Laura Lundquist

(Missoula Current) The Montana House will likely pass its first wolf killing bill, but not before the bill received a surprising amendment on the House floor.

On Friday, Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon, asked the Montana House of Representatives to pass House Bill 176, which would originally have required the state to have an unlimited quota until the wolf population dropped to 450 wolves.

The population total was amended to 550 wolves after the bill was heard in the House Fish, Wildlife & Parks committee on Feb. 16 and it passed out of committee on a party-line vote of 12-8.

The bill also would have required the FWP commission to allow an unlimited number of licenses to be issued and each hunter or trapper could kill an unlimited number of wolves with each license.

However, Maness had barely finished his introduction when one of his cosponsors on the bill, Rep. Eric Albus, R-Glasgow, rose to propose a friendly amendment, which changed all the sentences with “required” to less rigid terms such as “may” and “allowed.”

Under the amendment, an unlimited quota would be “allowed” and the commission “may” authorize multiple wolf licenses. When Speaker Pro Tempore Katie Zolnikov asked for discussion on the amendment, no one rose. The amendment passed 78-21.

During the follow-on discussion of the bill, another cosponsor, Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, R-Belgrade, expressed some frustration after saying that Montana’s 1,100 wolves were far more than the minimum recovery numbers set by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Unfortunately, the amendment really kinda gutted the bill,” Hinkle said. “But the point is that, so far, the commission has not been setting these quotas to allow the wolf number to drop. So let it be known - legislative intent - we want the commission to set the quotas in the state so these numbers can start dropping down.”

Several representatives rose to speak for or against the bill, with each side pointing to the annual wolf population numbers that have been roughly stable since 2015 and saying the stable population proves their point that there are either too many wolves or wolves don’t need more management.

Rep. Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, said HB 176 sounded like “a hunt, baby, hunt” bill rather than effective wolf management. Rep. Paul Fielder, R-Thompson Falls, said hunters in Region 1 had asked for more wolf control in 2019 and when the commission said no, they turned to the Legislature. But Rep. Marilyn Marler, D-Missoula, said there is no unified opinion among hunters - including Marler - that there needs to be fewer wolves.

“This is a partisan issue at this point,” Marler said. “This bill maybe won’t do anything (destructive) but it sure looks gross from a sportsman’s point of view.”

After the discussion, the bill passed second reading by a vote of 57-42. HB 176 is expected to pass the House on third reading, which is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

The question remains: Why did Albus “gut” the bill?

Far-right groups accuse Albus of aligning with Democrats, special interests and the Solutions Caucus, a group of Republicans willing to compromise with Democrats to get bills passed. One website claimed Maness was told not to challenge the amendment, because if the amendment didn’t pass, the Solutions Caucus would kill the bill.

Others working at the Legislature said the executive branch probably told Albus to make the amendment. The governor’s office appoints the FWP commissioners so the governor might not want the Legislature making requirements for the commission. Also, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned the Legislature in 2023 that its passion for passing wolf-killing bills could negatively affect any decision to delist the grizzly bear, and the governor wants the grizzlies delisted.

Albus could not be reached for comment.

Albus and Hinkel were also cosponsors of HB 222, which was even more aggressive. It would have set a year-round season for wolves, which wouldn’t close until wolves dropped to a certain number. FWP Director Kristy Clark testified against that bill in committee.

After an amendment set the number at 650 and allowed the commission to close the season to limit killing pups in the den, it passed out of committee on a party-line vote on Feb. 24. But it died on the House floor a week later, when Albus again spoke and voted against the bill.

Contact reporter Laura Lundquist at lundquist@missoulacurrent.com.