Officials with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have closed Hunting District 110 to all wolf harvesting.

The district extends north from Columbia Falls through the North Fork and from the Whitefish Divide east to the Glacier National Park boundary.

District 110 is the first wolf hunting district to close this season, with the quota of two wolves having been met. It officially closed Friday at midnight.

Of the 18 hunting districts in the state that allow wolf hunting, only three have quotas on how many wolves may be harvested. The other two are districts 313 and 316 on the border of Yellowstone National Park. Hunting also has closed in District 313 in Park County.

Quentin Kujala, the wildlife bureau coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the quotas are in place to protect the “border packs” that regularly cross into the protected national parks, where hunting and trapping are prohibited.

Wolf hunting in those areas has been especially controversial, he said, because the parks serve as a refuge for rare and protected species.

“It’s a much-debated topic, but there is a certain high profile that comes to those wolves,” Kujala said. “The [Montana Fish and Wildlife] Commission’s response is to maintain harvest, but it’s maintained under the oversight of a quota. That’s the middle ground, the balance that the commission has had in response to the debate.”

Statewide, 41 wolves have been harvested this season.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at [email protected].