Weekly Progress Report
Week of December 16 - December 20, 2002
We hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Monitoring
NEW WEB ADDRESS - See http://westerngraywolf.fws.gov/ for maps of wolf pack locations and home ranges, tables of wolf numbers and depredations, and summaries of scientific studies.
Wolf #253, the radioed collared male Druid wolf that was in the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park in mid-October 2002. He was incidentally captured by a coyote trapper SE of Ogden, UT November 30, 2002 and released in Grand Teton National Park in WY on Dec 2. He was located back with the Druid pack on the morning of Dec 20th.
Please report any sightings of wolf activity to the nearest U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, state Fish and Game Agency, Forest Service, BLM, Tribal, or USDA Wildlife Services office. We thank everyone for their cooperation.
Livestock Depredations & Management (control)
An adult cow was run into some deadfall and killed by wolves near Belfry, MT 15 miles east of Red Lodge, MT. Sign indicated 2 wolves were involved. WS will attempt to get a collar in the pair and see if they are part of the Red Lodge pack or a newly formed group. Other control may be authorized as more information is collected.
Research
Nothing new to report.
Information, Education & Law Enforcement
The annual interagency wolf management meeting was held in Helena the 19th and 20th. Nearly 40 biologists and managers from state, federal, tribal, and universities attended. Topics included wolf monitoring, control, research, information and education, law enforcement, reclassification and state management planning. The meeting's minutes will be included in an upcoming weekly report.
On the 17th, Bangs, Fontaine and state, federal, university, private groups from conservation groups and agriculture representatives/cooperators attended Workshop 4 the final meeting of the "Evaluating the effectiveness of Predator Compensation Programs" in Helena. The collaborative research program is being conducted by University of Montana. The preliminary results of the effort were presented and the final reports should be completed by summer 2003.
On the 18th and 19th, Smith and others attended a workshop on "Exploring challenges, perspectives, and opportunities" in large carnivore management in Bozeman, MT. The workshop was sponsored by the Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative and focused on management of mountain lions, wolves, and grizzly bears. A wide variety of interests were represented.
Corrections - There were a couple of mistakes in the last weekly. The wolf that was mistaken for a coyote and shot. It was on Salish and Kootenai Tribal lands in the Flathead Valley not on the Blackfeet Tribal lands. Also the wolf killed about 9 miles south of Cayuga in SE North Dakota was so close to the South Dakota border it could have been killed in either North or South Dakota. Opps!
The Utah wolf management "plan" developed by students at Utah State University can be seen at http://www.cnr.usu.edu/nrei (PDF).
On Monday Dec 2, Ruesink and Niemeyer met with the Idaho Cattle Assoc. reps to discuss Wyoming dual wolf listing, downlisting, delisting, compensation for missing livestock, depredations and the SNRA lawsuit.
On Wednesday Dec 4, Rick Williamson, Suzanne Laverty and Niemeyer met with the Diamond Moose Grazing Association members in Salmon, ID to talk about the past season, compensation, missing livestock, the fladry study and possible assistance to them and other producers in Lemhi County next season. Forest Service and BLM sat in on the meeting too.
The CENTRAL ROCKIES WOLF PROJECT is pleased to announce that registration has begun for the WORLD WOLF CONGRESS 2003 - BRIDGING SCIENCE AND COMMUNITY, to be held at the Banff Centre (Banff, Canada) from September 25-28, 2003. Please visit www.worldwolfcongress.ca for complete information.
Call for papers: Papers are now being accepted for the 2003 North American Interagency Wolf Conference, April 8 - 10, 2003 at Chico Hot Springs, Pray, MT. Please submit a one page single spaced abstract which includes your full contact information, affiliations, and authors, by email to Joseph Fontaine at Joseph_Fontaine@fws.gov. Topics include, but are not limited to, wolf biology and conservation, conflict management, predator and prey relationships, law enforcement, forensics, population status, state wolf management planning, national wolf reclassification and delisting, ethics, environmental education, and public outreach. Please submit a digital picture related to your research or topic to include in the agenda and on the website. We can also scan images sent by mail. Registration for the conference will begin November 1, 2002 and you may contact Suzanne Laverty at SLaverty@defenders.org for details.
The weekly wolf report can be viewed at the Service's Region 6 web site at westerngraywolf.fws.gov. This report is government public property and can be used for any purpose. Please distribute as you see fit.
Contact: Ed Bangs (406)449-5225 or Internet - ED_BANGS@FWS.GOV
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