MWGA Annual Meeting Information Session

John Stueber
State Director of Wildlife Services
Friday, December 4, 2009

John Stueber, State Director of Wildlife Services, shot the 126th annual MWGA convention off with a look at the impact of predators on Montana agriculture in federal fiscal year (FY) 2009. While the media focuses primarily on wolves, Stueber affirmed that coyotes remain the most destructive predator in the state, costing $528,773 per year in prevention and control. Wolves, however, are impacting the livestock industry in more ways than direct livestock kills. Wildlife Services (WS) is being required to devote more and more time to wolf complaints, investigation, paperwork, monitoring traps, and even removing a single wolf from a specific pack without a budget increase. In FY '09, wolf complaints were up to 243 from 166 in FY '08. Of those, 143 were confirmed wolf complaints, up from 81 confirmed in FY '08. With so much attention on wolves, WS is having difficulty balancing the various duties they are required to perform as a federal agency.

Coyote control is not the only WS duty suffering from the focus on wolves. WS is also responsible for conducting avian influenza testing, disease surveillance, work at airports and handling mountain lion, black bear, and grizzly bear complaints across the state. In September, US District Judge Donald Molloy increased WS's work load by ruling to relist grizzly bears in the greater Yellowstone area as an endangered species. Greater protection means more complicated and costly efforts to control grizzly bear problems.

Discussing the future of WS after his presentation, Stueber expressed concern over the agency's budget. While funding remains tight, expecially with the increasing burden of wolf work and the cost of maintaining three helicopters and one airplane, Stueber was hesitant to ask that more money be directed to them from livestock producers. Currently 72.1% of the agency's budget is allotted from the federal government, with only 3.5% of their funds coming from sheep petitions. Stueber suggested that there needs to be a more sensible means of gathering funding for livestock protection than increasing the payment burden (federal taxes and county petitions) on the people who are already taking a hit with livestock losses.