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Wolf recovery in Montana began in the early 1980’s. Gray wolves increased in number and expanded their distribution in Montana because of natural emigration from Canada and a successful federal effort that reintroduced wolves into Yellowstone National Park and the wilderness areas of central Idaho. The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved the Montana Gray Wolf Conservation and Management Plan in early 2004.

In April of 2011, a congressional budget bill directed the Secretary of the Interior to reissue the final delisting rule for Northern Rocky Mountain wolves originally published in April of 2009. On May 5, 2011 the USFWS published the final delisting rule designating wolves throughout the Designated Population Segment, except Wyoming, as a delisted species. Wolves in Montana became a species in need of management statewide under Montana law; state rules and the state management plan took full effect. Using a combination of federal funds and license dollars, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) implements the state management plan by monitoring the wolf population, directing problem wolf control and take under certain circumstances, coordinating and authorizing research, regulating sport harvest, and leading wolf information and education programs.