Yellowstone National Park - Wolves of Yellowstone (U.S. National Park Service)

NPS Photo/Dan Stahler

Wolf Management

• To learn more about wolf management visit the United States Fish and Wildlife Service— USFW provides weekly updates on the wolves of the Rocky Mountain region including wolves of Yellowstone.

• Learn more about Montana's Wolf Conservation & Management Program.

• Visit the Greater Yellowstone Science Learning Center.

2008 Summary
At the end of 2008, at least 124 wolves in 12 packs and various groups occupied Yellowstone National Park. This is one more pack than in 2007, but several long-term, stable packs were lost and smaller, newly formed packs replaced them. This represents a 27% decline compared to the 2007 population and was similar to the 30% decline in 2005. Only six of these packs were breeding pairs, the smallest count since 2000 (when wolves first reached the minimum requirement for delisting of 30 breeding pairs in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming). High mortality of both pups and adults caused the low breeding pair count, despite there being 12 packs. Disease and intraspecific mortality are the two primary factors that caused the wolf population decline.

Yellowstone Wolf Project Annual Report 2008 (2 Mb pdf)

Color coded map of 2007 Yellowstone Wolf Territories

2008 Yellowstone National Park Wolf Map Territories

Yellowstone National Park 2008 Official Wolf Population Count

Pack	Adults	End-Of-Year Pup Count	Total
Northern Range
Quadrant Mountain (469F)	4	0	4
*Everts	5	3	8
527F Group	3	0	3
471F Group	3	0	3
Blacktail Deer Plateau	8	0	8
Agate	4	0	4
Slough	7	0	7
*Druid	8	5	13
Loners/Non-Pack Wolves	6	0	6
Northern Range Totals	48	8	56
Non-Northern Range
*Mollie's	10	3	13
*Yellowstone Delta	7	2	9
Yellowstone Delta Subgroup	4	0	4
*Bechler	6	3	9
Cougar Creek	4	0	4
*Gibbon Meadows	19	6	25
Canyon	4	0	4
Non-Northern Range Totals	54	14	68
Totals	102	22	124

*6 breeding pairs

2007 & Earlier Data: Yellowstone Wolf Project Annual Reports
2007 (1.8 MB pdf)	2001 (541K pdf)
2006 (1.63 MB pdf)	2000 (248K pdf)
2005 (1.7 MB pdf)	1999 (693K pdf)
2004 (1 MB pdf)	1998 (320K pdf)
2003 (903K pdf)	1997 (643K pdf )
2002 (980K pdf)	1995-1996 (1.1 MB pdf)

2004 Map
Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem wolf pack territory map

The Yellowstone Park Foundation raises money each year to help support Yellowstone's Wolf Project. They are a non-profit organization whose mission is to fund projects and programs that protect, preserve and enhance Yellowstone National Park.