Environmental groups settled a legal challenge to Montana’s wolf trapping rules after the state narrowed the geographic scope for trapping as well as the length of the hunting season.
Montana will cover the $210,000 in attorneys’ fees for the Flathead-Lolo-Bitterroot Citizen’s Task Force and WildEarth Guardians after rolling back expanded wolf trapping permissions in grizzly bear habitats, according to a deal the US District Court for the District of Montana approved Thursday.
The new regulations end the “floating season opening,” which allowed traps to be set earlier before winter despite warnings from environmental groups that climate change has shifted bear …