Montana launches strategy to monitor mountain lions
By Jessianne Castle EBS ENVIRONMENTAL & OUTDOORS EDITOR
LIBBY – It
teeters on the edge of insanity—eyes peering over days-old snow that rests on
the shoulder of the road, I harbor an urge to turn every depression into a
fresh track. Almost mindlessly, sitting passenger in my husband’s Tacoma, my
eyes read the snow, read the stories forest critters have left behind.
But I’m not
reading for comprehension, I’m looking for something specific. My eyes scan
over the splayed-out marks and toe drags left by deer, elk and moose. I barely
pause to process the pointed-toed track of a coyote. But when I see
dimples—clean, perfectly placed steps and beautiful teardrop toes—I crane my
head out the window and catch my breath. We stop the truck. I grab the GPS and
mark the location of the track. My husband and I had finally found footprints
left by a mountain lion.
We were
working as contracted hound handlers for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
during the second week of December just south of Libby as a part of an effort
launched this winter to estimate the number of mountain lions in Montana.
Dubbed the Montana Mountain Lion Monitoring and Management Strategy, the new
plan was approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission in February 2019 and
subsequently funded by the Montana legislature. And beyond learning more about
the mountain lion population, this new strategy is an effort to find common
ground.
Lay of
the land
In what some
wildlife managers describe as an unprecedented approach, state wildlife
biologists have developed a mountain lion habitat map and intend to shift
policies and practices away from human-designated administrative districts and
instead look at mountain lions based on where they actually live. While
researchers believe lions currently live in nearly all of Montana’s suitable
habitat, having rebounded after the population was decimated alongside wolves
and grizzly bears at the dawn of the 1900s, areas differ based on terrain and
food sources.
In the
northwest portion of the state—or the Northwest Mountain Lion Ecoregion—lion
habitat is nearly continuous. The highly forested terrain is great for ambush
predators and ample deer make northwest Montana, spanning from the Idaho and Canadian
borders north to Missoula and east to the Rocky Mountain Front, some of the
best lion habitat in the state.
The
West-Central Ecoregion encompasses the Bitterroot Valley and dives east to
Lewistown. This region is somewhat less quality than the Northwest because much
of the cougar-prefered forested regions are separated by broad intermountain
valleys.
Big Sky and
the surrounding Gallatin Range and Spanish Peaks fall within the heart of the
Southwest Ecoregion that captures the entire southwest corner of the state,
ranging all the way east to Big Timber and Red Lodge. With only 1/3 of the
total area covered by trees, the Southwest provides sparse high-quality habitat
for mountain lions.
The entire
eastern portion of the state, the fourth ecoregion, makes up a very small
portion of mountain lion habitat as less than 10 percent of the region outside
of the Indian reservations is forested.
“It’s a plan
that tries to reflect how they live, how they move,” said former Fish and
Wildlife Commissioner Dan Vermillion when the plan was first proposed to the
public in October 2018. “It’s a pretty modern approach … it’s a remarkable
plan.”
Seeking
answers
In order to
estimate the mountain lion population, which is critical information for a game
animal that is hunted, MT FWP has hired a handful of houndsmen and women to
record GPS information and search for mountain lion DNA in designated areas
within each ecoregion. These houndsmen, or hound handlers, have their own
personal dogs that track mountain lions and push them into a tree—a method used
recreationally to take photographs or hunt mountain lions and bobcats.
The question
for cougar biologists has always been, ‘how many of the elusive critters are
there?’ according to wildlife sciences professor Jonathan Jenks of South Dakota
State University. He calls it the “Holy Grail of cougar management.”
And now DNA can
provide accurate counting; it’s something researchers have never had before. Biologists
can’t fly and count mountain lions like they do elk, pronghorn, deer or wolves,
and prior to the latest population modeling science and genetics, they weren’t
able to verify whether photographs or sightings reflected multiple cats or a
repeat visitor.
“Until we
had these new genetically-based monitoring tools, we really weren’t able to
detect changes in populations,” said Jay Kolbe, author of the monitoring
strategy and White Sulphur Springs area biologist.
The study
began this winter in the Northwest Ecoregion and crews will be in the field
until early spring, with plans to then return to the area again next winter.
Crews will repeat the two-year cycle in each of the western ecoregions,
amounting to a six-year rotation before returning to Libby once again. As a
long-term monitoring regime, biologists hope to better detect population trends
in the long run.
In addition
to marking lion tracks on a GPS and collecting scat and hair, a critical aspect
of the study is to collect tissue samples from individual lions. Once we find a
fresh track, we work with our dogs to tree the lion and with a carbon-dioxide
powered dart gun loaded with a biopsy dart that has a small, sharp head, we
collect a tissue sample.
It’s a more
invasive strategy than camera traps or hair snags used to research animals like
wolverines, but according to Kolbe the strategy is less invasive than collaring
or trapping as humans never handle the lion. Additionally, by contracting
houndsmen, the agency is building partnerships and involving the public sector
with the science.
“I’m hoping
that because we have these new tools, that will bring everyone to the table
with a common set of facts,” Kolbe said.
Visit fwp.mt.gov/fishAndWildlife/management/mountainLion/ to learn more about Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks’ research and management of mountain lions or to view the Montana Mountain Lion Monitoring and Management Strategy.
