Montana to decide trumpeter swan reintroduction

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Montana wildlife commissioners are being asked to approve a program to reintroduce trumpeter swans to the Madison River Valley.

Wildlife officials plan to release five 70-day-old swans this summer in the restored O'Dell Creek headwaters south of Ennis. More swans would then be released into the river's wetlands each year through 2016.

The program would mirror one in the Blackfoot River Valley that last year resulted in offspring for two pairs of swans.

Greg Neudecker of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there are about 500 trumpeter swans in the Lower 48 states and 4,500 in Canada. He says the Madison River Valley program, if successful, could help bolster the struggling trumpeter swan population in Yellowstone National Park.

The Fish, Wildlife and Parks commission votes on the proposal Thursday.