have a solid group of people who will listen to us and respect us.”
Cooke said that now, 10 years later, what he thought was a thing of the past – the aggressive management of wolves – is still very much a reality. “But we have these relationships with all these different people, including legislators, and they support us.”
Cooke noted that the Democrats in Montana seem to be pro-environment, pro-wildlife, and pro-science. He said the Republicans seem to be more about keeping the federal government out, supporting extraction, and “killing whatever it is.” He says that during the last legislative session, Montana Senator Bob Brown, Rep. Paul Fielder, and
Gov. Greg Gianforte put forward an “anti-wolf, anti-carnivore agenda… And because they are in full control, whatever bill they wanted they could push through. And they did. Now we have bounties, hunting at night, hunting over bait, a longer season which is disturbing because now we’re killing mid-term pregnant wolves. They’ve liberalized the season so much for killing wolves.”
Yet, says Cooke, for the first time in years, fewer wolves were killed. This past season, 273 were killed, and previously, 320-330 was the average. Cooke says that indicates that liberalizing the season on wolves didn’t increase the harvest of wolves.
“This is a red flag to us that the wolf population in Montana is less than the 1156 wolves that FWP said was the population at the beginning of the 2021 hunting/trapping season.” Cooke said that FWP doesn’t physically count wolves anymore, but instead relies on Integrative Patch Occupancy Modeling (IPOM), an algorithm that relies on survey data only from the hunting community and nowhere else. “That means there’s a built-in bias,” says Cooke. “Last September, Montana had 1156 wolves, they liberalized as much as they could without triggering a federal review under the Endangered Species Act, but yet they killed less wolves. This is a clear indicator that Montana doesn’t have the wolf population that FWP and IPOM says they have.”
Cooke said that the Yellowstone wolves in particular are under threat from the change in the regulations. “Yellowstone wolves every year bring in no less than $82 million to gateway communities,” says Cooke. “Prior to the Gianforte administration, we had a quota of one wolf kill in WMU 313 and WMU 316 which border Yellowstone National Park in Montana. Last season, it was open season on Yellowstone wolves. They killed a third of the northern range wolves that are Yellowstone wolves. These wolves spend 96% of their time in Yellowstone National Park but because of the liberalized regulations and the extreme anti-wolf individuals that live in Jardine and Gardiner, 19 Yellowstone wolves were killed. Whether we like it or not, Yellowstone wolves view humans differently. They don’t have that human fear factor built in. They are easier to kill. It was unethical hunting at its finest. We know that 25 Yellowtone wolves were killed between the three states. But Yellowstone is missing 25 additional wolves. We’re taking into account wolves that disperse and wolf on wolf mortality. But poaching is alive and well in the Gardiner/Jardine area.”
Cooke said that Wolves of the Rockies, which is headquartered in Stevensville, has been and continues to be a “one hundred percent volunteer organization. Donations that are made to our group go one hundred percent to protecting and defending wolves.” Cooke said that without the administrative overhead, they’ve been able to reach out to livestock producers to provide funding for non-lethal measures to reduce conflict. Some things they can fund include fladry (a fluttering ribbon that spooks the wolves), fox lights (solar or battery-powered lights that blink), turbo fladry (electrified), and range riders (individuals, usually on horseback, that monitor the livestock and whose presence deters the wolves).
“We and others in the conservation community see the value in working with livestock producers who are open to trying these non-lethal measures,” said Cooke. “We’re not anti-livestock, we’re not anti-ethical hunting.” He adds, “But we are anti-trapping. If you are going to kill something, you don’t let it suffer.”
“We understand the margin on beef is not as good as it should be,” says Cooke. “We can help with funding to try these other methods.”
For example, a producer in the Whitefish area was having trouble with grizzlies and wolves. “We put up fox lights and it worked.” He said that other producers haven’t had loss claims because they’ve worked with Wolves of the Rockies. “We have worked with the livestock loss board since its inception, and we’ve worked to get their funding increased. Originally it was just for wolves, now losses from grizzlies and mountain lions are also eligible. Not just confirmed kills, but likely kills.”
“It’s important for people to know there are livestock producers out there that want to do the right thing,” said Cooke. “We support farming and ranching. If they do go out of business, is it going to be another farm or ranch, or more houses? We’re all about habitat.”
Cooke says that under the present administration, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has taken a turn for the worse. “They are anti-carnivore, and they are anti-public,” says Cooke. “They don’t want to hear what we have to say. They are nothing more than puppets for the outfitting industry. That’s what’s going on right now.”
Wolves are on the Endangered Specials List through most of their traditional range in the United States, except for Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and a portion of Eastern Washington. Cooke says that coming up with an accurate number of wolves who call Montana home is really important because the federal government looks to each state to use the best available science to produce accurate population numbers of wolves. “We feel because IPOM is inaccurate the number of wolves in Montana is less, but in the eyes of FWP and the Fish and Wildlife Service, if they see more wolves on the ground this will negatively affect the relisting of wolves on the Endangered Species List.”
Wolves of the Rockies is hosting a conversation on Wolves and Wildlife on Saturday, August 20th from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the North Valley Public Library in Stevensville. “It will be a straightforward discussion on the concerns and challenges facing our wildlife,” said Cooke. There will be a free barbecue and raffle for some great items, like binoculars and a Bitterroot River flyfishing float trip. Cooke encourages everyone to come and talk about Montana’s wolves and other wildlife.
“Wolves are important to us, but democracy is just as important,” says Cooke. “You need to listen to the people.”
For more information on Wolves of the Rockies, call Marc at 406-493-5945 or email him at marc@wolvesoftherockies.org. You can also visit facebook/wolvesoftherockies.org or relistwolves.org.