State pays for livestock losses due to wolves The payout is rising for Montana in its new role of compensating for livestock losses to wolves, with some uncertainty about where this year’s tally will stop. “We had no way to gauge this, being in operation for just a year,” said George Edwards, the Montana Department of Agriculture’s livestock loss mitigation coordinator. Compensation programs for wolves and grizzly bears had been run for years by Defenders of Wildlife, a conservation group. But the state assumed that role this year under a Montana Wolf Management plan and authorization from the Legislature. The 2007 Legislature provided $30,000 in one-time funding and Defenders of Wildlife put up $100,000 to fund the program this year and next year. Last week, The Greater Yellowstone Coalition contributed another $1,000, Edwards said....