Wolves Reducing Elk Populations In Montana
A new study of wolves and elk was released last week by the Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks that showed the MT wolf population has been increasing exponentially since 1995 at rates of approximately 10% to 34% annually. The best estimate as of December 2007 is that there were a minimum of 422 wolves (73 packs) and 39 breeding packs within the State boundaries of Montana.
The study, entitled Monitoring and Assessment of Wolf-Ungulate Interactions and Population Trends within the Greater Yellowstone Area, Southwestern Montana, and Montana Statewide by Kenneth L. Hamlin and Julie A. Cunningham, Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks, found that wolves killed approximately 7 to 23 elk per wolf in winter (November through April). Summer kill rates were not estimated.
The study also found that “the number of grizzly bears in southwest Montana and the GYA has increased more than 3-fold since 1987,” and the combined effect of wolves and bears has reduced elk calf survival:
In the Northern Yellowstone and Gallatin- Madison elk herds, calf per 100 cow ratios have recently been approximately half or less than levels recorded prior to wolf restoration.
Elk counts from 1994 to 2008 have dropped from 67% to 81% in those herds.
The number of elk wintering and counted within YNP (subject to the greatest natural predation pressure) has declined dramatically since 2000 (Fig. 17) compared to elk wintering and counted outside YNP (subject to greater hunter harvest and lower natural predation pressure). Since 2005, however, hunter harvest was insignificant for all Northern Range elk but wolf numbers and predation have increased.
The study is [here]. Regarding wolf de listing, conclusions of the study include:
Wolves have long since reached the numerical and distributional goals for recovery, but de-listing has not occurred and management options are limited. …
The federally funded budget for wolf monitoring and management has increased by 8% since 2005, while the MFWP budget for all big game monitoring, including but not limited to all of the ungulate species, has declined by 15% since 2006. Currently, the wolf program budget is approximately 2/3 the size of the budget for the big game program.
The Helena Independent Record reported:
Wolves tied to elk decline in parts of state
By EVE BYRON - Independent Record - 02/07/09 [here]
A study released Friday confirms what some hunters have long suspected — that the elk population in some areas of Montana has dropped dramatically due to wolf predation.
In particular, the study found that since 2004 in the northern Yellowstone National Park elk herd, wolves have killed more elk than hunters did; since 2005 wolves killed more adult cow elk than hunters did; and in all but one year since 2002, wolves have killed more bull elk than hunters did.
Researchers spent the past seven years measuring elk populations and behavior of elk in Montana, and the report by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks found that elk numbers in some areas of southwestern Montana have dropped rapidly, mainly due to the loss of elk calves targeted by wolves and grizzly bears in those areas.
However, the same study, led by FWP and Montana State University, suggests that in some areas of western Montana elk numbers have increased even while the number of elk taken by hunters has decreased. The study found little apparent influence by local wolf packs on elk numbers in those areas.
Researchers said the seemingly contradictory findings show that not all elk populations respond in the same ways when they share the land with wolves.
“One-size-fits-all explanations of wolf-elk interactions across large landscapes do not seem to exist,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of wildlife research in Helena.
About 1,500 gray wolves roam Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah. That includes about 400 in Montana, 780 in Idaho and 350 in Wyoming.
An estimated 130,000 elk are in Montana.
The study notes that habitat, weather patterns, human hunting, and the presence of other large predators and livestock also play a role. Scientists added that wolf predation by itself doesn’t necessarily initiate declines in prey populations, but it can exacerbate that or lengthen the time needed for the population to rebound.
Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, wasn’t surprised to hear that elk populations have dropped as the result of the 1994 reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone National Park.
“Wolves are an ecological catastrophe,” Marbut said. “There have been a lot of studies that show each wolf will take from 25 to 80 elk per year … it’s just a matter of third-grade math that the number of elk will go down as the number of wolves increase.”