About 30 protesters gathered in drizzling rain on the Capitol lawn Friday, calling on Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer to end wolf hunting in Montana and advocating for an economic boycott of tourism here and in Idaho and Wyoming.

 Hunters would be able to remove 220 gray wolves from Montana’s landscape this fall under a tentative quota and seasons adopted Thursday by the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission.

Carolyn Sime was honored recently as Biologist of the Year by the Montana Chapter of The Wildlife Society for her decade-long effort to develop Montana’s wolf conservation and management program.

According to the Helena Independent Record, Judge Donald Molloy will hear arguments from both sides in order to determine the merits of the case.

Montana continues it’s aggressive policy of “predator management” as it plans to kill off the remaining members of three packs in the area of the Big Hole Valley.

Montana is making it easier to kill wolves in the state after officials says there are too many wolves on the landscape.