The Fishtrap pack is doing well - for now.  As an independent wolf biologist I have studied these wolves since January 2001.  They, like all packs in Montana, are involved in wolf recovery and subject to management.  Wolf management, at least in Montana, involves a complex and convoluted social-political process in which the wolves must contend with some negative public attitudes as well as management. 

Each year a summary of this process is published in the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Annual Reports.  The USFWS is the federal agency currently responsible for wolf management in the United States.  Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks (MFWP), however, has assumed some responsibility for management in anticipation of when the wolves are taken off the Endangered Species List.  At that time the states involved will take control of managing the wolves in their area. 

The Annual Reports review wolf numbers and population trends in each of the three recovery areas:  Yellowstone National Park (reintroduction), central Idaho (reintroduction), and northwest Montana (natural recovery).  In the past several years in the two reintroduction areas, only a 4 - 10 percent mortality has been observed and these were from natural causes.  The Annual Reports, however, also show that in northwest Montana, where wolves have repopulated the area on their own, mortality has been quite high.

In 2003, for example, well over one third of Montana's wolf population was apparently lost due to a variety of reasons.  This trend continued into 2004.  A former biologist for USFWS, responsible for overseeing Montana's wolf population, believed annual mortality rates were closer to 50 percent.  He has stated, "The population of wolves in northwest Montana is actually going down and can reach 50% mortality throughout the year.  Shooting by the public and government control actions are the leading causes of mortality."  See the table below.

Causes Of Wolf Mortality In Montana
Year	# Wolves	Natural	Human	Unknown	Dispersed	Missing	Control actions	Total
2002	184	1 (1%)	20 (11%)	1 (1%)	9 (5%)	8 (4%)	26 (14%)	65 (35%)
2003	182	3 (2%)	14 (8%)	2 (1%)	4 (2%)	8 (4%)	34 (19%)	65 (36%)
2004	153	4 (3%)	9 (6%)	1 (1%)	2 (1%)	7 (5%)	39 (25%)	62 (41%)
2005	256	5 (2%)	12 (5%)	5 (2%)	2 (1%)	6 (2%)	35 (14%)	65 (25%)
2006	316	2 (1%)	9 (3%)	1 (0.3%)	5 (2%)	7 (2%)	53 (17%)	77 (24%)

This table summarizes the data found in the USFWS annual reports for the past several years. Please keep in mind this is all public information and anyone can access it.  If you would like a copy of the USFWS Annual Reports, you can simply go to their web site and download the reports as PDF files or view them on the web page.  In the table, I listed out the different categories of wolf mortality as seen in the annual reports.  The numbers in each category are followed by their percentage (in parenthesis) of the total wolf population for that year.  I've bolded the human causes of wolf mortality in blue to highlight the fact that by far humans have caused the most deaths observed in Montana's wolf population each year.  This is consistent with the statements made by the former biologist for the USFWS.  See his comments above.  Regardless of the cause of death, however, an average 31% of Montana's wolf population has been lost annually over the five years reported above.

Data found in the scientific literature have suggested that an annual mortality rate in excess of 34 percent may produce unsustainable wolf populations in the future.  This could be a potential problem when Montana's wolves are eventually taken off the Endangered Species List and no longer federally protected.  The scenario is different in the reintroduction areas. 

Yellowstone is a national park and central Idaho is a wilderness area, the top two classifications of federal protection afforded to natural areas in the United States.  The wolves will be protected in these areas whether they are removed from the Endangered Species List or not.  The 2003 report demonstrated the areas just outside of Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho, which are unprotected, have the same mortality rates as Montana.  In summary, the data from the Annual Reports indicates unless wolf areas are protected, public attitude and current management techniques are responsible for the majority of wolf deaths in Montana each year.