The Hub Conservation Area - Montanans 4 Safe Wildlife Passage

and desert; this reflects overall adaptability ofthe species. This adaptability and reproductivesuccess has allowed wolves to make aremarkable comeback in the Northern Rockies,with a current estimated population of 1,500animals and an estimated annual growth rate of24%, despite 724 wolves being legally removedsince the late 1980s, with an unknown numberof animals poached annually.Wolves’ habitat preference is based on thepresence of native ungulates within a pack’sterritory on a year-round basis (Montana Fish,Wildlife and Parks, 2003). Biologists thatparticipated in the Priority Linkage Assessmentproject indicated that social intolerance wasthe primary inhibitor to wolf movement, nothabitat fragmentation. Wolves are considerednon-migratory but disperse widely (Walton etal., 2001). Packs move widely to patrol theirterritories within their home ranges. Packterritories are dynamic and change annually withfluctuations in prey availability. Pack activity iscentered on a den site and nearby rendezvoussites from April through September. Wolves livein packs with complex social hierarchy. Packmembers may disperse to find their own mates orterritories. Packs are structured with a breedingalpha male and female; however, contrary topopular belief, females other than the alphamay also produce pups within a pack. Annualpack home ranges may be up to several hundredsquare kilometers, dependent upon habitatquality and prey resources. Summer home rangeis typically smaller than winter home range.Average territory size for a northwestern Montanawolf pack is 220 km 2 ; in Yellowstone, the averageterritory size was much larger at 891 km 2 (U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service et al., 2000).Wolves’ primary prey are deer and elk, howeversolitary animals will take small mammalian preyopportunistically. They scavenge on carrion,small rodents, and, in Yellowstone, will takebison. Depredations of livestock may occur,particularly in years when mild winters causedeer fawns to be less vulnerable to predation(USFWS, 1991). Livestock depredation canbecome a learned behavior and may result inlethal control of entire packs. In Minnesota,changes in snow pack induced shifts in deerpopulations and mobility that resulted in shiftsin wolf pack movement, sociability, and feedingbehavior (Fuller, 1991).Like grizzlies, there is tension in the NorthernRockies associated with the presence of wolves,in particular because of the risk of livestockdepredation. By 2002, gray wolves had reachedbiological recovery goals. Montana and Idaho’swolf management plans were approved by theU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2005. Currently,listing status is uncertain as there have beentwo changes in status in Fall-Winter 2008. Thenew administration will review the December2008 de-listing decision in Winter-Spring 2009.The gray wolf is a big game species in Idaho.Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)Lynx are habitat specialists with very specificrequirements. They primarily inhabit thesubalpine fir zone in the U.S. Northern Rockies.This habitat is generally found above 1219mwest of the Continental Divide and is dominatedby spruce, several species of fir, and serallodgepole pine. East of the Continental Dividethe subalpine fir forests inhabited by lynx occurat higher elevations (1,650 to 2,400 meters) andare composed mostly of subalpine fir (Ruedigeret al., 2000). Throughout their range, shrubsteppehabitats may provide important linkagehabitat between the primary habitat typesdescribed above (Ruediger et al., 2000). Snowconditions are an important environmentalvariable for lynx, who prefer areas withmoderately deep annual snowfall amounts (100to 127 centimeters) (Kelsall et al., 1977). Inall lynx habitat types, patches of forest thathave early successional stages created bydisturbances such as fire and insect infestationsare preferred since this creates forage and coverfor snowshoe hares, the most important preyspecies of the lynx. However, older forests alsoprovide habitat for snowshoe hares and lynx forlonger periods than disturbance-created habitats(Ruediger et al., 2000). Snags, downed timber,and thick brush are important as denning sitesfor lynx. These sites tend to be within matureor old growth stands (Koehler, 1990; Koehler42