A bipartisan bill co-authored by Montana Senator Steve Daines could provide up to $20 million a year to fund nonlethal ways of stopping wild predators from killing domestic livestock nationwide.
Along with California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff, Republican Daines introduced the Human-Wildlife Conflict Reduction Act on August 4. The bill would promote using range riders, guard dogs, electric fencing and similar measures to protect cows and sheep from attacks by wolves and bears.
“This bill will expand funding to implement more nonlethal ways to keep our communities safe from predatory wildlife,” Daines said in a statement. “This bill is especially important for Montana’s farmers and ranchers, who depend on both lethal and nonlethal management for the well-being of their livestock to make a living.”
Wolves killed 68 livestock in 2025, according to the most recent Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks report. That was lower than the average for the past decade. The state Livestock Loss Board paid ranchers $92,917 for federally confirmed kills of cattle, sheep and dogs in 2025. Federal Wildlife Services agents killed 43 wolves in response to the livestock incidents.
“The demand is there, the need is there, and Montana has been at the forefront of this program for years,” said Dan Moss, a senior government relations representative for Defenders of Wildlife, a national organization supporting the legislation. “Ranchers absolutely suffer real economic losses from livestock depredations, but lethal solutions do not have to be the automatic go-to solution for addressing livestock depredations.”
Defenders of Wildlife has spent decades building rancher tolerance for wild predators. In 1987, it started a privately funded rancher-compensation program for wolf kills. The organization expanded the project in 1995 after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reintroduced gray wolves to the Greater Yellowstone region. That program continued until 2010.
The state governments of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming also set up livestock-loss compensation programs. A review by Bozeman-based Property and Environment Research Center found federal, state and private programs paid out more than $6.5 million between 1995 and 2021 for losses to wolves.
Daines’ and Schiff’s bill authorizes up to $20 million a year through 2031 for program activities, of which not more than 10 percent can be used for new research. However, that amount is subject to other congressional appropriations, so the actual annual budget could be lower.
Montana has an estimated 1,100 wolves, although its population measuring methods recently came under doubt. Idaho has 1,129 wolves, according to its Department of Fish and Game. Wyoming has about 300 wolves. The three states combined host about 6 million cattle and 500,000 sheep.
