Great Letters to the Editor in Southwest Papers!
From the Las Cruces Sun-News
We need healthy wolf program
While I live in Las Cruces much of the year, I often visit the Mexican gray wolves reintroduction area and have only three times in the last 10 years been lucky enough to hear wolves. This is not surprising given that the last official count found only 52 Mexican wolves in the wild – hardly a viable population.
Wolves are truly beautiful animals that play a vital role in healthy ecosystems. Wildlife biologists believe that once the Mexican gray wolf is fully restored, the overall health of our forests and riparian areas will improve in much the same way they have in Yellowstone. With our planet now under threat from global climate change, we need more than ever to restore viable populations of wolves to our endangered ecosystems.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently manages the wolves under a flawed, 28 year-old recovery plan. This plan does not include critical modern science needed to ensure the recovery of the most endangered mammal in North America. A new plan is critical to reduce conflicts among stakeholders and restore a healthy wild wolf population.
BILLIE HUGHES
Las Cruces
Adhere to act
I found it very disappointing you let Commissioner Ed Wehrheim take the lead on your important wolf recovery article on Dec. 7. Ed is just another squawking stockman who has no understanding of ecology, basic biological principles or a true grasp of land stewardship.
It is important for future generations to realize the cattlemen and livestock associations along with the federal government, unfairly exterminated the lobo from it’s native habitat before we understood it’s ecological niche upon the Western landscape. The Mexican gray wolf is not a destructive beast, but rather a very intelligent, loving, and loyal mammal whose social dynamics and pack structure closely resembles our own. The termination of SOP 13 is an extremely important step for wolf recovery in the American Southwest.
It’s imperative Bud Fazio and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service adhere to the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and continue to take the necessary measures to recover the lobo from the brink of extinction. Aldo Leopold said it best, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”
BRETT HAVERSTICK
Silver City
Modern recovery plan
In response to the recent AP article about Mexican gray wolves, according to the latest population count, there are only 52 Mexican wolves in the wild, making it the most endangered mammal in North America. After reading the literature it is my understanding that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could improve their outdated recovery plan with modern science and simple recovery criteria.
Wolves have formed packs, had young and successfully hunted native prey; in other words, have done what they need to do to survive in the wild. In spite of this they need our assistance to get established in the wilds of the Southwest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can help their needed survival by developing a modern recovery plan that uses the best available science and prioritizes wolf recovery.
VIRGINIA MARIA ROMERO
Las Cruces
From the Arizona Daily Sun
Wolf recovery plan has better chance
Sunday, December 20, 2009
To the editor:
This letter is in response to the Associated Press article, “Wolf recovery at crossroads in Southwest,” that appeared in the Dec. 7 edition of the Arizona Daily Sun. Eleven years after the Mexican gray wolf was reintroduced to the Arizona/ New Mexico wilderness, only 52 of these animals are surviving in the wild. While passionate debate rages on both sides of the reintroduction issue, the wolves are struggling just for the right to survive in their historic range. Many Arizonans are unaware that the Mexican wolf has been identified by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the most endangered land mammal in North America. It belongs here. Recent changes in the flawed and outdated FWS recovery plan have given us some hope that the focus of the wolf recovery plan will turn toward wolf recovery rather than wolf control. If the Mexican wolves are to survive, though, they will need the support of the citizens of our two states. For more information about the Mexican wolves and how we can help them survive, please visit the Web site www.mexicanwolves.org.
STEVE ROBINSON
Flagstaff
From the Arizona Daily Star
Wolves will reign as predators again
Re: the Dec. 12 article “Scientifically designed plan needed to recover Arizona’s wolves.”
When one piece of the puzzle is missing, it cannot become whole. The biology of our environment here in Arizona is missing a prime part of its unique puzzle — predators.
Wolves were and will again be the main predatory beast in the Southwest. Greed, old wives’ tales and ignorance have taken their best shot. Now it’s time for science and stewardship to put balance back in the wild.
Dan Heffernan
Glendale
Ecosystem needs wolves in wild
Wolves are a benefit to the West. We need the big predators to keep the ecosystem in balance. Wildlife biologists believe that once they are fully restored, Mexican wolves will improve the overall health of Southwest ecosystems just as the return of gray wolves has resulted in numerous positive changes in Yellowstone National Park. We need those 52 wolves and more.
It’s time that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service update its 28-year-old plan and prepare a new, modern recovery plan that will bring Mexican wolves back from the brink of extinction and restore a healthy wild wolf population.
Angela Dye
Phoenix
Many thanks to all these talented and dedicated letter writers-your letters will make a big difference in the effort to protect and recover our lobos!
Write your own letter to the editor! Letter writing tips and editorial contacts are at http://www.mexicanwolves.org/index.php?page=letters-to-editors
