Anchorage Daily News

HELENA, Mont. -- The opportunity to trap wolverines in Montana, the only state besides Alaska that allows them to be trapped, is shrinking.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission decided recently that a total of five wolverines may be taken this winter, down from a limit of nine they set tentatively months ago. The new limit is final. Trappers collectively were allowed 10 wolverines last winter.

The latest reduction comes several months after the federal government said wolverines do not warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Staffers in the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks said that in finding the trapping limit should drop to five, they considered information received since the commission's tentative vote in June. Commission Chairman Steve Doherty, who wants a moratorium on wolverine trapping, voted against the new limit but said it is a step in the right direction.

"I'm worried about the ability of the population to maintain itself in Montana," Doherty said.

State officials say it's estimated that 200 or more wolverines inhabit the state. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has estimated the U.S. wolverine population outside of Alaska consists of about 500 animals in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming. Supporters of endangered-species protection find the estimate high.

Critics of wolverine trapping say the population is too small to withstand losses from traps, but supporters say the Montana wolverines should not be viewed as an isolated population. They are part of a larger system that includes the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Alberta, where the numbers are higher, they say.

"Boys and girls (male and female wolverines) cross that line all the time," trapping supporter Don Bothwell of Kalispell told commissioners.

Representatives of some pro-trapping groups questioned the need for a reduction to five wolverines but said they would support the commission's adoption of that limit for the trapping season, which begins on Dec. 1 and ends on Feb. 15.

"What we're supporting is management," said Robert Sheppard of the Montana Trappers Association. "If you don't have management, you can't have a harvest."

The Montana Furbearer Conservation Alliance's Bothwell told the commission that "it's OK to cut our opportunity in half."

Opponents of wolverine trapping included Defenders of Wildlife. Representative David Galliard said trapping is one more negative for animals harmed by climate change and other problems. Lisa Upson of the Natural Resources Defense Council said it is just "a matter of time" before the trapping season ends entirely.

Nine environmental groups gave notice on July 8 that they would sue the government if wolverines did not receive Endangered Species Act protection within 60 days.

The Fish and Wildlife Service said in March that even if wolverines disappeared from the 48 contiguous states, they would survive because those in the United States are connected to larger populations in Canada. The number of wolverines in that country has been estimated at 15,000 to 19,000.

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