Northern Rockies Wolves: In the Field

Yellowstone Area Wolves Protected Again!


September 17, 2008 - The US Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is rescinding the rules that removed Endangered Species Act protections for wolves.

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My Yellowstone Wolves

The next few years will be critical to securing the fate of wolves in the Northern Rockies and the surrounding states. Defenders’ goal is to reduce the number of wolves and livestock killed in this region due to lethal control actions by government agencies. To achieve this goal, we:
  • provide assistance and incentives to ranchers and farmers to adopt wolf-friendly animal husbandry methods;
  • work collaboratively with ranchers to demonstrate that these nonlethal methods are effective;
  • provide strong oversight of state and federal activities aimed at resolving wolf-livestock conflicts, and apply pressure on agencies to use nonlethal control methods.
  • educate ranchers, the media, and the public about the long-term benefits of nonlethal wolf management;
  • provide compensation to ranchers for livestock lost to wolves through our Bailey Wildlife Foundation Wolf Compensation Trust.

Defenders established The Bailey Wildlife Foundation Proactive Carnivore Conservation Fund  to help advance nonlethal wolf control through on-the-ground projects. This fund supports ranchers and wildlife managers in using livestock guarding dogs, fladry (flagging), fencing, livestock relocation, range riders to patrol grazing lands, and other innovative tools to prevent wolf-livestock conflicts. These are practical, science-based methods that have proven highly effective.

For example, Defenders is co-sponsoring a range rider project at The Lazy EL, a 12,000 acre ranch located 35 miles northwest of Yellowstone National Park. In Idaho, local ranches partnering with Defenders and wildlife agencies to expand their use of non-lethal wolf control measures experienced no wolf-related livestock losses in 2006 (read press release).

Such success stories have caused many ranchers to change their opinions about nonlethal methods, and their perception of living with wolves. For example, rancher Lane Adamson, of Ennis, Montana, expressed the following support:

"The collaborative process works and can help those with divergent opinions resolve misunderstandings without damaging the value of one another as human beings...The direction we are pursuing now regarding living with wolves is a great place to start this effort."

Read Northern Rockies Wolf Reports from the Field for May 23, 2006 and August 24, 2004 to learn more about our proactive efforts to protect wolves and livestock.