Montana Legislature Madness

By Stephen Capra, Bold Visions Conservation Executive Director

With the Montana legislature in session and our boots on the ground at the capitol in Helena, we have listened ad nauseam to the cruelties republican representatives are willing to inflict on wolves and all wildlife.

House Bills 176 and 222 are moving ahead quickly, with the latter sponsored by a twenty-year-old Kalispell republican freshman, originally from California, Representative Lukas Schubert. Misguided Schubert claims there are now hybrid wolves populating Montana who bare larger teeth and a higher proclivity to kill people and livestock. These are false rumors, outright lies, that have circulated off and on for decades. Doug Smith, a retired Yellowstone National Park wolf biologist, as well as countless others, has declared this claim to be nothing if not ridiculous.

These false claims, strategically crying wolf, are reactions to a lawsuit that shortened Montana’s trapping season. Governor Greg Gianforte is now making it his priority to return a longer season to his constituent trappers. This includes trappers who have lied repeatedly during the hearings in Helena, including the infamous Matt Lumley, former US govt wolf trapper, who captured and held a wolf in a trap for the Governor to make his way out to murder.

Matt Lumley has also claimed that Montana moose populations are all but gone due to wolf depredation. The truth? A new ten-year study on moose populations in Montana was published proving their numbers are on the rise and that their range is expanding. No big bad wolf found here!

Considering the shortened season, The Foundation for Wildlife “Management” is leading the charge to acquire a gift for trappers by way of paid bounties ($1000 per dead wolf), while also pushing for their right to kill wolf pups in their dens. Their executive director, Justin Webb, sited Idaho as the state where, “this smart and scientific wildlife management is being done.” So much more cruel hogwash!

There are bills that would prevent the government from buying private lands to be put in conservation, and even a bill that would allow all hunters onto tribal lands – a clear violation of tribal sovereignty. This legislative session illustrates a level of cockiness exhibited by most politicians, who are full of the power-lust associated with Trump’s victory and the wanton cruelty promoted by the Game and Fish Committee at the behest of the Governor.

During committee meetings, the consistent message is that wolves are bad and, by the way, so are grizzly bears. With many lawmakers prepared to argue this with escalated pomp and zeal, Bold Visions Conservation is working hard to collaborate with rural democrats and grassroots conservation organizations, meeting with republican representatives to educate them about wolves and sustainable wolf recovery using science and reasoning, and to stop these tragic bills from passing.

And while Billings Representative Jodee Etchart (R-HD51) made it clear in a conversation with me that she is open to learning more about wolves, at the same time she proudly displays a ‘Smoke a Pack [of wolves] a day’ bumper sticker on her car.

Thompson Falls Republican Paul Fielder, in his relentless pursuit to kill even more wolves and grizzly bears and at the behest of the governor, is doling these anti-wildlife bills out to inexperienced, freshman republicans.

Help Bold Visions in this good fight! We have been the only pro-wolf, anti-trapping organization with three staff members present during these house bill meetings, and we need your letters, emails, and calls going out to the authors of HB 176, Shannon Maness of Dillon (R) HD-70, and Lukas Schubert HB 222 (R) HD-8 of Kalispell to stop their madness.

Reach out to Billings republican representatives who need our outcry to think twice. Note that tribal members of the house are opposed to these atrocities and deserve our heartfelt thanks for their support. We will continue with updates next week, but the time is NOW to fight like hell for wolves and to stop the momentum that many misguided politicians feel they may have!

Representative Lukas Schubert

406-609-6099

Lukas.Schubert@legmt.gov

Representative Shannon Maness

406-925-3604

Shannon.Maness@legmt.gov

Billings Representatives:

Representative Denise Baum

406-208-0245

Denise.Baum@legmt.gov

Representative Larry Brewster

406-670-0929