Edward Bangs, Joseph Fontaine, Michael Jimenez, Brian Cox, Thomas Meier, Diane Boyd, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 100 North Park Street Suite 320, Helena, MT 59601, USA; Douglas Smith, Kerry Murphy, Yellowstone Center for Resources, PO Box 621, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190, USA; Curtis Mack, Isaac Babcock, Nez Perce Tribe, PO Box 365, Lapwai, ID 83540, USA; Carter Niemeyer, USDA/APHIS, Wildlife Services, PO Box 982, Helena, MT 55635, USA

Sixty years after being exterminated, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) was listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1974. After decades of bitter public debate wolves were eventually restored to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Recovery efforts in northwestern Montana began in the late 1970's and encouraged natural dispersal from nearby Canadian wolf populations. Wolves first denned there in 1986. Wolf numbers peaked in 1996 at about 90 animals. After an unusually severe winter in 1996/97 white-tailed deer sharply declined and wolf numbers were reduced to about 60-70 individuals. Confirmed livestock losses annually average 5 cattle, 4 sheep, and less than 1 dog.

After years of planning and exhaustive public involvement, 61 wolves were reintroduced to wilderness areas in central Idaho and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming in 1995 and 1996. The wolves were designated as nonessential experimental populations to increase management flexibility. Wolves adapted better than predicted and by late 1999 there were 170 wolves in each area. Reintroduced wolves settled primarily on remote public lands. The wolf restoration program caused no disruption of traditional human activities such as logging, mining, livestock grazing, hunting, or wildland recreation. Over 40,000 visitors to Yellowstone National Park have seen wolves and public interest in them remains extremely high. Confirmed livestock losses have been less than 1/3 of those predicted, annually averaging only 2 cattle, 20 sheep, and 1 dog in the Yellowstone area and 5 cattle, 21 sheep, and 2 dogs in central Idaho. However, higher than historically documented levels of missing livestock are a serious concern on remote public land grazing allotments that have been recently colonized by wolf packs. The reintroduction program has undergone a series of legal challenges since December 1994, that are yet to be resolved.

Livestock producers who experienced wolf-caused losses were compensated about $90,000 by a private compensation fund. The interagency wolf recovery program concentrates its efforts on interacting with people who live near wolves and removing the few wolves that occasionally cause conflicts. Wolf populations should be fully recovered (30 reproducing packs for 3 successive years) and will likely no longer need protection under the ESA in 2002. The transition to state management of recovered wolf populations, which will likely include regulated public harvest, will continue the public controversy that has typified wolf restoration and management in North America.