No.
312, August 1, 2002
MEXICAN
GRAY WOLF ACTION ALERT
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SUCCESSFUL
REPRODUCTION BOOSTS WOLF NUMBERS AFTER LAST YEAR'S DECLINE
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CONGRESSMAN
SKEEN'S LAST HURRAH
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ALBUQUERQUE
JOURNAL EDITORIAL SAYS LET TOP SCIENTISTS' REVIEW STAND
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CONTACT CONGRESS
TO FIGHT SKEEN'S POLITICAL MISCHIEF
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NEW FISH AND
WILDLIFE SERVICE REGIONAL DIRECTOR NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
SUCCESSFUL
REPRODUCTION BOOSTS WOLF NUMBERS AFTER LAST YEAR'S DECLINE
Seven of the eight Mexican
wolf packs in the wild appear to be denning. Before this season's reproduction
and the release in mid-June of the nine-member Bluestem Pack in Arizona, the
known and monitored wild population had declined to 17 animals -- approximately
half of what it was two years ago. Unfortunately, one of the Bluestem Pack's
members has already been recaptured (and the Center for Biological Diversity
has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to ascertain the circumstances).
But there is unexpected good news, also: In mid-July a previously unknown two-year-old
male wolf was trapped in Arizona, fitted with a radio collar and re-released;
evidently at least one of the several pups born in the wild but not collared
when young is still alive.
CONGRESSMAN SKEEN'S LAST HURRAH
Retiring Representative
Joe Skeen (R-NM), a public lands sheep rancher, beneficiary of federal predator
killing services, and chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Committee,
has again attached language to this year's proposed Interior budget intended
to trip up the Mexican wolf recovery program. Skeen's language is more in the
nature of a harangue than command, voicing suspicion of last year's blue ribbon
panel of wolf scientists and their recommendations, urging another review of
the wolf program, but only requiring that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
"consult" with his committee (ie. not banning it from action) if it
intends to "deviate from the original wolf reintroduction plan" --
ie. reform the program along the lines the scientists urged. Nevertheless, Fish
and Wildlife has failed to begin those reforms under similar pressure from Skeen
in the past, and agency officials might interpret even this vague language as
a mandate to further ignore the scientists.
ALBUQUERQUE
JOURNAL EDITORIAL SAYS LET TOP SCIENTISTS' REVIEW STAND
At the twilight of his congressional
career, Rep. Joe Skeen, R-N.M., is restating his request from a year ago that
a new, independent review be commissioned to evaluate the science behind the
reintroduction of the Mexican gray wolf. The controversial recovery program
is opposed by many of Skeen's most vocal southern New Mexico constituents, and
like a good representative, he's making their sentiments known. Last week, the
House of Representatives approved the spending bill that included Skeen's call
for a second review. The bill now awaits Senate consideration.
The Senate should kill Skeen's request. It isn't the principle of an independent
review that makes this a bad idea; it simply would be redundant and a poor use
of limited endangered species recovery funds.
In June of last year, a
team of four experts -- led by Paul Paquet, perhaps the world's leading authority
on wolf ecology -- completed a detailed analysis of the first three years of
the program. This report is a scientific overview of the program's strengths
and flaws, in addition to a series of recommendations. (It can be read at http://southwest.fws.gov/htmwolf.html.)
Skeen argues that the review's
authors are "suspect" because they have participated in earlier wolf
reintroductions; in other words, they are intimately familiar with the successes
and failures of past efforts. But that should be considered an asset, not a
shortcoming. Of course, Skeen can publicly oppose Mexican gray wolf recovery
if he feels the program is not warranted. The program's future is properly a
political question. But Skeen is wrong to seek a costly new study in the hopes
of achieving a more critical review. The Senate should let last year's review
stand.
The Albuquerque Journal ran the above editorial on 7-28-02.
CONTACT
CONGRESS TO FIGHT SKEEN'S POLITICAL MISCHIEF
The fiscal year 2003 Interior
Appropriations Act with Skeen's anti-wolf provision has already passed the House
of Representatives but not the Senate, where there is as yet no accompanying
Mexican wolf language. This difference and many others will eventually be hashed
out in a conference committee involving members from both chambers. The Senate
will begin a month-long recess next week and many senators, particularly those
up for re-election, will be holding town meetings.
House members are already
on recess and many will also be setting up public events. Please plan on attending
these meetings and request that your Representative and Senators work to excise
the anti-wolf House language in the conference committee for this funding bill.
Please also write a letter
to that effect: Senators are at U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510 and Representatives
are at U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C. 20515. (Snail mail is
still far more widely read in the capital than are emails!)
NEW
FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE REGIONAL DIRECTOR NEEDS TO HEAR FROM YOU!
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service has had over a year to begin changing the program's rules in accordance
with the urgent recommendations of the Paquet Report. Those recommendations
include:
(1) Giving Fish and Wildlife
authority to release wolves directly from the captive population into New
Mexico (currently only animals trapped after initial release into Arizona
or birth in the wild can be re-released into the Gila);
(2) Allowing the wolves to roam outside the relatively small recovery area's
boundaries; and
(3) Addressing the problem of livestock carcasses that lure the wolves to
active grazing areas and habituate them to livestock. But despite the fact
that the wolf population last year experienced sharp declines, as predicted
by the Paquet Report, and that the population is still very vulnerable, Fish
and Wildlife has not begun the lengthy process of changing the rule.
The new Fish and Wildlife
Service southwest regional director, Dale Hall, has the authority to break the
logjam. Please write him and request an immediate beginning to the long-stalled
imperative of changing the Mexican wolf rules according to the scientific recommendations.
Address: Dale Hall, Regional
Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 1306, Albuquerque, NM 87103.
(It would also be helpful to include a copy of this letter with the letters
you send members of Congress, or to bring them to congressional meetings and
hand to an aide.)
For more information about
the Center's wolf campaign, click
here, or contact Michael Robinson at (505) 534-0360.
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