[inline_image file=”3702800c6f246c5f734266da1f201eed.jpg” caption=”A mountain lion photographed in the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge of Arizona.”]
The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have released a draft management plan for mountain lions in the state. The draft plan begins with a lengthy preamble addressing the rift in perspectives about conservation and predator management.
“With the publication of this document, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP) reaffirms its commitment, on behalf of the public, to the conservation and responsible management of mountain lion populations in Montana. Many FWP wildlife biologists might find it redundant to first state that we are committed to conserving mountain lions.
“We tend to skip instead to describing specific strategies for mountain lion management, while taking our professional dedication to wildlife conservation for granted. But we’ve learned over the years that an intensely interested and engaged public does not always accept FWP’s commitment to mountain lion conservation as a given, and may not recognize FWP’s management strategies as being consistent with conservation.”
The draft plan includes and highlights the value of targeted hunts as a management tool. The plan also outlines efforts to better measure the burgeoning mountain lion population, which the FWP describes as having long since repopulated its historic range within the state.
