Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Wolf problems Alberta's Eastern Slopes

Elk predation on Albertas Eastern slopes are out of control. Elk populations are at an all time low due to the wolves.
http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=3698

Wait a minute, there has always been wolves in and around Banff and Jasper. Why have they all of a suddenly become a problem? Have they changed the wolf harvest? Harsh winters? Drought summers?

Secondly, have they estimated the number of elk in the area based on the aerial counts? Actual counts are generally used as a starting point.

Casey

Casey,
Seems Alberta is struggling with how much protection and in what areas to give wolves, much like western US. They seem to more actively manage wolves. I'm surprised the Canadians don't contribute to the wolf threads, as they might have more experience than the western US residents. Anyway, there is a lot of stuff on Alberta's web page, if you have not already been there.

Here's a start. Three pages.

http://www.srd.gov.ab.ca/fishwildlife/wildlifeinalberta/wolvesalberta/managementplan.aspx

And some references:
� Management Plans for Wolves in Alberta. Alberta Forestry, Lands and Wildlife, 89 pp. 1991
� Wolf Population Dynamics and Prey Relationships in Northeastern Alberta. Journal of Wildlife Management, Vol. 44, pp 583-602. 1980.
� Historical and Present Management of Wolves in Alberta. Wildlife Society Bulletin, Vol. 20, pp 330-339. 1992.
� Wolf Population Characteristics and Prey Relationships near Simonette River, Alberta. The Canadian Field-Naturalist, Vol. 103, pp 327-334. 1989.
� Evaluation of Wolf Control to Reduce Cattle Predation in Alberta. Journal of Range Management, Vol. 38, pp 483-487. 1985.
� Wolves in Alberta: a history 1800-1969. Alberta Lands, Forests, Parks, Wildlife, Vol. 12, pp 18-27. 1969.

Cool. Thanks DPole.....


Casey

Sort of off the topic, but have any of ya noticed the the feds and the state of Wyoming have reached agreement on a wolf management plan ?

And with Wyoming getting their way with the wolf getting predator status (shoot on sight) for the bulk of the state ?

I knew they had reached some tentative agreements. Have they finalized them? If wolves are given predator status in Wyoming outside of Yellowstone, we can be sure there will be another lawsuit..........

Casey

From USFWS:

WOLF DELISTING- On May 24, 2007 the Governor of Wyoming announced he had reviewed a proposed Service modification of the July 2003 Wyoming Wolf Management Plan and found "it to be a fair representation of how the contingent wolf plan I outlined to you in my May 18, 2007 letter would be incorporated into the state's regulatory framework for wolves should the bill become operative." The Service believed its modification made Wyoming's wolf management plan consistent with the 2007 wolf bill passed by the Wyoming Legislature and resolved all the issues that resulted in the Service not approving the 2003 Wyoming Plan. The Governor also stated that "it seems wholly appropriate for me to endorse these modifications as being consistent with my May 18, 2007 letter's characterization of Wyoming law- should House Bill 231 become operative. It is therefore appropriate to include this draft plan in your proposed rule to de-list gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains." The Service believes that if approved by the Wyoming Legislature this plan it will provide an adequate regulatory mechanism for wolf management in Wyoming. In addition Legislative approval would allow the more flexible 2005 experimental rule to immediately become effective in Wyoming. The Service intends to modify the NRM delisting proposal to include delisting in all of Wyoming and to re-open the public comment period later this summer. The opportunity to review and comment on the modified delisting proposal and the modified Wyoming plan will be widely publicized. The Service still intends to make a final decsion about wolf delisting in the NRM DPS by February 2008.

The state of Wyoming manages for a reduction in Wyoming's elk population in all the herds around Greater Yellowstone. In fact, the recent Bison and Elk EIS calls for further reduction of elk on the National Elk Refuge. The Wyoming elk population is currently estimated at 91,555 elk - 8,910 more elk than the state's population objective. Source: Lauren M. Whaley, "State Elk 9,000 Beyond Objective," Jackson Hole Daily News, April 7, 2006 http://www.jacksonholenet.com/news/jackson_hole_news_article.php?ArticleNum=1405.

From the Wyoming OUtdoor Council dated Apr 19, 2007:

Although the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) recently rejected Wyoming's dual status wolf management plan, USFWS is now moving ahead to remove the wolf from the endangered species list in the Northern Rocky Mountains. In this reversal of position, USFWS will now accept "dual classification" outside of the National Parks where wolves may be managed as a trophy game species in certain areas and designated predatory animals elsewhere. In addition, the state has requested funds for aerial gunning to "control" wolves.

We can hunt wolves / coyotes all year long -during hunting season and then with permission from land owners out of season except in the National Parks where there is no hunting allowed for all species. The eastern slopes and foothills border the national parks.

Around where I live, if a person stops seeing gaming or spotting fewer game for a couple of days, usuaully means the wolves are in the area. I dont think the wolves population is affecting our game up north. Our elk and deer herds are exploding. Out in the bush country where my moose camp is, we harvest a couple moose every year, and see or here the wolves-especially last season-heard the wolves evreyday. I satrted calling in a pack one evening as they were very vocal and they were close and closing in, but seems to clam up within couple hundred yards-maybe they smelt us. The moose stop calling if the wolves are running around, until the wolves move on.

My hunting buddy and I found a wolf den a few years back. Bones everywhere. Wolves were not around that season.

This is what I saw posted on AR a couple weeks back.........



CHEYENNE — The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state have reached an agreement that would allow Wyoming to be included in the process of removing wolves in the northern Rockies from protections under the Threatened and Endangered Species Act.

Gov. Dave Freudenthal announced Thursday that his office has submitted a draft wolf management plan to the federal agency, while Mitch King, regional director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver, said the plan appears to be complete.

King said the plan should allow Wyoming to be included with Montana and Idaho in the process of removing federal protections for wolves — possibly as soon as early next year.

"I'm elated. I've said all along that my preference would be to delist the entire listing population segment at once," King said. "I think we can go ahead and finish the process and get the public comment in."

Thursday's announcement marks a break in a long stalemate between Wyoming and the federal government over the delisting of wolves, which were reintroduced in the Yellowstone region in the 1990s.

The federal government is requiring Montana, Idaho and Wyoming to have plans in place for managing wolves after the animals are removed from endangered species protections.

The federal agency has already accepted wolf plans submitted by Idaho and Montana. But until now, Fish and Wildlife had not formally accepted a plan submitted by Wyoming, because that plan would have allowed wolves to be shot on sight in much of the state.

Wyoming took the federal government to court over the issue in 2004. That lawsuit remains pending even while the state enacted a new wolf management law this spring.

While the federal agency has been calling upon the state in recent months to submit a specific wolf management plan, Freudenthal has said recently that the new law stood as the clearest statement on how the state intended to manage the animals.

On Thursday, King said his agency integrated elements of the new law with the state's 2003 wolf management plan to come up with a new management plan that he presented to the state.

Freudenthal reviewed the federal proposal and wrote to King on Thursday that the federal approach is a fair representation of the state's position. Freudenthal said he's optimistic that the new plan will advance the progress of delisting Wyoming's wolves.

"I am encouraged that we have solved your demand that we submit a wolf management plan," Freudenthal said.

The law the state enacted this spring gave Freudenthal the authority to negotiate with federal officials to determine the boundaries of a permanent wolf management area in which wolves would be managed by the state as trophy game animals.

Outside the permanent management area, the new law calls for wolves to be treated as predators that could be shot on sight. Wolves would be protected in Yellowstone National Park and adjoining wilderness areas.

The proposed management plan that Freudenthal and the federal agency have agreed upon calls for accepting the federal agency's proposal for a wolf management area in northwestern Wyoming that's larger than one the state had suggested.

"I just finally had to tell the governor that from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife perspective, that boundary was the only thing that we could find acceptable," King said.

In his letter to King, Freudenthal states, "I remain unhappy with the boundary line but accept your representation that no other boundary is acceptable. Hopefully, this can be revisited in later years after delisting has proven successful."

Freudenthal also notes in his letter that several conditions in the state law that passed this spring must be satisfied before the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission can consider the adoption of the draft wolf management plan.

The new Wyoming law specifies that the law won't go into effect until the federal protections are removed for wolves in the state.

The state law also won't go into effect until the state's pending lawsuit over its original wolf management plan is resolved. Finally, the law specifies that it won't remain in effect past next February unless the federal government has given the state more control over wolves by then.

Freudenthal states in his letter to King that the preconditions "remain in effect unless modified by the Legislature."

That was the major change. I have not seen a map of the new boundary, but its my understanding that few wolves live outside the new boundary, and the plan will mainly control range expansion.

Sounds reasonable to me.

Same in NE Minnesota. Of course if those couple of days the game is gone happens to fall on opening weekend, the weekend warriors get mighty peeved, and "the wolves killed them all" spreads like wildfire.