26
Feb
In the News: Wolf releases prepare to expand
Earlier this month, ranchers, federal forest and wildlife officials and local government representatives crowded into a Forest Service conference room in Heber. They were there to discuss a topic many locals have long opposed: the expansion of Mexican gray wolf releases into a much larger area of Arizona and New Mexico.
The meeting was an effort to get feedback from the ranchers, who have grazing leases on the land, about sites the Service is considering for future wolf releases in the Tonto and Apache Sitgreaves national forests.
The preliminary maps they were looking at, which are still under consideration, show that of nine proposed locations across the Sitgreaves and Tonto national forests, six are near the southeastern corner of Coconino County. The proposed spots appear to be just west of the Navajo-Coconino County line, approximately five to 10 miles east of State Highway 87.
While necessary for the threatened animals’ survival, the expanded releases bring the wolves closer to ranches, roads and communities that so far have only viewed the issue from far away.
“Many of these folks have not had to deal with the (Mexican wolf recovery) program, so we’re starting from square one,” said Patrick Bray, executive vice president of the Arizona Cattle Growers’ Association.
Location scouting
Federal officials have been working for months to search for and vet new locations for future releases of Mexican wolf packs that have been raised in captivity. Their work is tied to a revision last year in the regulations dictating how Mexican wolves are managed. The new rule provides a nearly tenfold expansion in the area where the wolves can be released across New Mexico and Arizona.
The change was necessary because no space remains in the original release area for more wolves to establish territory, hindering efforts to introduce more captive wolves into the wild, said Sherry Barrett, the Mexican wolf recovery coordinator at the Fish and Wildlife Service.
“If you release wolves and they establish there, you can’t continually put wolves on top of wolves,” Barrett said. “It was really constricting us on where we could put new wolves so we could get the genetics of the wild population more diverse.”
The threat of genetic inbreeding among the animals is well known — on average the degree of relatedness among the wolves in the wild is equivalent to that of siblings, according to wolf recovery team scientists.
With the rule change, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also said it would expect to release 28 to 40 packs, each with an adult pair and several pups, into the wild over the next 20 years. Considering past survival rates, the Service estimated seven to 10 of those transplanted wolves will end up surviving, breeding and producing pups.
Releases can’t happen soon enough when it comes to the population’s long term sustainability, said Carlos Carroll, a biologist with the Klamath Center for Conservation Research who was on the Fish and Wildlife Service’s most recent Mexican Wolf Recovery Team.
“We are starting off at a low amount of genetic diversity and each generation that we don’t see wild population increasing it means we’re further eroding that genetic diversity,” Carroll said.
Ranchers skeptical
Bray, of the Arizona Cattle Growers Association, said local ranchers do appreciate the Forest Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service meeting with permittees to discuss potential release locations, but remain skeptical about “how much ground truthing has been done in regards to the viability of the sites.” His organization is pressing for final location selection to be done through an analysis process that includes a public comment requirement.
The site selections for wolf releases are already guided by certain requirements. Locations, for example, must be five miles from a town and three miles from a year-round occupied dwelling, a boundary of a tribal reservation and the boundary of the area where the animals are allowed to occupy. All releases also must occur on federal land unless there is an agreement with a private landowner or tribe.
The meeting in Heber did result in some positive feedback about how release locations could be moved slightly to reduce the risk of livestock killings, said Pascal Berlioux, executive director of the Eastern Arizona Counties Organization and one of the attendees.
Others said the meeting’s intent was overshadowed by the overwhelming opposition to the wolves. Ranchers feel as though the Fish and Wildlife Service is “forcing them to lose their livelihoods and take government welfare,” said Carolyn Eppler, a retired Forest Service employee and Payson resident who now assists rural ranchers with livestock permit processes.
Economics loom large in the debate, Berlioux agreed.
“The crux of the issue”¦ is if society at large supports the reintroduction of the Mexican wolf in New Mexico and Arizona, it cannot be managed as an economic liability to just one tiny proportion of society,” Berlioux said.
Navajo County supervisor Jason Whiting agreed that while few locals appear to be in favor of wolf releases in the county, a better managed, better funded program to compensate ranchers whose livestock are killed by wolves would be a step in the right direction.
Coconino County supervisors so far haven’t participated in discussions about the proposed wolf release locations, said Art Babbott, board chair.
Speaking for himself, Babbott emphasized that public support for a healthy and sustaining Mexican gray wolf population remains very strong.
“I encourage federal and state partners to support adult releases to achieve a healthy genetically diverse and stable population,” Babbott said. “Their recovery is fragile, yet their importance in healthy ecosystems is critical.”
Action needed
To conservationists, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s progress on wolf releases has been frustratingly slow.
“If (federal officials) want to have meetings that’s great but they need to fulfill their primary responsibility of not letting the Mexican wolf go extinct and they are failing at the moment,” said Michael Robinson with the Center for Biological Diversity.
The most recent annual count of the wild wolf population, which showed a decline in the estimated population from 110 animals at the end of 2014 to 97 animals at the end of 2015, underscores the urgency of the need to introduce more captive wolves into the wild, Robinson said.
Robinson was one of 43 signatories on an October letter asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to “expeditiously” release five or more family packs into New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness and Gila National Forest.
The letter also criticized the Service’s estimates of how many wolves it will actually need to release into the wild over the next two decades to ensure recovery progresses.
Carroll said the scientists on the Wolf Recovery Team found that number needs to be about double what the Service estimated to produce the needed increase in the population’s genetic diversity.
Ideally, release sites would be more remote areas than some places on the Mogollon Rim, Carroll said.
In the interim though, “it is better to release into these somewhat less secure landscapes than to not release wolves at all,” he said.
This article was published in the Arizona Daily Sun.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please help Mexican wolves with a letter to the editor!
The letters to the editor page is one of the most widely read, influential parts of the newspaper. One letter from you can reach thousands of people and will also likely be read by decision-makers. Tips for writing your letter are below, but please write in your own words, from your own experience. Don’t try to include all the talking points in your letter.
SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARIZONA DAILY SUN HERE.
Letter to the Editor Talking Points and Tips
- With just 97 Mexican gray wolves remain in the wild today in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico, this unique sub-species is teetering on the brink of a second extinction.
- Geneticists have warned for years that the wild population needs greater diversity, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service has failed to release new wolves into the wild to improve the wolves’ genetic health.
- For over 3 decades, captive breeding programs in the U.S. and Mexico have worked to maximize genetic diversity so that captive wolves could be released to increase the wild population’s genetic health. But USFWS has released very few of these wolves. The wild population of Mexican gray wolves remains critically endangered and in need of additional populations, new releases to improve the population’s genetics, and a scientifically valid recovery plan.
- Almost 18 years after the first Mexican wolves were reintroduced, there are only 97 wolves in the wild. More wolves are needed to stop inbreeding that researchers suggest may be lowering litter sizes and depressing pup-survival rates.
- The window is closing on fixing the genetic issue, and one of the easiest steps the US Fish and Wildlife Service can take is to release more wolves from captivity, and do it now.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to do more — and do it fast — to save the lobo from extinction. In order for Mexican gray wolves to recover fully, they need more wolf releases, a science-based recovery plan and more wolf populations in suitable habitats.
- The US Fish and Wildlife Service should stop letting anti-wolf state officials obstruct wolf recovery. The last effort to create a Mexican wolf recovery plan stalled precisely because the states were given opportunities to weigh in before the work of the scientific experts was released for public comment. The most recent recovery planning process, which began in 2011, ended amidst allegations of political interference by these same states with the science.
- Wildlife biologists believe that Mexican wolves will improve the overall health of the Southwest and its rivers and streams — just as the return of gray wolves to Yellowstone has helped restore balance to its lands and waters.
- States have failed to manage wildlife as a public trust for current and future citizens. State wildlife policies, which kill off predators to supposedly support game populations, are rooted in the 1800s. Fortunately, our national policy is to restore andpreserve all forms of wildlife, including predators. Until the states get serious about balancing conservation vs. consumption, they should recuse themselves from decisions about endangered species.
- Enough is enough. The Service needs to assert its authority and recover the Mexican gray wolf.
- Mexican gray wolves are unique native animals. They are the rarest, most genetically distinct subspecies of gray wolf in North America and the most endangered wolf in the world.
- Polling shows that the majority of voters support the Mexican wolf reintroduction.
- Wolves generate economic benefits – a University of Montana study found that visitors who come to see wolves in Yellowstone contribute roughly $35.5 million annually to the regional economy.
Letter Writing Tips
SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARIZONA DAILY SUN HERE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Make sure you:
- Thank the paper for publishing this article and make sure to reference it in your letter.
- Submit your letter as soon as possible. The chance of your letter being published declines after a day or two since the article was published.
- Do not repeat any negative messages, such as “so and so said that wolves kill too many cows, but”¦” Remember that those reading your letter will not be looking at the article it responds to, so this is an opportunity to get out positive messages about wolf recovery rather than to argue with the original article.
- Keep your letter brief, no more than 200 words. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.
- Include something about who you are and why you care: E.g. “I am a mother, outdoors person, teacher, business owner, scientific, religious, etc.” Don’t be afraid to be personal and creative.
- Provide your name, address, phone number and address. The paper won’t publish these, but they want to know you are who you say you are.
SUBMIT YOUR LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARIZONA DAILY SUN HERE.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t stop now – Do MORE for Mexican wolves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Learn More …
Obstructionist policies that ignore scientific facts have been interfering with Mexican wolf recovery for many years. Here are some past articles that highlight some of the history of the struggle to support a recovery plan based on science and not politics.
Political Mudwrestling on Mexican Wolf Science (PEER) – 9/4/12
