Letter: View on wolf population statistics

Dear Editor:

Activists who oppose common-sense management of wolf populations are misusing statistics from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to support their own agenda. We will not let it go unchallenged.

Defenders of Wildlife, Western Wildlife Conservancy, Endangered Species Coalition and others would have you believe that restored wolf populations are somehow translating to growing elk herds. That is, of course, far from accurate.

Our population data, which come from state wildlife agencies, show that elk populations are expanding the most in areas of the northern Rockies where wolves are not present. However, where elk share habitat with wolves, such as the Yellowstone area, some elk populations are declining fast.

In fact, since the mid-1990s introduction of gray wolves, the northern Yellowstone elk herd has dropped from about 17,000 to 7,100 animals – a 58-percent decline. Other localities in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming also are documenting precipitous downward trends.

Additionally, some research shows that the elk remaining in areas of concentrated wolf populations are suffering nutrition loss, lower body weights and decreasing birth rates.

An unemotional, rounded view of the research is why we strongly support state-regulated wolf management via hunting and other viable methods. Last year we got involved in the ongoing litigation over wolves, filing legal briefs used in federal court to delist wolves and allow hunting to help control local wolf populations.

Groups who oppose wolf management ignore these facts, by design.

David Allen

President and CEO

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation