BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Defying federal authority over gray wolves, Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Wednesday encouraged ranchers to kill wolves that prey on their livestock — even in areas where that is not currently allowed — and said the state will start shooting packs that hurt elk herds. Schweitzer told The Associated Press he no longer would wait for federal officials to resolve the tangle of lawsuits over wolves, which has kept the animals on the endangered species list for a decade since recovery goals were first met. "We will take action in Montana on our own,'' he said. "We've had it with Washington, D.C., with Congress just yipping about it, with (the Department of) Interior just vacillating about it.'' State wildlife agents and ranchers already kill wolves regularly across much of the Northern Rockies, where 1,700 of the animals roam parts of five states. Rules against killing wolves have been relaxed significantly by federal officials over the past decade but hunting remains prohibited. Livestock owners in southern Montana and Idaho have authority to defend their property by shooting wolves that attack their cattle, sheep or other domestic animals. And federal agents regularly kill problem wolves, with more than 1,000 shot over the past decade. But Schweitzer is moving to expand those killings beyond what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has so far allowed, including to parts of Montana where ranchers are not allowed to shoot the predators. Fish and Wildlife spokesman Chris Tollefson said the agency was working with Montana and other states in the region to address their concerns over the wolf population. "We've been in negotiations with Montana and the other states for some time, and we're committed to continuing that and trying to find a solution that works for everybody,'' he said. In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar provided by Schweitzer's office, the Democratic governor said state game wardens will be directed to stop investigating wolf shootings north of Interstate 90, the part of the state with the strictest protections for the animals. That follows a similar show of defiance from Idaho's Republican governor, C.L. "Butch'' Otter. Otter said in the fall that Idaho Fish and Game agents would no longer participate in wolf management efforts, including shooting investigations. The move forced federal officials to step in to enforce restrictions on killing the animals. Federal enforcement of laws against killing protected wolves also would be expected in Montana. But critics of federal wolf policies appeared emboldened by the governor's Wednesday statements. Robert Fanning, who heads a group that advocates protecting elk herds around Yellowstone National Park from wolves, sent out an e-mail urging Montana residents to ``lock and load and saddle up while there is still snow on the ground.'' In the Bitterroot Valley south of Missoula, Schweitzer directed Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to begin removing wolf packs blamed for driving down elk populations. The state has a pending petition before the Fish and Wildlife Service to remove a dozen wolves in the Bitterroot. A decision on that petition is pending, according to federal officials. But Schweitzer indicated Wednesday he was not going to wait, and would leave it to state wildlife agents to decide when to kill the wolves. He was less adamant in the letter to Salazar, which said the Bitterroot packs would be killed "to the extent allowed by the Endangered Species Act.'' Department of Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff said the agency agreed there was an "urgent need'' to turn over wolf management to states that have acceptable management plans for the animals. "But the governor's letter is not the answer,'' she added. Federal wildlife officials have tried twice in the last four years to lift endangered protections for wolves and turn over management to the states. Both attempts were reversed in federal court. A provision in a budget bill pending before Congress would revoke endangered species status for wolves in Montana and Idaho. Other measures introduced by lawmakers would lift federal protections across the lower 48 states. Despite the bitter public divide on the issue, attacks on livestock by other, unprotected predators such as coyotes far exceed damage from wolves, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. But the lack of state control over wolves because of their endangered status has frustrated both livestock owners and elk hunters, who complain that their hands are tied by federal protections. "This is a real-life problem in Montana — and we plan to start solving the problem,'' Schweitzer said.

  Angered Sportsmen To Gather By Toby Bridges       Sponsored by: Lobo Watch Many Montana, Idaho and Wyoming residents who have been adversely affected or threatened by an ever growing wolf population in the Northern Rockies have come to the realization that this issue will never be resolved by the presiding judge of the U.S. District Court in Missoula, MT. Any time that Judge Donald Molloy schedules a court session to hear arguments from staunch environmental groups wanting more protection for wolves, and thousands of more wolves on the landscape, sportsmen and those residents who have come to appreciate a rich wildlife heritage in this region of the country know they are about to lose – again. And this has angered many who have grown tired of watching wildlife populations being destroyed by an ever greater number of wolves. So much so, that a huge crowd of protesters is expected to gather outside and around the federal courthouse, at the corner of East Broadway and North Patte streets, during an upcoming hearing when Molloy listens to arguments from environmental groups about why the meaning of the “non-essential” and “experimental” classification of the Canadian wolves should be changed or eliminated. Sportsmen and livestock producers know that such change will make it even harder to gain control of a wolf population in the Northern Rockies, which many feel now exceeds 4,000 – not the 1,700 claimed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the environmental groups. All parties involved are to submit briefs by February 22, with the expected court date to be in March. (Watch for the date and time on LOBO WATCH.) The continued growth of the wolf population in the Northern Rockies is the result of management, or control, being withheld from state wildlife agencies. That management, as outlined in the original Northern Rockies Wolf Recovery Plan and the 1994 Environmental Impact Statement filed by the USFWS, was to have been turned over to those agencies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming when the numbers reached 300 – with at least 100 wolves and 10 breeding packs in each state. That goal was reached 10 years ago, and other than one 2009 wolf hunting season held in Montana and Idaho, no other such management has taken place. And those who have been hardest hit by escalated wolf depredation have grown weary of the legal foot dragging, and those responsible. The wolf kill remains of the family dog. At the heart of the problem has repeatedly been U.S. District Court judge Donald Molloy. During a 2010 hearing, Molloy listened to arguments from the same environmental groups he will receive briefs from by February 22, as to why a scheduled wolf control/management hunt for that fall was too premature, and why wolves should once again be relisted under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. After nearly two months of deliberation, he ruled that wolves would be put back on the Endangered Species List, and the hunts scheduled for Montana and Idaho were canceled. Molloy’s court has not recognized Wyoming’s wolf management plan as being adequate, and had already ruled that a management hunt could not be conducted in that state during the fall and winter of 2009. Likewise, the state was also excluded from the possibility of a hunt in 2010. Ironically, the USFWS had helped the State of Wyoming draft their management plan, and USFWS had given it their seal of approval. However, when Judge Molloy criticized Wyoming for not allowing wolves to run statewide, USFWS then rejected the state’s plan. And Molloy’s 2010 decision was based purely on the backpedaling by USFWS – for which Molloy was largely responsible. This is not the small gray or timber wolf the environmentalists have encouraged. His decision was that since Northern Rockies wolves are recognized by that same flip-flopping USFWS as a “Distinct Population Segment”, the 2010 hunts scheduled in Montana and Idaho could not be held. It was his decision that until the Wyoming wolf management plan was changed to become more like the plans adopted by Montana and Idaho, it was wrong to allow the hunts in the other two states. And this really puzzled sportsmen who have had to deal with micro-managed wildlife populations for most of the past 50 years. Molloy’s ruling denied the opportunity to reduce wolf numbers in the other two states, where wolves were wiping out big game populations, and were turning more and more to livestock depredation. Despite the fact that intense management was needed in Montana and Idaho, Donald Molloy once again ruled in favor of pro-wolf environmentalists. Several months after that decision, another federal judge, Alan Johnson, in Cheyenne, WY made the decision that USFWS had been wrong to reject the Wyoming wolf management plan. Although that plan called for managing wolves in just the northwestern corner of the state, in only about 12-percent of the state, in and around Yellowstone National Park, there were right at 350 wolves there – which is 3 1/2 times as many as outlined in the original plan. When first outlined, environmental groups like the Defenders of Wildlife accepted the recovery numbers of 100 wolves per state, but have repeatedly taken the issue back to Molloy’s court to get the goal line moved farther and farther ahead.   This moose was, perhaps, fortunate to have survived a wolf attack. This is not a problem in just the Northern Rockies. The same has taken place in the Upper Midwest, where 6,000 or more wolves now roam across Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan. And gray wolves are now being found in Washington, Oregon, Utah and Colorado, with lone wolves being killed in the Dakotas, Missouri and Nebraska. If the Center for Biological Diversity has its way, this spreading is just the beginning. This radical environmental group has stated their goal is to see wolves restored all across this country, from coast to coast, running by the tens of thousands. This is one of the organizations which will be represented by Earthjustice during Molloy’s upcoming hearing. And many of those who will be protesting outside of the courthouse that day will know that should this overly environmental organization friendly judge dramatically change or eliminate the “non-essential” or “experimental” classification of the non-native and non-endangered Canadian wolves transplanted into the Northern Rockies, it will make it tougher to control the wildlife and livestock damage inflicted by wolves – and possibly to halt their spread into every state of the Continental U.S.   That fear has resulted in proposed national legislation to get wolves removed from the Endangered Species List, and the right to manage wolf numbers returned to the wildlife agencies of each and every state. Although two bills that were drafted in the Senate and the House of Representatives failed to make it onto the floor in 2010, they have since been revamped into Senate bill S.249 and House resolution H.R.509 for 2011 – and both seek the right of affected states to manage or control wolf populations and the damage wolves inflict. While sportsmen and livestock producers are sure to support these bills, environmental groups are just as sure to fight them tooth and nail. Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife, has commented, “These bills would sacrifice wildlife belonging to all Americans just because a small minority of people don’t like wolves.” The sportsmen of this country, who have been the ones to actually foot the bill for wildlife conservation for the past hundred years, not environmental groups like Defenders of Wildlife or the Center for Biological Diversity, say the exact same thing about radical pro-wolf and extremely anti-hunting environmentalists. U.S. hunters feel these groups are willing to sacrifice a wealth of elk, deer, moose, pronghorn, bighorn sheep, mountain goats and other wildlife just to pull game numbers so low that populations can no longer support hunter harvest. At a January press conference, David Allen, the c.e.o. and president of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation shared that the goal of this legislation is not to wipe out wolf populations, but rather to control wolf numbers at an acceptable level – a level that does not result in the dramatic loss of other wildlife resources. He also stated that the efforts of the environmental groups has nothing to do with saving wildlife, but rather to support their anti-hunting agenda, and to abuse the Equal Access to Justice Act which has become a very lucrative cash cow for these groups. Ryan Benson, national director for Big Game Forever says, “It is time to put aside the divisive politics that are used against any group who petitions for the promises of the ESA to be fulfilled. Not only does such divisive rhetoric ignore the investment of states, sportsmen and livestock producers in wolf recovery, it is also counterproductive to a constructive dialog of the need of wolf populations to be managed responsibly.” Those sportsmen and ranchers who will be marching outside of Missoula’s federal courthouse when the wolf issue sees yet another day in court have had their fill of demanding environmental groups, and feel that the outdoor lifestyle they have chosen and love is now becoming what is truly endangered. They are now ready and willing to fight back. For More go to:  LOBO WATCH http://www.lobowatch.com/

The state Department of Natural Resources says wolves are causing more problems for Wisconsinites. MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The state Department of Natural Resources says wolves are causing more problems for Wisconsinites. A new report says wolves attacked animals on 47 farms last year compared to 28 farms in 2009. Twelve of those attacks were in Douglas County with 16 other northern Wisconsin counties reporting problems. Wolves killed 34 dogs, 47 calves, 16 cows and six sheep in 2010. The DNR estimates the wolves cost farms a total of $114,000. The agency's wolf expert, Adrian Wydeven, tells the Duluth News Tribune that the increase in attacks is because wolves are moving into new areas and because state officials have few options to kill wolves, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Alligator Population Making Comeback in Georgia   Decades of monitoring and eight seasons of tightly controlled recreational hunting have brought Georgia's once imperiled alligator population to a sustainable balance, according to a new statewide management plan. by Rob Pavey, The Augusta Chronicle AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Decades of monitoring and eight seasons of tightly controlled recreational hunting have brought Georgia's once imperiled alligator population to a sustainable balance, according to a new statewide management plan. "At this point in time we're pretty much where we want to be,'' said John Bowers, the assistant game management chief for Georgia's Wildlife Resources Division. The state's alligator population is estimated at about 222,000 — a number that should remain fairly constant and still allow limited-quota hunts, which have spiraled in popularity since their inception in 2003. "Even prior to initiating the hunting season, we had been monitoring and surveying the alligator population for decades,'' Bowers said. "When we started the hunting seasons, we took a very conservative approach, and we've continued our monitoring throughout the time we've had the hunting seasons.'' There are now 850 alligator tags available to hunters each year, allocated through a lottery drawing. "That 850 is our quota,'' Bowers said. "It may sound high, but our goal is not to have 850 harvested every year. Rather, the quota is set based on what we've seen relative to success rates in previous seasons.'' Typically, fewer than half the permits result in an alligator being harvested. "Our quota system takes into account that a large percentage of hunters will be unsuccessful,'' he said. "We have a general target of 300 alligators annually, and we hit that mark this past season.'' Although permit numbers have risen only slightly, the number of applicants seeking a gator tag has risen dramatically — from 2,560 in 2003 to 6,522 last year. According to the new management plan, the density of alligators is as high as it has ever been — almost seven per mile — based on traditional "spotlight surveys'' that have been used to estimate population trends. Bowers cautioned that such counting can also be influenced by drought, floods and weather, however. The management plan calls for continuing the use of zones in which specific portions of the state can be evaluated for the anticipated harvest needs and the number of permits can be adjusted when necessary. Wildlife authorities also designed the management plan to reduce nuisance alligator situations that can cause conflicts. Before 1900, alligator populations were abundant across the southeastern U.S., including the coastal plain of Georgia. However, unregulated harvests and poaching reduced their numbers, and a low point was reached in Georgia in the 1960s, when the species was listed as federally endangered.