Researchers conducted a study of the new technique from 2007 to 2012. The new method, called patch occupancy modeling, uses deer and elk hunter observations coupled with information from radio-collared wolves. The statistical approach is a less expensive alternative to the old method of minimum wolf counts, which were performed by biologists and wildlife technicians. The results of the study estimate that for the five-year period, wolf populations were 25-35 percent higher than the minimum counts for each year.

“The study’s primary objective was to find a less-expensive approach to wolf monitoring that would yield statistically reliable estimates of the number of wolves and packs in Montana,” said Justin Gude, FWP’s chief of research for the wildlife division in Helena.

Counting predators in remote and forested areas is notoriously difficult and expensive. FWP submits a required yearly wolf report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on the exact number of wolves observed through tracking by FWP wolf specialists. Biologists track wolves with on-the-ground and aerial surveys, radio collaring and denning confirmation. The minimum count has hovered around 625 for the last three years.

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 The Beartooth Highway, often considered one of the most spectacular drives in the country, has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Sixty miles of the 68-mile winding and twisting US-212 highway linking Red Lodge, Montana, with the communities of Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana, and the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park was officially named the Red Lodge - Cooke City Approach Road Historic District. The designation was made May 8.

The scenic highway is nationally significant as an example of road construction which substantially increased recreational development and tourism in Yellowstone and the region. The road is also nationally significant for its distinctive engineering and the methods of high-altitude road construction used in its construction. It is the highest elevation highway in Wyoming (10,947 feet) and Montana (10,350 feet).

In 1932, President Herbert Hoover withdrew the Beartooth Highway corridor from settlement and sale, and reserved it as an approach road to Yellowstone National Park. Construction funds from the newly passed National Park Approaches Act, which became law in 1931, were used to build the road.

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The USA's most expensive hotel is located in Montana. That determination is according to a recent survey from Luxury-Hotels.com that compared the 2014 summer rates of all luxury hotels located in the United States.

Specifically, the rate for the most affordable double room in each luxury hotel was established for the Memorial Day to Labor Day time period. With an average rate of $2385 per night, the Ranch at Rock Creek, located close to the historic mining town of Philipsburg, Montana, leads the list.

Coming in second most expensive is the Point Resort. Situated within the boundaries of the Adirondack Park close to Lake Placid, this luxury hotel has an average overnight rate this summer of $2138. Rounding out the Top 3, also located in Montana, is the Resort at Paws Up. To stay there this summer visitors will have to spend an average of $1847.

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Mountain lions go out of their way to avoid wolves, according to new research done in northwest Wyoming.

The research conducted by the Teton Cougar Project finds that the cats in Jackson Hole spend a disproportionate amount of time in parts of their territory that are far from wolves and tend to distance themselves from wolves.

"If you look at what's called the core home range, it tends to be farther from wolves than the rest of their home range," said Patrick Lendrum, a biologist and the lead author of the study that was published in the Journal of Zoology in late May.

Individual mountain lions frequent the core areas within their home ranges the most, Lendrum said.

Because wolves select top-tier territories with the most available prey, subordinate mountain lions are being pushed away from the most productive parts of the landscape, Cougar Project team leader Mark Elbroch said.

"There is a reduction in habitat in the sense that they are prioritizing habitat differently," Elbroch told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.

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