The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) released it's numbers for the gray wolf in the Northern Rocky Mountains late this week and populations remain steady despite increased efforts in Montana and Idaho at population reductions.
The most recent data available (end of 2013) indicate that the NRM wolf population contains at least 1,691 wolves, at least 320 packs, and at least 78 breeding pairs. This population has exceeded its recovery goals since 2002. By every biological measure the NRM wolf population is recovered and remains secure under State management.
FWS statement
Above 2013 known existing packs
More fact based non hysterical content below the squiggles.
Quoted in an AP story out of Billings, Mike Jiminez, the federal wolf recovery coordinator for the Rockies and a biologist FWS said, "The population is very secure, but it doesn't remove the controversy."
In other words, the wolf populations have no problem with endangerment, the problem is with people who want more, or less, or more to the point, no wolves, or no management. Of the four types I'd say most people fall into either the "less" or the "no management" category. Scientifically, and according to the agreement which all parties signed on to at reintroduction things are going pretty much according to that universally agreed upon plan, except for the delays of delisting.
Leopold wrote in regards to predator management something to the extent of "total eradication is advocated by some hunters and some farmers and total lack of management is advocated by some naturalists (environmentalists), neither prospect is biologically sound. (it's on the first page of his chapter on predator management) My take on that, extremists are the nutters.
Another point in the FWS news release is the size of the entire wolf population.
These wolves represent a 400-mile southern range extension of a vast contiguous wolf population that numbers over 12,000 wolves in western Canada and about 65,000 wolves across all of Canada and Alaska.
These 1,700+ wolves are part of a
65,000 wolf population. We are not about to run out of wolves. For the time being we actually have more wolves than the people in the affected states want and more than the federal FWS expects them to end up with. Remember, the 1,691 minimum population count is using the most stringent conservative counting methods, a very expensive and exacting way to count. Montana, looking towards the day of reduced federal oversight is
researching less expensive and more exact methods of counting all wolves and packs.
The FWS figures eventually the Northern Rockies will have about a thousand wolves minimum. State officials would probably like to see less but for the time being they are having difficulty achieving any reductions. I think Montana and Idaho have a couple of years to go to reach a five year benchmark to further reduce federal oversight, Wyoming probably one more than that.
Where to from here? Hard to say. That depends on if you are interested in wolves or controversy. Wolf watchers are almost entirely computer based, meaning they look at photos or videos on their computer screens. Kind of like how you are reading this article. Mostly they are looking at photos of captive populations via photos, populations of six or sixty or sixty thousand do not affect them. People who actively watch wolves via their SUV and a spotting scope are also unaffected. There is no wolf population control in Yellowstone National Park where such activities take place with habituated wolves.
For biologists, hunters, ranchers, and wildlife managers, wolf control via helicopter time is expensive. Adjustments upwards have been made to bag limits, especially for trappers. There have been some attempts at co ops to reimburse hunters/trappers for expenses in lieu of actual bounties. Also they've paid state biologists to trap.
For controversy, donate to your organisation of choice, there are many.