Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials visit commissioners

SUPERIOR – A packed house greeted Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials at last week’s county commissioners meeting as many in the community were interested in what the organization plans to do regarding two contentious issues affecting Mineral County.

Randy Arnold, FWP Regional Supervisor, along with Mike Thompson, FWP Regional Wildlife Manager, and Liz Gradley, FWP Missoula Area Biologist, all visited county commissioners to let them know what they plan on doing regarding wolves in Mineral County as well as land access issues regarding a site east of Superior. The three officials responded to questions from those in the audience in addition to outlining for commissioners how they plan on addressing Mineral County concerns.

Arnold said they wanted to come to Mineral County to let the community and county decision makers know they were aware of citizen concerns and were planning on doing what they can to alleviate them in the future.

“This was an informational update for Mineral County about the wolf status and Fish Creek State Park and to respond to questions,” Arnold said. “What we wanted to emphasize today is that the Forest Service has a responsibility for managing the habitat. Fish, Wildlife and Parks is responsible for managing the wildlife. We can’t do all that independently so we’ve been very intentional in establishing relationships with the local forest services. We’ve been coordinating our efforts in Mineral County to make sure we are communicating. We need to work together on this.”

Thompson said FWP was in the process of revising the Fish Creek State Park management plan. He said FWP wanted to engage the public in the discussion about what citizens can and can’t do at the site.

“We want to get out on the ground and take a look at the issues people might have and see if there are any problems we can correct,” Thompson said. “We want to get a better understanding of things and by the end of the year, we hope to have a working draft document that people can begin reviewing. We want to build this with the community. We got some good feedback from people today.”

Gradley said she was at the meeting for two reasons. One was to provide an update about the number of wolves FWP thinks are in Mineral County as well as to get feedback from community members on their concerns regarding the animals many view as a serious problem for a wide variety of reasons.

“We want to know from the public what they are seeing and hearing out there,” Gradley said. “We are in the middle of our winter surveys. We also wanted to have a discussion about wolf management out here. People are concerned about the harvest through hunting and trapping. There are a lot of concerns about the big game herds out here. We want to work together to find some solutions.”

Gradley said, in her expert opinion, the wolf was only a part of the issues surrounding the decline in big game populations in Mineral County. While she did say wolves have played a part in the decline, the issue was more complex than simply pinning the blame for the decline on one species.

“In the bigger picture, we are talking about two main things we are concerned about,” Gradley said. “The first is predation in general and the second is habitat concerns. With predation, we need to look at the big picture. We need to manage bears, lions and wolves. Wolves are taking a piece off the top that wasn’t being taken before. Wolf predation is important but we need to be managing all the pieces to be effective. The habitat piece is also really important.”

Mineral County Commissioner Duane Simons said the FWP officials were invited by them to come and provide information to the public and decision makers. Simons said he was encouraged by the conversation.

“Over the last 10 to 15 years, since the wolf introduction, our game herds have declined and the wolf populations have increased,” Simons said. “We want them (FWP) to do everything they can to decrease the number of wolves in Mineral County. With Fish Creek, the issues are land access. If we can get those issues settled, that would be great. Firewood cutting was a big issue. People want access. That’s the number one thing. They don’t want to be locked out.”