Wolf Recovery Sought Across Country: West Coast, New England, Colorado and Great

[pendoreilleadventures]

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Wolf Recovery Sought Across Country: West Coast, New England, Colorado and Great Plains

Silver City, N.M.— Gray wolves should be recovered in multiple, connected populations throughout the United States, according to a scientific petition filed today by the Center for Biological Diversity with Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The petition asks for development of a national recovery plan for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act to establish wolf populations in suitable habitat in the Pacific Northwest, California, Great Basin, southern Rocky Mountains, Great Plains and New England.

“Existing recovery plans for wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains and upper Midwest are out of date and apply to a small fraction of the wolf’s historic range,” said the Center’s Michael Robinson. “It’s time to develop a national recovery plan to facilitate true recovery of the gray wolf.”

Currently, gray wolf populations are limited to the northern Rocky Mountains, western Great Lakes and Southwest, which makes up less than 5 percent of their historic range. In part, this reflects the fact that the gray wolf has never had a national recovery plan, though it has been listed in the entire conterminous United States since 1978. Instead, individual recovery plans have been developed for only the three areas that now harbor populations. These plans were developed in the late 1970s and 1980s and are now outdated. Besides failing to recognize that wolves can be recovered to other areas, the plans set population goals well below what are now considered necessary for population health and survival. In the northern Rocky Mountains, for example, the recovery plan only called for 30 breeding pairs, split between three subpopulations.

“Small, isolated wolf populations are a recipe for extinction,” said Robinson. “Science teaches us that we need far more wolves that range across a much wider swath of the continent than the current minimalistic approach.”

The Center’s petition starts a process in which the Fish and Wildlife Service must make a determination on whether to develop such a recovery plan based on the science in the petition and the requirements of the law. The Endangered Species Act requires recovery of endangered animals and plants throughout all significant portions of their range.

“Wolves are an engine of evolution,” said Robinson. “They help feed bears, eagles and wolverines with the leftovers from their kills; they help pronghorn antelope and even foxes survive by controlling coyotes. A continent-wide approach to wolf recovery is necessary both to save the wolf and to restore ecosystems across the United States.”

[haus]

Saved  I love that part. They make it sound like Gray Wolf populations have been declining. Hell they're one of the many wildlife species that are burgeoning in North America.

[whacker1]

 

[denali]

Great ! lets start recovery in cities with populations of 600,000 or more they can roam free feeding on feral cats, worthless purse dogs,skunks,possum. City dwellers would have urban wildlife viewing opportunities they can hear them howl at night the benefits are endless. If this goes as well as I think it will we can have cougars in our city parks, buffalo in our green belts, I'm not sure where the grizzlies will be but we can't leave them out. 

[grundy53]

 

[grundy53]

Great ! lets start recovery in cities with populations of 600,000 or more they can roam free feeding on feral cats, worthless purse dogs,skunks,possum. City dwellers would have urban wildlife viewing opportunities they can hear them howl at night the benefits are endless. If this goes as well as I think it will we can have cougars in our city parks, buffalo in our green belts, I'm not sure where the grizzlies will be but we can't leave them out. 

thats a great idea... the people that live in those cities are the only ones who want them anyways. 

[whacker1]

Great ! lets start recovery in cities with populations of 600,000 or more they can roam free feeding on feral cats, worthless purse dogs,skunks,possum. City dwellers would have urban wildlife viewing opportunities they can hear them howl at night the benefits are endless. If this goes as well as I think it will we can have cougars in our city parks, buffalo in our green belts, I'm not sure where the grizzlies will be but we can't leave them out. 

Sure would cut down on panhandling....

[bearpaw]

Great ! lets start recovery in cities with populations of 600,000 or more they can roam free feeding on feral cats, worthless purse dogs,skunks,possum. City dwellers would have urban wildlife viewing opportunities they can hear them howl at night the benefits are endless. If this goes as well as I think it will we can have cougars in our city parks, buffalo in our green belts, I'm not sure where the grizzlies will be but we can't leave them out. 

Sure would cut down on panhandling....

Does this surprise anyone..... absolutely pridictable...

[Little Dave]

This could be good news.  Consider how the meth problem started out.  Oregon.  Nobody cared, not until the problem spread from there and finally reached the East Coast about five years later.

Right now, people back East, probably don't give a damn either way about the wolves in out our way.  However once the bunny huggers start talking about putting wolves in their area like this article suggests, where there's another town every two or three miles, we might get enough pressure to put an end to the whole issue.

Either that, or more people buy guns out of necessity.  Same people would turn hard on the anti-gun crowd.

[wsucowboy]

Great ! lets start recovery in cities with populations of 600,000 or more they can roam free feeding on feral cats, worthless purse dogs,skunks,possum. City dwellers would have urban wildlife viewing opportunities they can hear them howl at night the benefits are endless. If this goes as well as I think it will we can have cougars in our city parks, buffalo in our green belts, I'm not sure where the grizzlies will be but we can't leave them out. 

thats a great idea... the people that live in those cities are the only ones who want them anyways. 

bout as true as true can be.