Yellowstone Park wolf population is down. So too Montana GYE wolves.

Note. This report was posted earlier as an update to the article on the rediscovery of the Delta Pack. I decided to make it a separate article and add information about the GYE wolves in Montana. . . . RM

I just got back from Yellowstone [Aug. 16], and it's pretty obvious that the wolf population is in decline with increasing death of wolves, killed by their prey and disputes between packs. Pup survival also appears to be just fair this year with the Sloughs losing 12 of 15 pups, the Agates went from 8 pups to just 3, and perhaps the Druids down to two, although heavy timber makes counting them a problem. It's hard to say about the huge Leopold Pack and all of their pups. 19 Leopold pups were still alive at the end of July, but since then the entire pack has been in heavy timber. They can't be seen at all, although all radio collars are present. The Swan Lake Pack is in real trouble after its alpha female and its other female were killed by elk. The pack was already diminished because it split last winter, with the splinter leaving the Park. Swan Lake had two pups this year, but the pups are probably dead unless the remaining wolves, all males, care for them. The remaining wolves have not been located.

A Nez Perce Pack wolf was just recovered -- 484M. He was either killed by an elk, bear, another wolf, or by intended prey. Most of these carcasses are usually so decomposed the exact cause of death can't be determined.

Packs with no pups or no surviving pups in YNP, that had pups in 2004-
Swan Lake?
Mollies

Packs that have disappeared or left YNP since 2004-
Geode
Specimen Ridge?
Biscuit Basin (moved outside YNP)
Chief Joseph (moved outside YNP)

Parvo-virus killed many YNP pups in 1999. As a result the Park wolf population did not increase that year. However, I was told by Doug Smith this year's losses are probably too late in the season to blame on parvo. Parvo strikes at the end of weaning.

Other about Yellowstone. The grass is thick in many parts of Yellowstone this year, despite a record number of almost 5000 bison. The rains of May and June did much to promote the growth of thick, protein rich grass and forbs, although obvious effects of the drought linger at elevations below 7000 feet, in low stream flows, and bare ridgetops. One good springtime must be followed up if drought recovery is to take place. With the drought gone, it should also be easier to disentangle the effects of wolves, bears, cougars, etc. on the Park's ungulates.

The Slough Creek Pack was easy to see in the Lamar Valley. I want to thank the many who lent me a look through their scopes. I saw 5 of them for an extended period of time, and the more dedicated wolf watchers saw eleven. They were all over the valley from the lower end of the Lamar, Jasper Bench, the base of Specimen Ridge and even up Soda Butte Creek at the top of Round Prairie. No one saw other wolves.

I searched in vain for wolves in the Hayden Valley. There are still both deer and elk around to feed the wolves, but the vast herds of bison and the traffic jams they cause are the most impressive sight, but they also make rising early to look for other wildlife a necessity. On my solo hike to Clear Lake (which surely isn't a clear body of water), I found some wolf scat prior to reaching this lake with an odd, kind of spooky, unnamed thermal area.

Montana GYE-

Yellowstone Park is a small part of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

Yellowstone Park itself is mostly in Wyoming, but a fair amount of its wolf population uses in the small Montana portion of the national park in the Park's northern range.

Carolyn Sime, wolf conservation and management coordinator for the state of Montana, contacted me about developments in the Montana wolf population inside the GYE in Montana, but outside YNP.

The wolf population in Montana GYE took a plunge last year due to a lot of manage coupled with government control of wolves that killed livestock.

She said that so far this year it looks like the Montana GYE wolf population will perhaps be about stable, but more likely down some more.

The big problem remains mange. Seven of the Montana GYE wolf packs are infected with the mite that causes mange. This includes the Mill Creek Pack, the only wolf pack left in Paradise Valley; the Chief Joseph Pack, which used to be a Yellowstone Park pack, but has mostly moved north of the Park, the Mission Creek Pack*, east of Livingston; the Moccasin Pack near the north end of the Absaroka/Beartooth Wilderness; the new Wedge Pack in the southern end of the Madison Range and Madison Valley (such as west of Earthquake Lake). Mange also includes another new pack in the Madison Valley.

Despite its problems, it appears that the Chief Joseph Pack, which dates clear back to 1996, appears to have pups this year.

Significantly, the long-standing Freezeout wolf pack in the Gravelly Range vicinity seems to be mange free.

Because mange is most deadly in cold winters, I speculate that a hard winter could wipe out most of the wolves in the Montana portion of the GYE (that's my hypothesis. Sime did not say that). She did say the dispersal of wolves from Yellowstone Park northward seems to have decreased, although because many dispersers lack radio collars it takes time to confirm things like this.**

Presently, there are two known wolves just north of YNP. A female wolf from the Park's extinct Geode Pack is in the Bear Creek area (Gardiner/Jardine). Another wolf is in the Donahue Creek area at the southern end of the Paradise Valley and surrounding foothills of the Gallatin Range.

Sime did say the number of wolves in SW Montana, outside of the GYE is up. That will be the subject of a future article.

Update 8-26: I talked with Val Asher of TESF. She said the Chief Joseph Pack's den has been found. The pups are long gone, hard to say how many there were. That pack, like all of the rest (except Freezeout) has mange and the only wolf with a collar in the pack isn't in the pack anyone. He has dispersed -- last located in the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin.

And Ed Bangs reports that "On the 16th and 18th, Asher and Ross [MFWP] caught 2 wolves from the Freezeout pack between the Gravelly and Snowcrest ranges N of Red Rocks Lake in SW MT. The male pup 48lbs, was fitted with a padded radio-collar so it could grow into it, but slipped off within 2 days. A 2 year-old male was fitted with a GPS collar for a MFWP wolf/ungulate study."

And, from Bangs, "On the 25th, Ross [MFWP] euthanized [shot from ground] the alpha female of an unnamed uncollared newly formed pack in the Madison Valley near Indian Creek [Cameron]. She was missing 90% of her hair with it only remaining on her ears & parts of her neck and shoulders. He had been following the wolves closely for the past few days to determine the severity of their mange infestation and to trap and get a radio in the pack. Earlier this summer he euthanized a mange infested pup from the same pack. Up to 6 pups were initially reported but only one very small [est. 20-25lbs] mangy pup was seen with her recently. It has not seen the past few days. They were holed up under a old abandoned homestead building. The alpha male appears to be in good shape and will be collared, if captured.

From Asher, there is a new pack in the Taylor Fork of the Gallatin area too -- the Deadhorse Pack.

I note that the county commissioners are yelling how they want more wolves collared. It's not easy to collar a wolf, especially in the summer. Some outdoor savvy, wildlife biologists like Asher can do it, but maybe she should teach the county commissioners how to if they want it done. They could start with a nice mangy one so they could get a real feel for the job they are asking people to do.

8-26-5. Counties try for consensus on wolves. By Scott McMillion. Bozeman Chronicle Staff Writer.

* Regarding this mangy pack USFWS recently wrote: "[John] Trapp (MFWP) reported that a radioed Mission Creek wolf with severe mange was again seen at close range and photographed by several people south of Big Timber, MT. It will be euthanized if it continues to act listless and observed by people at close range (60m). All 4 wolves in the Mission Creek pack’s old territory appear to have mange, three severely. On the 16th, Trapp saw a mangy uncollared wolf, with a crippled front right foot. He set a few traps near a dead domestic bison (not a wolf kill) on a local ranch that had wolf tracks around it but the wolves didn't return. On the 17th, he heard a chorus howl (at least 3). Telemetry confirmed that the two radio-collared animals (457 & 352) were there and he saw 3 wolves. One of the three he saw showed almost no sign of mange and none were limping. Although the Mission Creek wolves have mange, they seem to be operating as a pack, at least some of the time, and despite scratching a lot they seem to be displaying normal behavior and are generally fearful of humans. There is no indication of pups. MFWP [Montana, Fish Wildlife and Parks Dept] will monitor these wolves and respond if necessary."

I should add that the severity of manage in individual wolves seems to wax and wane, with some wolves eventually shaking it off, perhaps permanently. . . rm

** Note: according to Steve Nadeau, IDFG large carnivore program coordinator, mange has not been confirmed in any Idaho wolf, although it is possibly present in the Soldier Mountain Pack.