Earlier this year, we saw continued progress for Yellowstone wolves in Montana with incremental, yet critically important changes to state policies. Yet, wolf conservation is undoubtedly riddled with challenges. Recent reports indicate five wolves were killed in WMU 313 just north of Yellowstone, despite this season’s three-wolf quota. GYC and our partners advocated for and secured a solution that we hoped would prevent this level of pack disruption, and unfortunately that was not the case. GYC is committed to building consensus for durable solutions that protect Yellowstone wolves. 

On August 16, 2024, the Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted for incremental, yet critically important changes to state policies aimed at improving conditions for Yellowstone wolves and the people that depend on them. These changes will reduce the risk that entire Yellowstone packs can be killed just across the park boundary and ban the use of motion tracking devices (e.g., telemetry) as hunting practices that could provide an unfair advantage to wolf hunters.

On Friday, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found a petition by some conservation groups to add Northern Rockies wolves back to the Endangered Species Act was not necessary, identified Western States wolves as a distinct population, and committed to initiating a process to develop a new national recovery plan for wolves.

Buckle up! It’s going to be a big year for GYC and the lands, waters, and wildlife of Greater Yellowstone.

In October 2023, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) released a draft Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan (wolf plan) and accompanying draft Environmental Impact Statement (draft EIS), which are currently open for public comment.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is gearing up to create an Environmental Impact Statement to support the upcoming revision of the agency’s 2003 Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan. 

Six new wildlife bills are making their way through the Montana State Legislature. Read on to learn about their implications for wildlife, GYC’s position on each bill, and the current status of the legislation.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission reinstates wolf hunting and trapping quotas north of Yellowstone for the 2022-2023 hunting season.

Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission is accepting public comments from Montanans on their proposed wolf management strategy for next year.

The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission votes to close wolf hunting and trapping in Region 3 of Southwest Montana for the remainder of the season once 82 wolves have been harvested from the area.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Yellowstone wolf reintroduction, we had the opportunity to chat with Mike Phillips about that day in 1995 and the effect that wolves have had on the ecosystem as a whole. Mike Phillips has been a restoration ecologist since 1986 and led the historic effort to restore red wolves and served as the first leader of the Yellowstone wolf restoration project.

Yellowstone’s wolf packs are iconic. Their reintroduction into the world’s first national park in 1995 is considered one of America’s best conservation success stories. Yellowstone National Park continues to be one of the best places in the world for studying wild wolves. I had the wonderful opportunity to learn about wolves and their behavior with our friend, Yellowstone Wolf Project Research Associate Kira Cassidy.