Critics Say Wolf Team 'Stacked'

The Albuquerque Journal (subscription required) ^ | August 14,2003 | Tania Soussan

[CedarDave]

Thursday, August 14, 2003

Critics Say Wolf Team 'Stacked'

By Tania Soussan

Journal Staff Writer

    The team being formed to revise a recovery plan for the endangered Mexican gray wolf is "stacked" in favor of the livestock industry and anti-wolf groups, 15 conservation organizations claimed Wednesday.
    In a letter to Dale Hall, Southwest region director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the groups criticized the list of 24 agencies and organizations invited to be part of the wolf recovery plan team.
    Three of those on the list are conservation groups, seven represent the livestock industry and one is an Arizona-New Mexico group that is suing the Fish and Wildlife Service over wolf reintroduction.
    Hall disagreed with the letter.
    "I wouldn't call that stacking," he said of the list.
    He said other groups can be added to the recovery plan team if they bring some scientific expertise to the table or if they will be affected by how the wolf recovery is carried out.
    "We never slam the door closed and say this is it," Hall said in an interview.
    The Fish and Wildlife Service is revising the recovery plan for the Mexican wolf because it has not been updated since 1982.
    "We're not confident the goals and recovery criteria are accurate, given today's information," Hall said.
    The current recovery plan says the species will be considered recovered— and ready to go off the endangered list— once the wild population reaches 100 animals. That could happen within the next year or two. However, many biologists no longer believe 100 wild wolves are enough.
    David Hodges of the Sky Island Alliance, which works to protect land in southwestern New Mexico and southeastern Arizona, the same area where wolves are being reintroduced, said his group should have been invited to join the recovery team.
    "The thing that got me was the preponderance of cattlemen's associations that were on the list," he said.
    Livestock industry groups and state wildlife agencies from Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah were included. Hall said that is because they are within the area designated by the Fish and Wildlife Service for Mexican wolves.
    The conservation groups that signed the letter— including Animal Protection of New Mexico, the Las Cruces-based Southwest Environmental Center and Gila Watch of Silver City— all have participated in wolf reintroduction efforts.
    They asked Hall to revisit the invitation list and consider broadening the group.

Copyright 2003 Albuquerque Journal

[CedarDave]

BUMP for Environment PING lists

[tbpiper]

We're having problems with Mexican wolves and cayotes. Four legs or two, varmits all.

[Carry_Okie]

IMHO, reintroduction of the Mexican wolf was a really stupid environmental idea. Even if the goal was to be pure habitat restoration (to a state which NO ONE can define), bringing in wolves before dealing with weeds is really dumb.

This is destructive misanthropy, having NOTHING to do with environmental health.

[CedarDave]

I presume you're speaking about weeds literally (not metaphorically), and I would generally agree. Where the F&WS went wrong, in my opinion, was forcing the wolf introduction on Forest Service lands in Arizona leased to ranchers for grazing. It would have been better to release them in the Gila Wilderness area in NM where they would have much less of a chance to come in contact with humans and their livestock (I know -- grazing is allowed in wilderness areas too.) But putting an endangered species in direct conflict with people just trying to make a living is utterly stupid.

[HiJinx]

But putting an endangered species in direct conflict with people just trying to make a living is utterly stupid.

I hope it was just stupid and not something more sinister. Trouble is, knowing when it happened (mid-90s) means it was probably done with malice aforethought.

[Carry_Okie]

I presume you're speaking about weeds literally (not metaphorically), and I would generally agree.

I was. Weeds are a serious environmental problem that requires careful, detailed work by highly trained people, often under difficult physical circumstances.

Who is going to do that kind of work in an environment that endangers life and limb?

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[CONSERVE]

We're having problems with Mexican wolves and cayotes. Four legs or two

If they do put the four legged wolve back maybe it will curtail the two legged from invading.

[tbpiper]

If they do put the four legged wolve back maybe it will curtail the two legged from invading.

Now there's a plan!

[Myrddin]

Idaho didn't get the Mexican Gray Wolf. We have big Canadian Wolves. They are decimating all the game herds, killing domestic livestock and intimidating humans in recreation areas. I heard a comment on the afternoon talk show that indicated that these large Canadian wolves have made their way down to New Mexico and are beginning to attack herds of cattle.

For Idaho, this wasn't a restoration or a re-introduction. It was a new introduction of a much larger and more destructive species of wolf. We were doing fine for many years with no wolves at all. It would be good to return to that condition.

[Myrddin]

An Idaho family was recently on an outing using 4-wheel ATVs. One of the daughters was lagging the group and her engine stopped. A large pack of wolves started circling her location. She managed to restart the engine and escape. The wolves up here are into killing as a form of entertainment. They don't eat the victim. It is left as carrion for vultures.

[Ben Ficklin]

I seem to recall that the new gov replaced every member of the game and fish commission?

[editor-surveyor]

"Who is going to do that kind of work in an environment that endangers life and limb?"

Oh, didn't you know? Farley Mowatt discovered that wolves only eat little field mice. Those calves and lambs that are getting eaten are really victims of the spirits that make crop circles (Jim Beam, Jack Daniels, etc.)

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[blackie]

Shoot, dig hole and bury!

Be Well ~ Be Armed ~ Be Safe ~ Molon Labe!