Montana FWP Decides Not to Push for Wolf Hunting Buffer Zones Around Yellowstone Park

About a month ago, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks decided to put a series of wolf hunting and trapping buffer zones around Yellowstone National Park.

The buffer zones were put in place after wolves with radio collars were killed legally, however, the buffer zones had to be removed after an injunction was filed accusing Montana FWP of not giving the public proper notice.

"We have decided not to appeal the preliminary injunction on those areas that we had closed around Yellowstone National Park," said Montana FWP spokesman Ron Aasheim on Monday, January 28.

The reason for not appealing has to do more with time constraints than with anything else.

"We're running out of time,"explained Aasheim. "First of all, a commission would have had to have taken action tomorrow to change the decision or to make a decision. Then we would have had to provide that decision to a judge, then she would have allowed 10 days for the plaintiffs to respond." All of these steps would happen before the judge even issued a final opinion.

Because the wolf season ends at the end of February and the fight over the injunction was only just beginning in late January, FWP decided to let the injunction against the buffer zones stay.

What this means, is that those that want to hunt and trap wolves near Yellowstone National Park will have to follow the same rules and regulations that pertain to wolf hunting elsewhere in the state.