On August 20, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted to kill even more wolves in even more horrible ways. It’s easy to feel angry at the commissioners for this. But their vote is just one more attack in Montana’s all out war on wolves. There are plenty of other people, politicians, and agencies to blame. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.
The Montana House of Representatives and Senate
With Republicans controlling both houses, passage of anti-wildlife bills that once failed now succeed along party lines. Early this year the legislators required that the state’s wolf population be decreased and that new means of killing be used.
To meet that goal, they passed bills to have hundreds of wolves slaughtered in an assortment of nasty ways. They passed a bill allowing baiting and killing wolves at night. They passed a bill that would allow the use of snares as well as traps. They passed a bill that extends the wolf hunting season. They even passed a bounty bill that would reimburse hunters and trappers for expenses incurred while killing wolves.
Two key players behind this bloodthirsty legislation are state representative Paul Fielder and state senator Bob Brown, both Republicans and both from Thompson Falls.
The Governor
Of course, once these bills passed the House and Senate, they had to be signed into law by our governor. For the last eight years, Montana had a Democratic governor, Steve Bullock, and his presence helped stop a number of anti-wildlife bills. But those days are long gone.
In January, our new governor, Republican Greg Gianforte, took office. Later in the year, he signed every anti-wildlife bill that crossed his desk. There was no question he would; his previous actions had spoken louder than his signature.
In February, the month after he was sworn in, Gianforte violated state hunting regulations when he trapped and shot a radio-collared Yellowstone wolf, known as 1155M, just ten miles north of Yellowstone. He killed 1155M on a ranch owned by Robert E. Smith, director of the conservative Sinclair Broadcasting Group and a contributor to Gianforte’s 2017 congressional campaign, according to a Boise State Public Radio report.
Gianforte violated Montana regulations by trapping 1155M without first completing a state-mandated wolf trapping certification course. Legally, he couldn’t even set a trap before attending that course. Ginaforte claimed he forgot to attend.
John Sullivan, Montana chapter chair of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, told a public radio reporter that Gianforte should've known about the certification requirements. "He has been hunting and trapping for a long time and I would be surprised to learn that he didn't know better than to complete that education," Sullivan said. "It's difficult to fathom accidentally not taking that class," he added. "When you go to buy your wolf trapping license online it clearly states that trapper education is required.”
Violating this state regulation could have resulted in a fine of $50 to $500, the suspension of active hunting licenses, and a ban from hunting. But instead, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) slapped his wrist with a written warning. The governor, by the way, oversees FWP.
Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks
Speaking of FWP, they carry out various missions in this war against wolves. FWP accepted public comments on the proposed deadly changes to Montana’s wolf hunting and trapping regulations. The comments were reviewed before the August 20 Fish and Wildlife Commission hearing.
FWP said 25,000 public comments were received. About 19,000 of them were form letters that opposed the killing of wolves. The Helena Independent Record reported that about 90% of the non-form-letter comments also opposed killing wolves or expressed ethical or conflict concerns. About 1,000 comments could be identified as submitted from Montana, and those were about evenly split between support and opposition, according to FWP analysis.
Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission
This brings us to the meeting on August 20 when the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission would determine exactly how wolves would be killed so as to meet the legislature’s mandated decrease in the state’s wolf population.
The five-member Commission is appointed by the Governor from five geographical districts and serve four-year terms. The appointments are supposed to be made without regard to political affiliation and to be made solely for the wise management of the state’s fish and wildlife. At least one member must be experienced in the breeding and management of domestic livestock.
Gianforte wasted no time in nominating members of the Commission. Ten days after he was sworn in he announced three nominees. In April he announced a fourth.
The Five Commissioners
The Billings Gazette reported on the backgrounds of Gianforte’s first three commissioners.
Patrick Tabor from Whitefish is the owner and founder of Swan Mountain Outfitters. Tabor’s business group includes guest ranching, snowmobiling and consulting. (I googled Swan Mountain Outfitters and found they offer guided trips with horseback riding, fishing, and big game hunting. Tabor is the vice-chair of the Fish and Wildlife Commission.)
Brian Cebull of Billings is owner and president of Nance Resources, Inc., a private oil and gas exploration and production company. He also owns the 20,000 acre Grove Creek Ranch. He fills the slot as the commissioner with experience in breeding and managing domestic livestock. An avid hunter and Montana native, Cebull is on the board of directors for the Montana Chapter of Safari Club International. (A google search for Grove Creek Ranch led me to a PDF of Cebull’s testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives committee. He testified against protecting grizzly bears and sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act. He testified that the ESA is outdated and broken.)
K.C. Walsh of Martinsdale is executive chairman of Simms Fishing Products near Bozeman. The company has actively promoted conservation. Walsh editorialized against permitting a new copper mine on the headwaters of the Smith River. He is also vice-chair of the board of directors for the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the nation’s largest private conservation grant-maker.
Gianforte later nominated Lesley Robinson. She is now the chair of the commission. Robinson is a fourth generation Phillips County rancher and was elected this past fall to serve as the second vice president of Montana Stock Growers Association. She runs a commercial cattle operation. (I googled Lesley Robinson and was reminded that she was a 2016 Republican candidate for lieutenant governor of Montana. Her running mate: Greg Gianforte for governor.)
The fifth member of the commission is Pat Byorth. Since he was nominated by Governor Bullock in 2019, he is the only member with experience as a fish and wildlife commissioner. He is also the only scientist, a former Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks fisheries biologist. Byorth was also director of Trout Unlimited’s Montana Water Project.
The Vote
On Friday, August 20, the commission voted 3 - 2 to put into effect new wolf-killing measures that include neck snaring and trap baiting statewide, and night hunting on private land.
Voting in support: Tabor, the big game outfitter; Cebull, the board member for Safari Club International; and Robinson, the VP of Montana Stock Growers Association.
Voting against: Walsh, whose company promotes conservation; and Byorth, the only biologist and member with experience as a commissioner.
“My largest concern is that we are selling our souls and our fair chase,” said Byorth. “There’s no reason to night hunt. There’s no reason to use bait,” he added.
The Opposition
Byorth wasn’t alone in his concerns. Many people and organizations attended the hearing to oppose the new wolf-killing measures. In fact, more people spoke against the measures than spoke for them. This is similar to the overwhelming number of people who submitted comments to FWP asking to not kill more wolves. But in both cases the outcome was the same: the minority ruled.
One of the opponents was Marc Cooke, a wolf advocate and president of Wolves of the Rockies. “This is a declaration of a war on wolves,” said Cooke. “Make no mistake about it, it’s going to decimate wolves in Montana.”
And more of those dead wolves will be ones that live in Yellowstone most of the year but leave the park (as 1155M did) in search of elk, a mate, or new territory. Those wolves have been protected by a special quota that limited the killing to only one wolf in each of the two wolf hunting districts adjacent to Yellowstone during hunting season. Getting that quota into place and keeping it there was a hard fought and long standing battle by a number of conservation organizations. The Fish and Wildlife Commission removed that quota on August 20.
Wolves of the Rockies and several other groups have notified Montana of their intent to sue over the state's expanded wolf trapping. The groups contend that traps set for wolves endanger grizzly bears and lynx, animals that are federally protected under the ESA.
There is still reason to hope that similar federal protection can be returned to wolves across the Lower 48 by the Biden administration. While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently announced it would uphold the Trump administration's decision to remove federal protection for wolves, that is not the end of this battle. That is just one response by the USFWS in a continuing legal battle. This relisting issue will be decided by a court of law eventually if the administration does not relist wolves first.
The courts are the last remaining front on which to fight for wolves in Montana. With a Republican controlled House and Senate, a Republican Governor, and a Fish and Wildlife Commission packed with Gianforte’s ex-running mate, a big game outfitter, and a man who believes the ESA is broken, there is little chance to stop or even reign in Montana’s legislative war against wolves.
We’ll see what happens in the courts.
Action you can take:
Donate to the organizations with intent to sue Montana over expanding wolf trapping: Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Clearwater, Humane Society of the United States, International Wildlife Coexistence Network, Sierra Club, Western Watersheds Project, Wilderness Watch, and Wolves of the Rockies. Legal action is expensive. You can help by donating to these organizations.
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