Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program:
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

We are using Management Strategy Evaluation (MSE) to help inform wolf management decisions in Montana. Wolf season setting has become complicated and controversial again. State law requires Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to both reduce the population and avoid federal relisting. Big game advocates want to see improved big game populations and hunting opportunity, while wolf advocates feel that wolves are being persecuted under the current harvest regulations. MSE is a tool to simulate the workings of a harvested population or system. It will allow us to test whether potential management strategies can achieve pre-defined fundamental objectives. MSE considers the full range of uncertainty and helps decision-makers consider long-term trade-offs among the management objectives, instead of focusing on short-term considerations only. We are working closely with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to inform this MSE. Through this project, we will evaluate the effects of management strategies on the ability to meet objectives for wolf management, and thereby help inform decision-making for wolf conservation in Montana.